Toward a Cognitive Reading of Qur’anic Parables: Nazm Theory and Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Approach in Dialogue

Abstract

This study examines the cognitive and rhetorical functioning of Qur’anic parables through an interdisciplinary “Bridge Framework” established between ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī’s theory of nazm and Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory. The study is based on the premise that Qur’anic parables should be regarded not merely as aesthetic and rhetorical expressions, but also as cognitive structures that render abstract theological and ethical meanings intelligible through concrete domains of experience. To this end, five Qur’anic parables selected through purposive sampling are analyzed using qualitative textual analysis. The inquiry focuses on the syntactic and semantic organization of nazm, source-target domain mappings, and the evaluative orientations generated by these mappings. The findings indicate that nazm functions as a structural principle regulating metaphorical transfer and guiding interpretive possibilities. Consequently, the article demonstrates how Qur’anic parables enable the transition from concrete experience to abstract theological and ethical understanding, while offering a methodological contribution to the interpretation of these parables by bringing classical rhetoric into dialogue with contemporary cognitive linguistics.