ABSTRACT
Afteral-Gurgani,thenextgreatfiguretoemergeinthenewfield ofthesemantico-grammaticalstudyoftextswasthegreat Mu'tazilischolaral-Zamaxsari(d.539/1143).HisbulkycommentaryoftheQur'an,entitled'TheExplorer'(Al-Kassij),which mayrightfullybeconsideredasoneofthemostrepresentative intellectualachievementsinIslamicscholarship,maybethought ofasapracticalapplicationoftheapproachlaiddownby al-Gurgani.Hisdictionary,called'TheBasisofRhetoric'(Asas al-balaga),shouldalsobementioned,atleastforafeaturewhich remaineduniqueinthetechnicalliteratureonthesubject:foreach entry,theauthordistinguishedbetweenproperandmetaphorical uses.Thiswas,ofcourse,consonantwiththeMu'tazilidogma stipulatingthatsuchadistinctionisessentialtothetruefaith, whichrefusestoassignhumanattributestoGodandhence interpretsasmetaphoricalphraseswhichcouldsuggestthat.
