Abstract— This study deals with Quran verses which came with
the directive “Say! (O Muhammad)” as one of its unique locutions in
delivering Allah’s messages. This directive, at a glimpse, bears no
significant meaning because all the verses were intended to be said to
the humanity. In order to analyze the existence of the directive verb
and its performative forces in these verses, a pragmatic approach
based on Speech Act Theory will be applied, perhaps it will lead into
a convince explanation for the existence of the directive in 308
verses.

Keywords— Performative Force, Directive, Pragmatic Analysis,
Speech Act Theory.

I. INTRODUCTION
HE holy Quran is the central religious text in Islam, which
is believed that it is the verbatim word of God, revealed to
His last messenger, Muhammad p.b.u.h. through the angel
Gabriel gradually over a period of approximately 23 years of
his prophecy. The Quran contains guidance which is
represented in various ways such as direct speech, narration,
dialogue, exemplification and illustration. Although this holy
book is verbally god’s words towards humanity and
Muhammad is the messenger who is commanded to say it
without any editing, amazingly we came through a number of
verses that stated the command “Say! (O Muhammad)” (45),
which means that this directive verb is verbally part of the
revelation.

The directive verb “say” (45) is stated 332 times in the
Quran, and from this figure, only four verses use the directive
in different way; verses 4:23, 17:24 and 17:28 used the verb to
be a general directive in saying something in a proper manner,
and another one is verse 79:18 which is used as a directive to
prophet Musa to say words of dakwah to Pharaoh. Although
this locution could be considered as a phenomenon in the
Quran, not many Muslims’ scholars had given special attention
to this tiny directive verb in their interpretation. The researcher
believes that this verb has a very powerful impact of meanings,
for that reason it has been stated in the Quran in a large
number of verses.

This study aims to analyze the directive verb and its use in
the Quran, and finally to come out with a convince answer for
Ahmad Majdi M.S. is with the Sultan Idris Education University, Tanjong
Malim, 35900, Perak, Malaysia (phone: 0060-054506155; fax: 0060-
054583603; e-mail: majdiey_79@ yahoo.com).

question; what is the intention of the Author in choosing this
verb to be obtained in His book though it was generally
understood that all the verses had been said by Muhammad
p.b.u.h. trustfully.

Since this study tends to analyze the use of the directive
verb in contexts, pragmatic is seemed to be the best approach
to be applied. Pragmatic is defined as an approach that
analyzes speech within its context and gives great attentions to
author’s intentions and effects produced by the speech [1]. In
other words, pragmatics is an approach towards understanding
how conversation is engaged successfully; it deals with
conversation procedures such as stimulating speaker’s
intention, words’ resembling, interpretation of the utterance
and hearer’s responses and reactions.

The study will apply Speech Act Theory in analyzing
related verses in order to derive the performative forces from
the sayings. Speech act is a technical term in pragmatics,
which goes back to John. L. Austin works, particularly his
“How to Do Things with Words” [2], where he defined that
“by saying something we do something”. From there, he
introduced a trichotomy terminology as follows:

i. Locutionary act : The performance of an utterance;
the actual utterance and its ostensible meaning,
comprising phonetic, phatic and rhetic acts
corresponding to the verbal, syntactic and semantic
aspects of any meaningful utterance.

ii. Illocutionary act : The intended meaning of the
utterance such as promising, ordering, persuading and
bequeathing.

iii. Perlocutionary act : its actual effect, such as
persuading, convincing, scaring, enlightening,
inspiring, or otherwise getting someone to do or
realize something, whether intended or not.

Furthermore, the concept of illocutionary act is central to
the concept of speech act. Therefore, Austin gave more
emphasis to this sort of action in his analysis, and had named
the performed action in the utterance performative, typical
instances of which are “I nominated John to be President”, “ I
sentence you to ten years’ imprisonment”, or “I promise to pay
you back”. In these typical, rather explicit cases of
performative sentences, the action that the sentence describes
(nominating, sentencing, promising) is performed by the
utterance of the sentence itself.

