Persuasive Speech Acts in Selected Short Surahs of the Glorious Quran

This study delves into illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in standard Arabic religious discourse. It aims to examine illocutionary speech acts specifically and their pragmatic functions in Surah Al-Balad and Surah At-teen, which are short Surahs of the Glorious Quran, from a persuasive perspective. The significance of this study is to show the role of speech acts and their pragmatic functions as persuasive strategies used in the Holy Quran to convince people. Data for this study have been selected on the basis that they involve different types of direct and indirect illocutionary speech acts and different pragmatic functions, in addition, they seem to have not been tackled before from the perspective of persuasion. Furthermore, exegetical books like Al Shirazi, Qutb and Al Tabatabaei have been consulted for the interpretation of the previously mentioned Surahs on which the analysis depends. In this study, a qualitative method has been used to analyze the data and only twenty three examples have been examined. The conclusions of this study are that different illocutionary speech acts like representatives, directives, commissives and expressive and different pragmatic functions such as asserting, censuring, ordering, threatening, promising and blaming were used in the said Surahs for persuasion. Moreover, indirect illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in both Surahs were heavily used and several of them were performed in the form of a rhetorical question for a persuasive purpose in which people are involved in communication and an effect is created on their minds and hearts to make them reform themselves. Direct illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions were also persuasively used in both Surahs to assert truths and to make people accept them and behave accordingly. © 2022 JTUH, College of Education for Human Sciences, Tikrit University DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25130/jtuh.29.10.1.2022.23 ميركلا نا رقلا نم ةراتخم راصق رهس يف ةيعانقلاا ةيملاكلا لاعفلاا راق يذ ةعماج /بادلاا ةيمك / رجب يداى ىجى .م ةصلاخلا : ةيزاجنلاا ةيملاكلا لاعفلاا ةيلاحلا ةسا رجلا ثحبت ةيبخعلا ةغملا يف ينيجلا باظخلا يف ةيلواجتلا ايفئاعوو يف ةيلواجتلا ايفئاعوو ةيزاجنلاا ةيملاكلا لاعفلاا ؽع يرقتلا ىلا ةيلاحلا ةسا رجلا فجيتو ىحرفلا هحى ةيمىا ؽمكت .عانقلاا رؾغنم ؽم ؽيتلا ةرؾسو جمبلا ةرؾس امىو نا خقلا رؾس ؽم ؽيتخيرق ؽيترؾس دلجملا ةيناسنلاا مولعلل تيركت ةعماج ةلجم ⦃ 92 ⦄ ددعلا ⦃ 01 ⦄ ماعل لولاا ءزجلا 9199 46 رود زا خبا يف ةسا رجلا ةيلواجتلا ايفئاعوو ةيملاكلا لاعفلاا ويعانقإ تايجيتا ختساك نا خقلا يف تممعتسا عانقلإ ؼيخكلا لاعفلاا فمتخم ىمع يؾتحت اينا ساسا ىمع ةسا رجلا هحى تانايب رايتخا ؼت جقو سانلا ةيلواجتلا فئاعؾلا فمتخمو ةخشابملا خيغو ةخشابملا ةيزاجنلاا ةيملاكلا ةفاضلإاب وجبي ونا ىلا هحى نا يزا خيذمل نا خقلا خيدفت بتكب ةناعتسلاا تمت .يعانقا رؾغنم ؽم لبق يذ ؽم ايلوانت ؼتي ؼل تانايبلا هحى ىمع ادامتعا ليمحتلا ؼت جقو اميل ةراشلاا تقبس ؽيتملا ؽيترؾدلا خيدفت يف بظقو يئابطابظلاو يبلا ليمحت يف ةيعؾنلا ةيخغنلا ماجختسا ؼت ةسا رجلا هحى يفو خيسافتلا نوخذعو ةثلاث طقف ليمحت ؼت جقو تانا سا ؼت ونا ةيلاحلا ةسا رجلا تجتنتسا .لااثم لامعت تايخيخقتلا لثم ةيزاجنلاا ةيملاكلا لاعفلاا فمتخم جيجيتلاو خملااو خيبؾتلاو جيكأتمل ةيلواجتلا فئاعؾلا فمتخم ػلحكو تايخيبعتلاو تايما دللااو تايييجؾتلاو نا ؽيترؾدلا يف مؾملاو جعؾلاو خكحلا يتف عانقلإل سا ػلحكو . تممعت ةخشابملا خيغ ةيزاجنلاا ةيملاكلا لاعفلاا ويف ؼت يعانقا ضخغل يغلابلا مايفتسلاا لكذب درو جق اينم ضعبلاو فثكم لكذب ةيلواجتلا ايفئاعوو ؾمؾقي ؼيمعجل ؼيبؾمقو ؼيلؾقع ىمع خيثأت قمخل لصاؾتلا يف سانلا كا خشا ن حلاصإب لاعفلاا اما ؼيدفنا ىمع جيكأتمل ؽيترؾدلا لاك يف عنقم لكذب تممعتسا جقف ةيلواجتلا ايفئاعوو ةخشابملا ةيزاجنلاا ةيملاكلا .ايل اعبت اؾفخرتيو ايب نؾمبقي سانلا لعجل قئاقحلا :ةيحاتفملا تاملكلا رؾدلا ،عانقلاا ،نا خقلا ،ةيلواجتلا فئاعؾلا ،ةيملاكلا لاعفلاا ةيلواجتلا , 1.Introduction The Holy Quran is the first source of legislation in Islam and to which Muslims resort for teachings in all aspects of life. The present study conducts a pragmatic analysis of illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in two short Surahs of the Glorious Quran, namely Surah Al-Balad and Surah Atteen from a persuasive perspective. These selected short Surahs are regarded as standard Arabic religious discourse. Adam (2017, as cited in Holíčková, 2019) states that religious discourse is one of the important types of discourse the goal of which is to convince the audience. This study aims to find out the different types of illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in the aforementioned Surahs from a persuasive perspective. The significance of this study is to highlight the role of illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions as persuasive strategies used in the Holy Quran to persuade people. This study raises the following questions : 1 What are the illocutionary speech acts performed in Surah Al-Balad and Surah At-teen to achieve persuasion? 