Occurrence of" Ambiguity" in narratives, and the role of "Metaphor" in its appearance and obviation

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Abstract

Occurrence of ambiguity in Quranic verses and narratives is incontestable, and it depends on demand of words and the nature of Arabic language. The subject of ambiguity in verses has been discussed in Quranic sciences, but the ambiguity in narratives, its quality and its reason of being have not been attended in Hadith sciences; whereas, based on narratives reasons, cleavage of narratives into "ambiguous" and "substantial" narratives is incontestable. Moreover, the reasons of essence of ambiguous narratives and the ways for right understanding them are noted in a lot of narratives. So, "ambiguous" and "substantial" narratives are relative terms that concern on men´s knowledge and ignorance steps. The reasons of essence of ambiguity in narratives are: difference of men´s understanding steps, demand of words and eloquence of Imams' words. At the same time, the role of metaphor in appearance of ambiguity, as the most important tool for explanation of purports, is grand. Again because of confederacy between the metaphor and ambiguity, it has an effective role in obviation ambiguity from narratives.

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