Analyzing Image Schemas of Surah An-Nisa based on Mark Johnson's Linguistic Theory

One of the theories in cognitive linguistics research, which was first proposed by Mark Johnson, is image schemas. The main point in this theory is that due to human activity, movement and physical presence in the outside world, we gain experiences through our body and living environment that help us organize our thoughts in abstract fields. The language of the Qur'ān contains valuable themes and messages, some of which are organized by means of image schemas, and the audience can achieve a deeper understanding of abstract and intangible concepts by visualizing the ayahs. Therefore, the present descriptive-analytical research aims to investigate Johnson's image schemas, that is, containment schema, force schema and path schema in Surah An-Nisa and to identify the most frequent schema and their abstract concepts according to the function of each of them in the interpretative study of the Qur'ān. The findings of the research show that containment schemas indicate concepts such as heaven, doubt and suspicion, while force schemas show concepts like disbelief, atheism, and avoiding sins, and path schemas, with the highest frequency, signal concepts such as happiness, dignity and status, respect and descending of revelation and the Qur'ān.