2 What are the pragmatic functions used in the said Surahs to achieve persuasion? دلجملا ةيناسنلاا مولعلل تيركت ةعماج ةلجم ⦃ 92 ⦄ ددعلا ⦃ 01 ⦄ ماعل لولاا ءزجلا 9199 47 Searle's (1969) taxonomy of speech acts is adopted to analyze illocutionary speech acts specifically and their pragmatic functions in the said Surahs from the perspective of persuasion. In addition, direct and indirect speech acts are also investigated from a persuasive perspective. 2. Previous Studies In this study, a brief examination of the related studies handling speech acts in the Glorious Quran is provided. Al-Saaidi, et al. (2013) examined selected Quranic and Biblical verses to find out how prohibition as a speech act is used. Through making a three level analysis involving syntax, semantics and pragmatics, the researchers concluded that the negative imperative' do not do' is used to express prohibition in Arabic whereas declarative sentences are used to perform the speech act of prohibition in English. Amin et al.(2017) investigated directive imperative speech acts in the Quran. Through a pragmatic analysis, the researchers examined selected verses to find out the types of the said speech acts in addition to their functions. The results of this study are that directive speech acts involve four types like imperative speech acts employed directly, declarative speech acts used indirectly, literal speech acts and non-literal speech acts. There are also some speech functions like commanding, advising, prohibiting, inviting, reminding, showing hopes and praying. Quite relatedly, Munir (2019) conducted a thesis on examining directive speech acts in the English translation of Surah Luqman by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, aiming to find out the types of directive speech acts in addition to the dominant types of this speech act occurring in the said Surah. The findings of this thesis are that there are six types of directive speech acts occurring in the English translation of this Surah: questioning, prohibiting, suggesting, ordering, commanding and apprising. The dominant type of this speech act is apprising the function of which is to give information which, in turn, implies an order and prohibition from doing something. Furthermore, Susri et al. (2020) investigated speech acts phenomena based on Austin's taxonomy including locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary speech acts and types of illocutionary speech acts and speech functions based on Searle's theory in the translation of surah Al-Kahf by Abdallah Yusuf Ali. The researchers collected 110 interpretation texts of the aforementioned Surah and analyzed only nine samples. Based on a content analysis, this study concluded that all types of speech acts phenomena occur in the English translation of this Surah. Additionally, illocutionary speech acts involve representatives with stating and boasting speech functions and directives with requesting, commanding, advising and recommending دلجملا ةيناسنلاا مولعلل تيركت ةعماج ةلجم ⦃ 92 ⦄ ددعلا ⦃ 01 ⦄ ماعل لولاا ءزجلا 9199 48 speech functions. Moreover, Nurfithri (2020) conducted a study on speech acts in the translation of Surah AlFatihah. He aimed to discover the types of speech acts occurring in addition to their functions which were elicited from the exegetical book which is IbnKathir. Based on a pragmatic analysis, the researcher concluded that three types of speech act occur in the translation of this Surah: representatives, directives and expressives. All these speech acts have different functions like asserting, directing, thanking, glorifying and praising Allah. As discussed above, the previous studies have tackled speech acts from only a pragmatic analysis perspective. The significance of the present study involves conducting a pragmatic analysis of illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in Surah AlBalad and Surah At-teen from a persuasive perspective. 3. Theoretical Framework


