A Schematic Study of the “Piety” (Taqwā) Metaphors in Nahj al-Balagha’s Sermons(Based on the Evans’s and Green’s model)

Cognitive semantics is one of the main theories in semantics. One of the conceptual processes concerned by Scholars of cognitive semantics is imaginary schematic. The schemes are the primary levels of cognitive construction of the base of metaphor that allow us to link our physical experiences with more complex cognitive domains. Evans and Green (cognitive linguists) introduce conceptual schemas as a set of “visualization and conceptual structure”. In all religions, the concept of piety (taqwā) is one of the abstract concepts. Understanding “piety” is beyond our direct experience. Imam Ali (AS) in Nahj al-Balaghah used imaginary schemas to introduce piety and its consequences and, through degrading the spirituality to the realms of the senses, placed this spiritual concept to the level of understanding of all, especially Arabs of the Early Islam. The aim of this research is to study the representation of schematics of “piety” in Nahj al-Balaghe’s sermons based on the “Evans and Green”’s Schemes model in the framework of cognitive semantics, through a descriptive-analytical method. It seems that there are schematics of force, movement, density, unity, space, balance, consistency and existence (of object) in the textual context of hadiths. The power plan seems to be a blueprint of people’s experience, culture, and system of life and it is possible to justify two plans of homogeneity and existence with the subjective tendency to simulate what is around them. Various concepts have also contributed to the formation of piety schemes, including the body, the animal, the plant, the edible, the objects, the place, the natural elements, the four elements….