A Critical Assessment of Muhammad b. Salih al-Uthaymeen's Arguments Denying Metaphors in Quran

Denying the presence metaphors in the Quran and in Arabic language is one of the fundamental beliefs of Salafism. This belief plays a critical role in many beliefs including interpretation of divine attributes in the Holy Quran. In his various works, Muhammad b. Salih al-Uthaymeen who is one of the contemporary prominent Salafi and Wahabi muftis, has denied the presence of metaphors rejecting the arguments of those who admit and accept them. Arguments such as a lack of figurative use of words by the predecessors and the permissibility of detaching verses from specific meanings are some reasons which have caused Ibn al-Uthaymeen to follow Ibn Qayyim in considering metaphor a kind taghut leading to distortion of the verses of the Quran and traditions whereas, in fact, the prophetic traditions and sayings of prominent Muslim scholars, who lived in the early period of Islam, are replete with metaphors and words used in their figurative meanings. Additionally, it is not true to say that there are no words in the Quran to be detached from their meanings as it will result in a contradiction. Moreover, the detaching of words from the meanings can lead to denial of the verses of the Quran only when it results in the negation of the real meaning while the permissibility of removing the figurative meaning is a sign of identifying the real meaning from the figurative one. It goes without saying that there are verses in the Quran which cannot be said to have been used in their real meanings, or else, the verses would give a wrong meaning. Ibn al-Uthaymeen's justifications have also not helped remove the error. Finally, although Ibn al-Uthaymeen denies metaphors in the Quran, he has ended up interpreting "I saw myself pressing wine" (Quran 12:36) figuratively but he has not made mention of metaphor.