A B S T R A C T
This study delves into illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in standard Arabic religious discourse. It aims to examine illocutionary speech acts specifically and their pragmatic functions in Surah Al-Balad and Surah At-teen, which are short Surahs of the Glorious Quran, from a persuasive perspective. The significance of this study is to show the role of speech acts and their pragmatic functions as persuasive strategies used in the Holy Quran to convince people. Data for this study have been selected on the basis that they involve different types of direct and indirect illocutionary speech acts and different pragmatic functions, in addition, they seem to have not been tackled before from the perspective of persuasion. Furthermore, exegetical books like Al Shirazi, Qutb and Al Tabatabaei have been consulted for the interpretation of the previously mentioned Surahs on which the analysis depends. In this study, a qualitative method has been used to analyze the data and only twenty three examples have been examined. The conclusions of this study are that different illocutionary speech acts like representatives, directives, commissives and expressive and different pragmatic functions such as asserting, censuring, ordering, threatening, promising and blaming were used in the said Surahs for persuasion. Moreover, indirect illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in both Surahs were heavily used and several of them were performed in the form of a rhetorical question for a persuasive purpose in which people are involved in communication and an effect is created on their minds and hearts to make them reform themselves. Direct illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions were also persuasively used in both Surahs to assert truths and to make people accept them and behave accordingly.

1.Introduction
The Holy Quran is the first source of legislation in Islam and to which Muslims resort for teachings in all aspects of life. The present study conducts a pragmatic analysis of illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in two short Surahs of the Glorious Quran, namely Surah Al-Balad and Surah Atteen from a persuasive perspective. These selected short Surahs are regarded as standard Arabic religious discourse. Adam (2017, as cited in Holíčková, 2019) states that religious discourse is one of the important types of discourse the goal of which is to convince the audience. This study aims to find out the different types of illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in the aforementioned Surahs from a persuasive perspective. The significance of this study is to highlight the role of illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions as persuasive strategies used in the Holy Quran to persuade people. This study raises the following questions : 1 -What are the illocutionary speech acts performed in Surah Al-Balad and Surah At-teen to achieve persuasion? Searle's (1969) taxonomy of speech acts is adopted to analyze illocutionary speech acts specifically and their pragmatic functions in the said Surahs from the perspective of persuasion. In addition, direct and indirect speech acts are also investigated from a persuasive perspective.

