شبه

Core meaning

Resemblance: two things close enough to be taken one for the other, without being identical for all that.

Uses

1. تَشَٰبَهَ, تَشَٰبَهَتْ → "to resemble one another" : things that resemble one another to the point of no longer being told apart.

   • «إِنَّ ٱلْبَقَرَ تَشَٰبَهَ عَلَيْنَا» — "the cows all resemble one another to us" (2:70)
   • «تَشَٰبَهَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ» — "their cores resemble one another" (2:118)

2. مُتَشَٰبِه, مُشْتَبِه → "resembling", "whose parts resemble one another" : what resembles, something else or itself in its parts.

   • «وَأُتُوا۟ بِهِۦ مُتَشَٰبِهًۭا» — "and it is brought to them, resembling" (2:25)
   • «كِتَٰبًۭا مُّتَشَٰبِهًۭا مَّثَانِىَ» — "a Scripture whose parts resemble one another, in couplets" (39:23)
   • «وَٱلرُّمَّانَ مُشْتَبِهًۭا وَغَيْرَ مُتَشَٰبِهٍ» — "the pomegranate, resembling and not resembling" (6:99)

3. مُتَشَٰبِهَٰت, مَا تَشَٰبَهَ مِنْهُ → "subject to resemblance", "lends itself to resemblance" : in the Scripture, what lends itself to resemblance, facing the univocal signs.

   • «وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَٰبِهَٰتٌۭ» — "and others, subject to resemblance" (3:7)
   • «فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَٰبَهَ مِنْهُ» — "they follow what, in the Scripture, lends itself to resemblance" (3:7)

4. شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ → "a resemblance was given to them" : resemblance given to be seen, which deceives about what took place.

   • «وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ» — "but a resemblance was given to them" (4:157)

Evidence from the text

Resemblance is always what prevents telling apart: the cows one can no longer distinguish (2:70), the cores of the generations that demand the same proofs (2:118), the creation that associates would have made "as He creates" (13:16). In 4:157, it bears on an event: what was seen is not what took place.

It never erases the difference. The fruits are "resembling and not resembling" (6:99, 6:141); the Scripture places the signs subject to resemblance beside the univocal signs, "which are the matrix of the Scripture" (3:7), and it is those in whose cores is a deviation who follow what lends itself to resemblance. In 39:23, on the contrary, the resemblance of the parts of the Scripture to one another belongs to the beauty of the discourse.

Distinctions

• مثل — the like, the example: what serves as measure or model, whereas resemblance can deceive

See also

حكم (the univocal)