Conceptual metaphors of paradise in Nahj al-Balagha sermons Case study from the perspective of cognitive linguistics

Metaphorically, from a linguistic standpoint, metaphor is known not only as an aesthetic tool, but also as a metaphorical tool that shapes the conceptual system of man and directs his thought, behavior, and language; thus, metaphor forms a broad part of speech communication and its manifestation is evident in the experiences of everyday human life. Metaphors also play a central role in understanding abstract concepts in religious thoughts. The notion of paradise is one of the key and abstract concepts in all religions. According to the Qur'anic reasoning, understanding the heaven has its origin in this world is out of our direct experience. Paradise is derived from the Avestan compound word "Vahishta" in the sense of the better world. There are eleven words in Nahj al-Balagha's sermons (including: "Al-Jannah", "Daremgham", "Dar-ul-Qarar, etc.") equivalent to "Paradise". Obviously, Ali (AS) has used objective conceptual domains at the level of understanding of all, especially the Arabs at the beginning of Islam, to make the abstract meaning of paradise more tangible. In this study, we have extracted the expressions containing the concept of paradise in the form of conceptual metaphors, and in the abstract domain of the hereafter paradise, "from outside" (outside of paradise). 149 conceptual metaphors were identified in the form of 11 mappings, and the most frequent metaphorical names and source domain related to the outer part of Paradise. Based on the research findings, the Nahj al-Balagha sermons mostly use the source domain, "place" and "green garden" to express the concept of the Hereafter paradise from the outside.