Performative Force from the Directive
“Say! (O Muhammad)”; a Pragmatic Analysis
based on Speech Act Theory
Ahmad Majdi Bin Mat Salleh
T

II. METHODOLOGY
This study deals with a hypothesis which claims that the
selection of the directive verb and its high frequency of use in
the Quran are strongly related to the performative forces bore
on it. Therefore, a pragmatic approach will be applied in this
study to investigate the hypothesis whether it is evitable or not.
First of all, the researcher will analyze descriptively all verses
which contain the verb, and try to classify the styles of its uses.
Then, based on the classification made, a number of samples
will be analyzed using J. L. Austin’s Speech Act Theory in
order to justify the existence of performative forces and its
relationship with the directive.

III. FINDINGS
As a preliminary step towards analyzing the directive verb,
the researcher had gone through its root word and derivatives
in the Quran, and amazingly had found out that they were
stated about 1722 times, most of them were in verb forms and
were attached with various types of subjects. This massive
frequency of use is proof that the Quran practices an open
communication with humanity, which means that the Quran
does not just state ideas and messages on behalf of the Author,
but it also states what others say and believe.
The descriptive analysis shows that this directive verb had
been used in 4 different styles, yet to be marked as 4 categories
of general performative acts as below:

a. To make a direct announcement, mostly in
encountering others.
b. To make speech on behalf of the Messenger.
c. To answer questions.
d. To dictate general statements concerning the truth of
the Author, His authority as the creator and His
creations.

In this pragmatic analysis, context plays important roles in
justifying performance forces laid beneath the verb in each
verses. Context refers to the circumstances that form a setting
for the revelation of these verses including the occasions,
people or party involved in, overall topic, and so forth.
Because of its importance, Muslim scholars had recorded them
in term of Asbābu n-Nuzūl (reasons of revealing), and it is
considered one of the primary sources in the interpretation of
the Quran.

Furthermore, the trichotomy concept of Speech Act Theory
had successfully delivered clear steps in analyzing the verses
and underlining the performative forces. In addition, this
theory also deals with the effects of these forces. It is because
that this theory deals with speech as an action, and actions
generally will give effects in various ways. Therefore,
recognizing and identifying the effects of the directive and the
sayings is one of the procedures in this pragmatic analysis.

Finally, this analysis sets a new dimension towards
interpreting and understanding the Quran by giving more
attention to the Author’s intention in all His sayings. At the
same time, this approach will inspire the reason of why the
Author had obtained his command “Say! O Muhammad” in the
related verses to be said by Muhammad p.b.u.h. himself. The
answer of this question will be stated clearly at the end of the
discussion.

IV. DISCUSSION
It is essential to go through the root word of the directive
and its derivatives in order to understand the nature use of this
word in the Quran. The root word for this verb is ( ق و ل ) that
means say (p.t. verb), and it comes in 49 derivatives in the
Quran, and these words altogether had been stated 1722 times.
As we know, Arabic verbs are classified into 3 categories
based on time frames; past, present and command, and these
verbs will be attached with pronouns in verb phrase to be its
subjects; this is the reason why this root word has a large
number of derivatives. The table below shows derivatives of
the verb ( لP5) and its frequency of use in the Quran.

V. HELPFUL HINTS
a. Figures and Tables
Large figures and tables maye paper is only printed in
black-white color. Figure axis labels are often a source of
confusion. Use words rather than symbols. As an example,
write the quantity “Magnetization,” or “Magnetization M,” not
just “M.” Put units in parentheses. Do not label axes only with
units. As in Fig. 1, for example, write “Magnetization (A/m)”
or “Magnetization (A⋅m−1),” not just “A/m.” Do not label axes
with a ratio of quantities and units. For example,
From the table above, we can see the variety of the verb’s
derivatives, where the Author does not attach the verb to
himself or put it in directive forms consistently, but he prefer
to use it in forms of third party speakers, which are used to
represent various categories of speakers such as Mu’minūn
(believers), Kāfirūn (disbelievers), Humanity as whole and so
forth. The figure gives us an evidence in assuming that the
Quran practices open conversations with its addressees, where
the Author does not only face the addressees in one way
communication such as giving directives and commands,
stating rules and regulations, presenting personal
argumentations and so forth without bothering the other
parties’ points of view. Besides, the Author has given spaces
for others in His holy book by mentioning their ideas, believes
and thoughts although its came from His oppenents. He also
invites them to discuss issues based on logical and critical
thinking. In other words, the Quran communicates others with
respect and tries to convince them through logical and fair
argumentations.

