The Imperative Style in the Qur’anic Discourse with the People of Israel: Syntactic and Semantic Study

Abstract

Research Topic: The study highlights the legal rulings related to the family and their role in promoting Objectives: This study aims to elucidate the syntactic and semantic aspects of the imperative style in the Qur'anic discourse with the people of Israel, as well as the significance and influence of context on this style. The Qur'anic discourse is built on various linguistic styles, the frequency of which varies due to several factors, the most important being the nature of the discourse and the conditions of the addressees. A careful researcher of the Qur'anic discourse, in general, and its discourse with the people of Israel, in particular, will perceive differences that distinguish this discourse from others. This distinction is manifested in the frequent adoption of certain linguistic styles over others, one of which is the imperative style. This style serves to convey various meanings and connotations, where the context and the conditions of the addressees come together. This is evident in the structure of the sentence, with changes that occur in terms of inversion, delay, or omission.

Methods: This study adopts an analytical approach, analyzing the imperative structures in every instance within the Qur'anic discourse with the people of Israel. The study then interprets these structures by linking them to their contexts and verbal positions, referring to original linguistic and interpretative sources.

Results and Conclusions: The study concludes that the imperative structure in the Qur'anic discourse with the people of Israel holds significant importance. This is unsurprising, as religion revolves around commands and prohibitions, both of which involve action and abstention. Furthermore, linguistic styles cannot be studied in isolation from their contextual and structural settings. This is demonstrated through the repetition of certain imperative verbs in different surahs with varying meanings. Moreover, the imperative forms frequently depart from their original meanings of obligation and necessity, adopting other meanings understood through context. These meanings include emphasis and honor, threat and grandeur, encouragement and obligation, reminder, punishment, incapacitation, gratitude, reward, supplication, ability and grandeur, solicitation, reprehension, creation, propitiation and humiliation, and guidance.