Previous Studies
In this study, a brief examination of the related studies handling speech acts in the Glorious Quran is provided. Al-Saaidi, et al. (2013) examined selected Quranic and Biblical verses to find out how prohibition as a speech act is used. Through making a three level analysis involving syntax, semantics and pragmatics, the researchers concluded that the negative imperative' do not do' is used to express prohibition in Arabic whereas declarative sentences are used to perform the speech act of prohibition in English. Amin et al.(2017) investigated directive imperative speech acts in the Quran. Through a pragmatic analysis, the researchers examined selected verses to find out the types of the said speech acts in addition to their functions. The results of this study are that directive speech acts involve four types like imperative speech acts employed directly, declarative speech acts used indirectly, literal speech acts and non-literal speech acts. There are also some speech functions like commanding, advising, prohibiting, inviting, reminding, showing hopes and praying. Quite relatedly, Munir (2019) conducted a thesis on examining directive speech acts in the English translation of Surah Luqman by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, aiming to find out the types of directive speech acts in addition to the dominant types of this speech act occurring in the said Surah. The findings of this thesis are that there are six types of directive speech acts occurring in the English translation of this Surah: questioning, prohibiting, suggesting, ordering, commanding and apprising. The dominant type of this speech act is apprising the function of which is to give information which, in turn, implies an order and prohibition from doing something. Furthermore, Susri et al. (2020) investigated speech acts phenomena based on Austin's taxonomy including locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary speech acts and types of illocutionary speech acts and speech functions based on Searle's theory in the translation of surah Al-Kahf by Abdallah Yusuf Ali. The researchers collected 110 interpretation texts of the aforementioned Surah and analyzed only nine samples. Based on a content analysis, this study concluded that all types of speech acts phenomena occur in the English translation of this Surah. Additionally, illocutionary speech acts involve representatives with stating and boasting speech functions and directives with requesting, commanding, advising and recommending speech functions. Moreover, Nurfithri (2020) conducted a study on speech acts in the translation of Surah Al-Fatihah. He aimed to discover the types of speech acts occurring in addition to their functions which were elicited from the exegetical book which is IbnKathir.
Based on a pragmatic analysis, the researcher concluded that three types of speech act occur in the translation of this Surah: representatives, directives and expressives. All these speech acts have different functions like asserting, directing, thanking, glorifying and praising Allah.
As discussed above, the previous studies have tackled speech acts from only a pragmatic analysis perspective. The significance of the present study involves conducting a pragmatic analysis of illocutionary speech acts and their pragmatic functions in Surah Al-Balad and Surah At-teen from a persuasive perspective.

Persuasion
Hardin (2010, p.155) states that Robin Lakoff defines persuasion as " the nonreciprocal attempt or intention of one party to change the behavior, feelings, intentions, or viewpoint of another by communicative means." ( as cited in Altikriti, 2016, p. 52). To communicate in a successful way is to be persuasive. Moradi (2010, as cited in Fathollahi & Kamely, 2012, p.2658) sees persuasion as a " communicative activity which [sic] goal is to influence the receiver of message; meaning that a motivational message voluntarily presents the receiver by an idea or behavior and it is expected that this message succeeds in impacting the receiver of message". Sarookhani (2004) and Hakimara (2004) mention that communication has three elements: messenger, message and audience. Furthermore, for communication to be convincing, some features and factors related to these elements should be taken into consideration. The messenger should be characterized by being skillful in communication in addition to having status, attitude and knowledge. Concerning the audience, some psychological factors like intelligence and self-esteem and sociological factors like the level of education, gender and social status should be taken into account when convincing the audience. As for the message used for persuasion, it should have some features like being reasonable, effective, understandable and structured ( as cited in Fathollahi &Kamely, 2012).
Rhetoric and social psychology paid more attention to persuasion unlike pragmatics in which persuasion has been tackled in a narrow scope. Some studies have been conducted on persuasion especially in the fields of courtrooms and advertisement (Altikriti, 2016). From a pragmatic perspective, persuasion aims to send messages with a specific persuasive intention, and speech acts, which are considered one of the main areas of pragmatics, are " frames with conventional meaning or intent" (Goffman, 1974, as cited in Altikriti, 2016.