TABLE I
DERIVATIVES OF THE VERB AND ITS FREQUENCY OF USE
f Verb + pronoun / frequency
Command Present Past tense Pronouns (STPUVW (ا
1077
ل 69 YZ[ ل 530 P5 Y ه Masculine
)S آ^_ (
3rd speakers
نYaTPbW ا
ن 1 cYZ[ 3 cP5 PU ه
92
نYWYZ[ ا 331 YWP5 d ه
ل 4 YZe 43 fWP5 g ه Feminine
ن 0 cYZe 2 PkWP5 PU ) ه hij_ (
0
lmZ[ 2 lm5 l ه
399
332 45 ل 10 YZe 4 fَ m5 fَ i أ Masculine
)S آ^_ (
2nd speakers
نYapPqUW ا
3 cY5 ن 0 cYZe 0 PUkm5 PUki أ
12
اYWY5 ن 27 YWYZe 9 dkm5 dki أ
1 gWY5 0 lrWYZe 0 fِ m5 fِ i أ Feminine
0 cY5 ن 0 cYZe 0 PUkm5 PUki ) أ hij_ (
1
lm5 0 lmZe 0 lkm5 lki أ
57
ل 15 Y5 3 أ fُ m5 Pi أ Mas &
Fem
و ) S آ^_
hij_)
1st speakers
نYUmvkUW ا
ل 12 YZi 27 Pwm5 lxi

This statistical finding had facilitated us in revealing the
answers regarding the use of the directive verb in the Holy
Quran. It is because, while we suppose that the Quran
practices open conversations with addressees, we will expect
that there will be variations in the Quran ways in delivering its
messages, and one of the effective ways is by occupying the
directive verb (45) as a command to Muhammad the Last
Messenger to say the revelation.

A hypothesis raised to claim that there must be reasons in
choosing this particular verb as a standard command in
delivering massages to humanity. The enquiry about this
unique locution once raised among the Sahābah, the
companions of Muhammad, who had met or had seen him
while in a state of īmān, and then died in that state, especially
Ubai bin Ka’ab r.a. and Abdullah bin Mas’ūd r.a. where they
had asked the Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. about this directive
verb in the beginning of two chapters of the Holy Quran which
were Sura al-Falaq and Sura an-Nās; is the verb included in
the Quran or not? And Muhammad p.b.u.h. answered them by
saying: “I was asked to say “say!” therefore I had said” ( gW 4َ r5
ْ45 ُ fُ mْZُ}َ), so we said exactly what the Messenger had said [3].

Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyyah in his interpretation of these
two chapters had discussed the existence of the directive verb
in the beginning of the chapters by referring it to the related
hadith as a proof for trustfulness and accuracy done by the
Messenger in delivering the revelations [4]. Although the
Prophet’s answer had given them a clear guideline in recording
the Quran, especially while dealing with this unique directive
verb, but, in the other hand, the significant meanings and the
performative forces bore on it had not yet been revealed.

Muslims believe that generally, the Sahābahs’
understanding of the Quran is better than any other people
from any century because they had experienced the period of
revealing, and that Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h. who is the
best interpreter of the Quran lives among them. In a hadith
narrated in Bukhari and Muslim, Abdullah bin Mas'ud said,
that the Prophet said: "The best century are my century and
the one after it" and in some narrations stated "the first century
and the second and the third"[3], [5]. It is believed that
understanding of the Quran and its implementation is the
indicator for the excellency of this generation. Therefore, the
researcher believes that those Sahābah were highly aware
about the performative forces within every verses of the
Quran, because they had focused their intention not only in
understanding of what the Quran said but also what the Quran
wants them to do.

