The Conceptual Metaphor (Directional and Embodiment) of “Death” in the Verses and Words of Imam Ali (as)

The way of person’s views death has an effect on his destiny. By 
transferring tangible and recognizable spaces to unfamiliar spaces, new 
windows of the Qur'an's epistemological concepts are opened in human 
vision; For this reason, it is necessary to examine the broad conceptual 
metaphors of "death" in the Qur'an and hadiths. Directional metaphor and 
embodiment metaphor are two types of conceptual metaphors in which this 
semantic approach about death is well evident. In the studies done on the 
verses and words of Amir al-Mu'minin with the descriptive-analytical method, 
"death" in words such as “death, appointed term, meet Allah, left, etc.", has 
been conceptualized in different forms of directional and embodiment
metaphors, and aspects such as certainty and nearness of death, being difficult 
or easy, transience of life, surrounding death and not having a way to escape 
from it, suddenness, pervasiveness and influence have made tangible; Among 
the directional metaphors are near and far, inside and outside, up and down
and return; Metaphors of the embodiment are also: the inside and outside of 
death as container metaphors; Food and drink (intoxicating, with taste and 
color), water (smelling water and swirling sea), dark cloud, gift, door and 
bridge of death are material metaphors and all kinds of embodiment
metaphors. In the center of these metaphors, two different faces of death have 
been reflected in relation to different people and situations: a beloved face for 
believers and the friends of Allah, and a violent and disgusting face for 
unbelievers.