Speech Act Theory
Speech act theory is "a theory which analyses the role of utterances in relation to the behavior of speaker and hearer in interpersonal communication" ( Crystal, 2003, p. 427) . This theory was proposed by Austin in 1962 in his book in which he talked about doing things by using utterances. His book has a big effect on the domain of pragmatics (Mey, 1993). In this theory, a distinction was made between constatives and performatives by Austin. According to this distinction, constative statements are assessed according to truth whereas performative statements are assessed according to felicity. Later, he abandoned this distinction and distinguished between explicit performatives and implicit performatives. Explicit performatives are performed by using performative verbs whereas implicit performatives are performed without using performative verbs (Yule,1996).
When speaking, the speaker performs three speech acts at the same time. According to Austin (1962) these acts are locutionary act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. The locutionary act involves producing sounds and words to generate meaningful statements. The Illocutionary act is one by which the speaker conveys his/her intention to the hearer. The perlocutionary act involves the effect made by the illocutionary act ( as cited in Alkhirbash, 2016). Austin (1962) proposed taxonomy of speech acts in which illocutionary speech acts were refined later by his student Searle. Searle(1979) inspired a taxonomy consisting of five types of speech acts. They are as follows: 1. Representatives: Speech acts in which prepositions are asserted to be true (e.g. deny, affirm, conclude… etc.).
2-Directives: Speech acts in which the hearer is made to do something by the speaker (e. g. beg, command, request…etc.).
3-Commissives: Utterances in which one commits himself/herself to do something in future (e. g. vow, promise, swear… etc.). 4-Expreesives: Speech acts in which the speaker's psychological state is expressed to the hearer (e. g. regret, thank, appreciate… etc.).

5-Declarations
: Statements used to change the condition of an object or situation (e.g. pronounce, name…etc.) ( as cited in Alkhirbash, 2016).
When communicating with others, sometimes the speaker performs a speech act in which the function is made implicit. Such a type is considered an indirect speech act. There is another type which is regarded as a direct speech act in which the function is performed explicitly (Yule,1996). This function is referred to as pragmatic function which Searle (1969, as cited in Al-Saidi, 2016) defines as "the illocutionary force a given speech act entails in addition to the meaning it expresses and it refers to the embedded associative connotations of a word or an expression that carries implicit meanings". In communication, persuasion is considered a form of directive speech acts (Searle, 1969). Although directive speech acts are used to convince people, persuasion can also be achieved by performing other types of speech acts mentioned above (Taufik, 2014, as cited in Jibreen & Al-Janabi, 2018).

4.1.Approach of the Study
This study is mainly a qualitative one because it involves a text analysis of Surah Al-Balad and Surah At-teen which have been collected to find out the different types of illocutionary speech acts and their different pragmatic functions performed to achieve persuasion.

4.2.Data Collection
In this study, the data have been extracted from the Glorious Quran, involving two Surahs: Al-Balad and At-teen. Both Surahs include (22) speech acts which occur directly and indirectly. They also include different pragmatic functions. The books of Quran exegesis like Al Shirazi (2005), Qutb (1992) and Al Tabatabaei (2008) have been consulted to provide the context which is depended on to analyze the selected Surahs.

4.3.Data Selection Rationale
For the sake of analysis, the data have been selected for the following reasons: 1-They include different types of direct and indirect illocutionary speech acts and different pragmatic functions that are not mentioned in the text.

2-
The selected data comprise direct and indirect illocutionary speech acts and different pragmatic functions which seem to have not been tackled before from the perspective of persuasion.

4.4.Data Analysis
In this study, two short Surahs of the Glorious Quran have been selected for analysis, namely, Surah Al-Balad and Surah Al-teen. Only (23) samples are mentioned and for other samples (see the Appendix).These samples are analyzed to find out the direct and indirect illocutionary speech acts together with their pragmatic functions from a persuasive perspective. Searle's (1969) taxonomy of speech acts is adopted for analysis. Some speech acts classes are mentioned more than once, for the verses in each Surah are analyzed according to their interpretation which is related to their orders in the Surahs. Moreover, the translation of the two Surahs is taken from Abdel Haleem (2004) and their transliteration is taken from the website (https://www.islamicfinder.org/).

4.5.1Analysis of Surah Al-Balad ( The City)
This Surah is one of the short Surahs of the Glorious Quran. It includes twenty verses. There are many types of illocutionary speech acts occurring in this Surah: direct and indirect speech acts of representatives, indirect speech acts of directives, indirect speech acts of commisives and indirect speech acts of expressives. Some pragmatic functions occur in this Surah like asserting, threatening, blaming, censuring, ordering and promising. In regard to the context of situation, it seems like books of tafsir did not mention any context of situation (see Al Shirazi,2005;Al Tabatabaei, 2008;Qutb, 1992;Alwahidi, 1994).