The more distance between Muslims and the period of
revelation, the more their understanding of the Quran become
weakened; as nowadays Muslims have to rely on
interpretations (books of tafsīr) in order to strengthen their
understanding of the Quran. Unfortunately, not many of the
interpreters had focused in their discussion on the intentions of
the author as we named it as performative forces beneath the
sayings. The best effort seem to be done by Muhammad at-
Thohir ibn ‘Ãshur at-Tunīsī (1879-1973) in his tafsīr “at-
Tahrīr wa at-Tanwīr”, where he managed to state consistently
the objectives of every single chapter as an introduction to
these chapters. He had mentioned about this particular effort in
the preface of his book by saying: “I will not leave any single
Sura until I explain the objectives beneath it. Perhaps, through
this effort, seeker of Quran interpretation will not only know
the meaning of words and sentences isolated from the cohesion
of every Sura, hopefully this effort will deter him from
appreciating the absolute beauty of Quran” [6]. For example,
he had defined the objective of Sura al-Kāfirūn as to destroy
Mushrikīn intention in persuading Muhammad p.b.u.h. to be
tolerant in worshiping the one and only God, and left them in
hopelessness forever [6]. It is noticed that Ibn ‘Ãshur had
occupied Asbāb nuzūl in order to define the objective of the
chapter.

Muhammad at-Thohir’s effort was a fine kick start for a
pragmatic approach in dealing with Quran, but his work is
seen to be limited as he had only tried to define objectives for
every Sura as a whole by stating these objectives at the
beginning of his interpretation for every single Sura. It was
fine for a short chapter with a single topic or theme like Sura
al-Kāfirūn, but it seems to be very general for a long chapter
with multiple topics like Sura al-Baqara and Sura Ãli ‘Imrān.
Because of that, Speech Act Theory has been adopted as a
more practical approach in analyzing the directive verb and the
related verses in order to reveal the objectives of this sort of
locution.

In this analysis, the researcher had retrieved all Quran
verses that consist of the directive verb manually by using an
index of Quran word entitled as “al-Mu’jam al-Mufahras li
Alfādz al-Qur’ān il-Karīm” [7]. Descriptively, the directive
verb had been stated 332 times in 308 verses, which means
that the verb had stated more than once in certain verses. For
instance, it had been stated 5 times in verse 13:16 which is the
highest frequency of use, and 4 times in verse 6:19. The
researcher had gone through all the verses and justified 4
different styles of use as mentioned above. In this framework,
samples for each category will be pragmatically analyzed using
the Speech Act Theory.

The categories and its samples as below:
a. To make direct announcements, mosly in
encountering others.
[a/i]
Translation: Say: "O my Servants who have
transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the
Mercy of Allah. for Allah forgives all sins: for He is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (39:53)

b. To make speech on behalf of Muhammad.
[b/i]
Translation: Say: O ye that reject Faith! I worship
not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that
which I worship. And I will not worship that which
ye have been wont to worship, Nor will ye worship
…ِ Uَ † ْ رَ ْ l_ ا ِ Yˆُ wَZْ e َ PW ْ َ d‰ِ Šِ ‹ُi أَْ Œmَ„ ا َ Y}ُSَ  أَ ْ lَ [^ِ WŽ دِيَ ا Paَ„ ِ P[ ْ َ 45ُ
: S_—W (ا dُ r†ِ SŽ W رُ ا Y‹ُbَ W اْ Y هُ َ ُ iŽ إِ P“ً rUِ ” بَ َ Yiُ^– W ا Sُ ‹ِbْ [ َ َ mŽW ن ا Ž إِ ِ mŽW ا
(53
ْ dkُi أَْ PW ونَ ( 2) وََ ˜ُ aُ“ْ e َ P_ َ ˜ُ aُ„ أَ ْ PW ونَ ( 1) َ Sُ }ِPvَ W اْ P‰َ [– أَ P[ ْ َ 45ُ
ْ dkُi أَْ PW ْ ( 4) وََ de ُْ˜aَ„ َ P_ ٌ َ ˜™ِP„ َ Pi أََ PW ( 3) وََ ˜ُ aُ„ أَ ْ P_ ونَ َ ˜ُ ™ِP„َ
ون) S}PvW ( 6) (ا lِ [ دِ gَ W ْ وَِ dvُ wُ[ ْ دِ dvُ W ( 5) َ ˜ُ aُ„ أَ ْ P_ ونَ َ ˜ُ ™ِP„ َ
that which I worship. To you be your Way, and to
me mine. (109:1-6)

