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Glorification
Surah: Al-Qamar (20)
Exaggeration in Simile — "As If They Were Trunks of Uprooted Palms"
كَأَنَّهُمۡ أَعۡجَازُ نَخۡلٍ مُّنقَعِرٍ
— القمر الآية 20
Definition of exaggeration in simile:
When a simile reaches such precision and depth that the listener feels the compared and the comparison have become one — the highest level of simile in impact.
The verses — story of Aad:
Surah Al-Qamar: "We sent upon them a raging wind on a day of persistent misfortune — tearing people away as if they were uprooted palm trunks." (54:19-20)
Layers of exaggeration in this image:
It does not say "as if they were palms" — but "trunks of uprooted palms": uprooted palm + without heads + carried in the air. Three images converge in one simile.
Al-Zamakhshari: "This verse is among the most eloquent imagery in the Quran — it combines massiveness of body, loss of will, and scattering through space."
When a simile reaches such precision and depth that the listener feels the compared and the comparison have become one — the highest level of simile in impact.
The verses — story of Aad:
Surah Al-Qamar: "We sent upon them a raging wind on a day of persistent misfortune — tearing people away as if they were uprooted palm trunks." (54:19-20)
Layers of exaggeration in this image:
- The wind tears people away = uproots them from the earth
- The uprooted = a palm trunk (not the full person)
- The palm is uprooted from its roots
- Ajaz = trunks without heads = loss of dignity and identity
It does not say "as if they were palms" — but "trunks of uprooted palms": uprooted palm + without heads + carried in the air. Three images converge in one simile.
Al-Zamakhshari: "This verse is among the most eloquent imagery in the Quran — it combines massiveness of body, loss of will, and scattering through space."
Source: Al-Zamakhshari (4/434); Al-Zarkashi (3/375); Al-Jurjani (p.71)
Test Yourself
What makes "trunks of uprooted palms" more eloquent than, say, "cut palms"?
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