1.Direct Representative Speech Act
This type of speech acts occurs twice directly and indirectly in the Surah under study, forming 11%out of the total (17). There are four verses occurring as one sample of the direct representative speech act with an asserting pragmatic function , making up 50% out of the total (2). The indirect representative speech act is analyzed under the category of indirect speech acts of representatives together with the category of indirect speech acts of directives, for the analysis of the verses depends on their exegesis which is related to their order in this Surah. The indirect representative speech act occurs only one time, making up 50% out of the total (2). See the following example of the direct representative speech act with the asserting pragmatic function:

Translit. "Laqad khalaqna alinsana fee kabadin"
Al Shirazi (2005) states that 'kabad' in this Surah means intensity. In the verses above, Allah made oaths on three magnificent things which are Mekka for being the center of monotheism, the great Prophet Mohammed who is the inhabitant of this city and the Prophet Abraham and his son Ismail to confirm a truth of life. This truth is that human beings were created to struggle and toil in all stages of their life from birth to death, and they should not expect comfort in their life (Al Shirazi, 2005;Qutb,1992). In the light of Searle's (1969) model, these verses are an example of a direct representative speech act with an asserting pragmatic function in which Allah asserts that life is a journey of fatigue and pain, and there is no comfort except in the next life. By taking oaths on these three great things, He wants to strongly persuade people to accept the law of life in which human beings face difficulties and calamities in all stages of their life, and they have to struggle and exert their efforts to attain things. In addition, they should not expect or seek tranquility or even gain things without toil, for such things are available in the next world only.

Indirect Commissive Speech Acts
There are five examples of commissives which occur implicitly in this Surah , representing 29% out of the total (17). Within this type of speech acts, two pragmatic functions ( threatening and promising) occur. The threatening pragmatic function within this kind of speech acts is extensively used. There are four examples of this pragmatic function, representing 80% out of the total (5) (see the Appendix). The other example of the indirect commissive speech act with the promising pragmatic function is analyzed in a separate section because its analysis depends on the order of the verses in this Surah. The following is a good example of the commissive speech act with the threatening pragmatic function:

Translit. "Ayahsabu an lanyaqdira AAalayhi ahadun"
This verse talks about arrogant rich people who have power and wealth, and they oppress others and disobey Allah's orders, for they think Allah will not punish them or deprive them from wealth He has given to them (Al Shirazi, 2005 ;Qutb, 1992). Based on Searle's (1969) model, the verse above is an indirect commissive speech act with a threatening pragmatic function occurring in the form of a rhetorical question. Harris (2005( , as cited in Faysal, 2013 states that a rhetorical question is a persuasive technique used to make an effect and put an emphasis on a certain issue. It is not asked to get an answer. In this verse, Allah performed this speech act in the form of a rhetorical question to makes an effect on people by threatening them that they will be punished if their wealth and power cause them to boast and do bad deeds. Egner (2002( , as cited in Sami, 2016 explains that "Threat is a commitment by one person intended to change another person's future behavior". In this verse, intimidation in which people are threatened with punishment, and which was expressed indirectly is used as a means of persuasion in which they are involved to contemplate the issue of punishment because this might prevent them from committing sins. In addition, Allah wants to convince them that power, fortune and positions are temporary and result in punishment if they misuse them and He wants them to obey His orders and not to be proud of wealth and power.

3.Indirect Expressive Speech Acts
In the Surah under scrutiny, only two examples occur, and all of them are of a blaming pragmatic function, representing 11% out of the total (17)

Translit. "Yaqoolu ahlaktu malanlubadan"
In this verse, the word 'ahlaktu' means wasting wealth and the word 'lubada' means much wealth (Al Shirazi,2005). This verse tells that there are those who are ordered to spend their money on what is right, but they do not do so and claim that they spend much money. If such people spend money, they only give it for hypocritical aims (Al Shirazi, 2005;Qutb,1992). Based on Searle's (1969) model, the above verse is not an instance of a representative speech act with an asserting pragmatic function. Rather, it is an instance of an indirect expressive speech act with a blaming pragmatic function. Allah blames those who do not obey him in giving money for doing good deeds. He, also, blames them for spending money on personal intentions. Talbert ( 2008, p. 532) explains that "Blaming someone explains his failure to follow moral standards and values of his society and through this; the blamer wants to publicize such values and standards" ( as cited in Ajeel, 2016, p.433). By indirectly blaming such kind of people, Allah wants to motivate them to follow his orders of performing their duties in giving money for doing good deeds and to avoid hypocrisy in giving money. Furthermore, He encourages them to make as a norm spending money according to what He orders so that the whole society will cooperate and help one another.