c. To answer questions.
[c/i]
Translation: They ask thee concerning wine and
gambling. Say: "In them is great sin, and some
profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit."
(2: 219)

d. To dictate general statements concerning the truth of
the author, his authority as the creator and his
creations
[d/i]
Translation: Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is
He begotten; and there is none like unto Him. (112: 1-
4)

In order to justify the performative forces beneath the
directive verb in these verses, two elements must be
considered; the sayings that took place after the verb and the
context of the sayings. The same procedures had been used in
determining the illocutionary speech acts in Austin’s Speech
Act Theory. Building on Austin’s thought, another language
philosopher John Searle tried to develop his own account of
speech acts by setting up these following classification of the
illocutionary speech act [8]:

a. Assertives: speech acts that commit a speaker to the
truth of the expressed proposition, e.g. reciting a
creed.

b. Directives: speech acts that are to cause the hearer to
take a particular action, e.g. requests, commands and
advice.

c. Commissives: speech acts that commit a speaker to
some future action, e.g. promises and oaths.

d. Expressives: speech acts that express the speaker's
attitudes and emotions towards the proposition, e.g.
congratulations, excuses and thanks.

e. Declaratives: speech acts that change the reality in
accord with the proposition of the declaration, e.g.
baptisms, pronouncing someone guilty or
pronouncing someone husband and wife.

These 5 kinds of basic illocutionary acts are noticed to be
identified by focusing on the nature of performative forces in
the speech and its consequences to the hearer or to the speaker
himself. In this work, the samples had been analyzed through 3
levels of speech acts; locutionary, illocutionary and
perlucotionary acts in order to justify the performative forces
bore on it. The table below stimulates the results of the
process.
سِ PwŽmW ِ žُ }ِPwَ ٌ وَ َ Sra ٌ آَِ dŸ إِْ PUَ ‰ِ r} ْ ِ 45 ُ Sِ Šِ rْUَ W وَاْ Sِ Uْ qَ W اْ lِ „ َ ›َ iَYWُœَŠْ [َ
( ة: 219 SZaW رة ا Y ( PUَ ‰ِ “ِ ‹ْ i ْ َ l_ ِ Sُ a أَآَْ PUَ ‰ُ Uُ Ÿ وَإِْ
ْ dW ْ ( 3) وََ ˜WَY[ ْ ُ dW ْ وََ ˜mِ[ ْ َ dW ( 2) َ ˜ُ Uَ¡Ž W ا ُ mŽW ٌ ( 1) ا ˜† أَ َ ُ mŽW ا Y ْ هُ َ 45ُ
ص) £¤¥ رة ا Y ٌ ( 4) ( ˜† ا أَ َ Yً ‹ آُُ ُ W ْ َ lvُ [ َ

