A Pragma-Semantic Analysis of Submission and Obedience in the Glorious Qur’an

This study investigates the pragma-semantic representation of the concepts of submission and obedience in the Glorious Qur’an by examining the linguistic and contextual strategies through which these concepts are communicated in Qur’anic discourse. Although Qur’anic discourse has been extensively studied, limited attention has been given to an integrated pragma-semantic analysis of these two concepts. Therefore, this study aims to explore how submission and obedience are pragmatically realised and semantically constructed in selected Qur’anic verses. Hence, the current study aims at: identifying the contextual meanings of submission and obedience, analysing the speech acts through which these concepts are expressed, examining the conventional and conversational implicatures generated by their linguistic expressions, and investigating the semantic relations that contribute to their conceptual representation. A qualitative descriptive-analytical approach is adopted. The analytical framework integrates Hymes’ (1974) SPEAKING Model, Kissine’s (2013) Speech Act Theory, Grice’s (1975) Implicature Theory, and Palmer’s classification of lexical relations (1981). The data consist of 16 Qur’anic verses selected from different Surahs, including eight verses on obedience and eight on submission. The findings indicate that submission and obedience are primarily realised through directive and declarative commanding speech acts, highlighting the inseparable relationship between faith and compliance with the commandments of Almighty Allah. The analysis further reveals that both conventional and conversational implicatures enrich the intended meanings of the selected Qur’anic verses. Semantically, lexical relations and binary oppositions, particularly obedience/disobedience and belief/disbelief, reinforce the theological and moral dimensions of these concepts. Overall, the study demonstrates that an integrated pragma-semantic approach provides a deeper understanding of how submission and obedience are linguistically and rhetorically constructed in the Glorious Qur’an.