Paronomasia in the Quran — "They Tarried Only an Hour"
balagha
Level: intermediate
badi
blg-034
Definition:
Paronomasia (jinas): two words similar in sound but different in meaning. Main types: perfect (identical letters and form) and imperfect (differing in one letter, vowel, or order).
Quranic example: "And the Day the Hour appears, the criminals will swear they tarried no more than an hour." (Surah 30:55)
The beauty:
"Al-Sa'a" first: the momentous Day of Judgment. "Sa'a" second: a tiny unit of time. The perfect paronomasia unites two opposites in one word — the immense is measured against the minute, the eternal is minimized to the trivial. It spotlights the contradiction: the criminals see their entire lives as "an hour," while the great Hour destroys everything.
Source: Al-Zarkashi, Al-Burhan (4/7); Al-Maydani (2/319)
Question: What do the first "Hour" and second "hour" mean in the verse, and what is the beauty of the paronomasia?
Answer: First "Hour": the Day of Judgment. Second "hour": a small unit of time. The beauty: it places the immense against the trivial in one sound, exposing the criminals' delusion that their worldly life was something insignificant.