TABLE II
TRANSFORMATION OF SPEECH ACTS THROUGH LEVELS
Samples
Levels
Speech
Acts
The Sayings

a/i 1st Say! O my Servants who have transgressed
against their souls! Despair not of the
Mercy of Allah. For Allah forgives all
sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most
Merciful.
2nd Give
advice!
A directive force towards all His
servants who had committed sins and
unlawful to repent
3rd Had been
said
trustfully by
Muhammad
p.b.u.h.
Consequently, the addressees feel the
merciful of speaker and it give hope
to them to repent [6]

b/i 1st Say! O ye that reject Faith! I worship not
that which ye worship, Nor will ye
worship that which I worship. And I
will not worship that which ye have
been wont to worship, Nor will ye
worship that which I worship. To you
be your Way, and to me mine.
2nd Encounter! An assertive force towards those who
persuade Muhammad p.b.u.h. to be
tolerance in worshiping
3rd Had been
said
trustfully by
Muhammad
p.b.u.h.
Consequently, the addressees had
stopped from persuading him [6]

c/i 1st Say! "In them is great sin, and some profit
for men; but the sin is greater than the
profit."
2nd Give
answer!
Command!
Indirectly, a directive force towards
them who had asked about wine and
gambling to avoid them because they
lead to a greater sin more than profit.
3rd Had been
done by
Muhammad
p.b.u.h.
Consequently, Muslims who
understand the indirect performative
force from this verse had avoid
drinking wine and gambling, and
others who do not realize the indirect
directive still practicing them. [6]

d/i 1st Say! He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah,
the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth
not, nor is He begotten; and there is
none like unto Him
2nd Encounter
them!
An assertive force in encountering
Musyrikīns’ corrupted belief; by
stating the truth of the God, the one
and only.
3rd Had been
said by
Muhammad
p.b.u.h.
Consequently, this speech effects both
sides; speakers and hearers. For
speakers it had strengthened their
belief in his God, and for hearers it
provided them with logical argument
about their belief [6].

The table shows the transformation of speech acts and its
consequences through 3 levels of analysis. The first level
concerns the literal meanings, while the second level concerns
the contextual meanings based on the intentions of the Author,
and have been translated into performative acts, while the final
level deals with the consequences produced by the actions.
The Author had used verb (say!) to be a standard directive in
inspiring this sort of revelations because this verb has a
general meanings which can be translated as advice, teach,
inform, encounter, argue, answer, and so on depend on the
contexts. In rhetorical study, this linguistic style is known as
al-ījāz in the Arabic rhetorical devices, which refers to
sentences that contain meanings more than its words do [9].
This device was discussed by many Muslim scholars as one of
the rhetorical miracles of the Quran, where it is believed that
the best speech is little and indicates.

Furthermore, the analysis had proven that the sayings bear
significant performative forces which effect either speakers or
hearers or both sides. Therefore, pragmatic analysis is seemed
to be a very practical approach to be applied in analyzing
related verses successfully. However, in some cases, the
performative forces could not be directly noticed from the
verses, yet more comprehensive steps should be taken to
extract the forces out, as what had been faced by the researcher
in analyzing sample [c/i]. Searle has a significant account in
dealing with indirect speech act, which is meant to be, more
particularly, an indirect illocutionary act. He describes indirect
speech acts as follows: “In indirect speech acts the speaker
communicates to the hearer more than he actually says by way
of relying on their mutually shared background information,
both linguistic and nonlinguistic, together with the general
powers of rationality and inference on the part of the hearer”
[10].

Searle had developed some more steps in order to analyze
indirect speech act, which indicates two levels of illocutionary
act; a primary illocutionary act as the indirect one, which is not
literally performed but meets the intention of the speaker,
while the secondary illocutionary act is the direct one,
performed in the literal utterance of the sentence. For example,
in analyzing sample [c/i], a secondary illocutionary act had
been literally indicated as a descriptive speech act which
describes that wine and gambling contain sin as well as profit,
but the sin is greater. This saying is an answer for question
asked by some of sahāba including Umar bin al-Khattāb and
Muadz bin Jabal about these two things, and logically it is
understood that their intention of asking the Prophet
Muhammad p.b.u.h. is concerning the status of those things in
Islamic law, not about benefits or dangers associated with
them because they already know about the consequences as
those wine and gambling were their lifestyle during the
Jahiliyyah period. It was recorded in tafsīr that those Sahābah
asked the Prophet p.b.u.h. related to the revelation of this
verse: “O Messenger of Allah, tell us about the status of wine
in Islam, for it swept away our wisdom and money”[6].
Therefore, the direct speech act isn’t seemed to meet the
intention of The Author who knows the addressees and their
intention well. This assumption leads into an investigation of
the primary illocutionary act, yet to be found as an indirect
speech act beneath the saying. The primary act usually has
relation with the secondary act, so it cannot be investigated
separately from the secondary one. In this sample, the
relationship between the primary and secondary acts can be
seen as the secondary illocutionary act is to be a causative of
the primary illocutionary act.

The discussion comes into the final lap, which will lead the
study to the reasons of the existence of the directive verb as a
general command to the Messenger p.b.u.h. in 308 Quran
verses. As mentioned before, the directive verb, at a glimpse,
does not bear any significant meaning except as a command to
say the saying. Furthermore, in many verses, the main message
will remain the same if we try to drop the verb off the
sentence, for example, in the last 4 short suras of the Quran;
al-Kafirun, al-Ikhlās, al-Falaq and an-Nās, the existence of
the verb is seemed to have no significant value, which leads
into an enquiry among a few sahāba. By applying speech act
theory in analyzing these related verses, it gives us a clear
view of the roles played by the directive verb, yet provides
clear reasons for its existence as follows:

i. It is considered as an excellent practice of al-ījāz in the
Arabic Rhetorical devices, because this verb bears
various kinds of performative forces.

ii. The existence of the verb highlights the role played by
the Messenger of God, which is to deliver all the
revelations trustfully without any editing.

iii. At the same time, it also reminds us about the authentic
source of the sayings.

iv. It gives more emphasis to the sayings which took place
after the directive in order to get more intention from
hearers, as mentioned by [6]

v. Although, the directive was specifically pointed to
Muhammad p.b.u.h., but Muslims should always bear
in their minds that they are responsible in delivering
the message of Allah. If they realize their roles as
Muhammad’s Ummah they will feel that the directive
contextually also pointed to them.

vi. From a descriptive look into the related verses, the
researcher had noticed that the revelation of these
verses occasionally was reactions towards events or
stands such as questioning, argumentation, defying and
challenge.

V. CONCLUSION
The Quran is the primary source of guidance to Muslims
which is represented in two basic elements; faith (īmān) and
performing (‘amal). The early Muslims generations read the
holy Quran and understood the revelation in performative way
by searching the intention of the Author from His revelations.
Nowadays, Muslims understanding of the Quran is seemed to
be weakened, not because of they do not understand the
meanings literally, but they fails in realizing the performative
forces bore on the revelation. Thus, the researcher believes
that it is important to extract the performative forces and
highlight them in interpreting Quran. Pragmatic analysis
especially based on Speech Act Theory is seemed to be a
practical and efficient approach in extracting performative
forces from the verses. From the analysis, the researcher had
successfully reached into 3 main points of conclusion as
below:

1. The directive verb (say o Muhammad) consists of
performative forces which had been stated as
illocutionary acts such as advice, inform, teach, ask,
encounter, and so forth.

2. The performative forces beneath the commanded
sayings had been noticed to have powerful impacts
concerning speakers or hearers.

3. In cases, the performative forces cannot be taken out
directly from the sayings; however, by applying some
intensive steps, it can be extracted indirectly.

4. Pragmatic analysis looks into the Quran text from a
holistic view; by considering every single thing related
to the text such as the Author and His intentions, text
and its discourse, the addressees and their reactions,
the occasion, the Messenger who delivered the text and
so forth.

Consequently, in the future, it is recommended to apply this
pragmatic approach in studying the Quran narrations and its
dialogues, perhaps this approach, through its holistic view, will
gives some clear explanations about ambiguities which are
seemed to be faced in justifying the objectives of the
narrations and the performative forces of the dialogues.

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