4.Indirect Directive and Representative Speech Acts
Indirect speech acts of directives occur with a high frequency of occurrence in the Surah under analysis. There are eight instances of this type of speech acts, forming 47% out of the total (17). The pragmatic functions occurring within this type of speech acts are censuring and ordering. The censuring pragmatic function occurs three times with 37% out of the total (8)

Translit. "Wa hadaynahu alnnajdayni"
According to Al Shirazi (2005), the word 'najd' in this verse gives the meaning of 'an open high way' which is a metaphorical expression for showing a highway of right and evil. The verses above talk about two types of great divine gifts: material and spiritual. The materials gifts involve eyes, tongue and lips. The eyes help human being to communicate with the world around them. In addition, the tongue has the function of transmitting information from generation to generation. Moreover, the lips are used to produce sounds and phonemes. The great spiritual gift given to human beings is guidance to Allah which is metaphorically referred to as a highway of right. Allah has bestowed human beings these bounties and has given them freedom to choose between the right way and the wrong one. In this way, disbelievers and ungrateful people will deserve punishment if they go the wrong way. Moreover, these gifts are given to human beings to make them feel grateful to Allah and obey him ( Al Shirazi, 2005 ;Qutb, 1992). In the light of Searle's (1969) taxonomy, these three verses occur in the form of rhetorical questions the pragmatic function of which was made implicit. These verses are instances of indirect speech acts of directives with a censuring pragmatic function in which Allah indirectly censures ungrateful people and disbelievers who have been given these bounties for not thanking Him, not avoiding pride and not following his orders. He motivates people to contemplate these gifts in order that they thank Him and benefit from them in following the lawful direction. Furthermore, He convinces them that being blessed with such great graces leaves no room for choosing the

Translit. "Aw miskeenan tha matrabatin"
Al Shirazi (2005) states the meaning of some words which are important in the exegesis of these verses. The word 'AAaqab' means an uphill climb. The word 'masghaba' means famine. In addition, the word 'maqraba' means relationship and the word 'matraba' means soil. These verses handle the issue of performing some duties which are not performed by disbelievers. Furthermore, they are portrayed as an uphill road which is magnified because it is difficult to pass. The duties mentioned in the above verses involve freeing slaves and feeding orphaned relatives and very poor people who are down in the dust due to their poverty at a time of famine. Performing these duties helps get rid of punishment and results in a high status in heaven. Although all orphans and poor people should be given help, these groups mentioned above have priority over others. In addition, these duties are depicted as an uphill road which is passed with difficulty due to people great love for wealth (Al Shirazi,2005;Qutb,1992). Based on Searle, the verse ( ‫اا‬ ‫ا‬ َ َ َ َ َ ْ ‫اَ‬ ‫اال‬ ‫ا‬ َ ‫م‬ ‫اكَ‬ َ ‫ْر‬ ‫د‬ َ ‫أ‬ ‫اال‬ ‫ا‬ َ ‫م‬ َ ‫و‬ wama adraka ma alAAaqaba) occurs in the form of a rhetorical question to assert the importance of passing the uphill path. So, it is an example of an indirect representative speech act with an asserting pragmatic function. The humanitarian works are described as an uphill path to persuade people to struggle against the self to pass it and deserve a reward in heaven. Concerning the other verses mentioned above, they are not representatives as they appear from the structure, rather, they are indirect speech acts of directives with an ordering pragmatic function. Allah orders people to help orphaned relatives and needy people at a time of starvation and not to let their love for money prevent them from doing these good deeds. He indirectly convinces them to struggle against the self and to stop loving money too much because it hinders them from performing the aforementioned humanitarian works which are portrayed in one of the verses above as being very difficult tasks. He, also, encourages them to do these good deeds to build a spirit of cooperation in the society and to make them attain His pleasure and get a high status in heaven.

5.Indirect Commissive Speech Act
This kind of speech acts occur five times in the Surah under study and two pragmatic functions occur within this type: threatening and promising. The commissive speech act with the threatening pragmatic function is analyzed under the category of indirect speech acts of commissives which is previously mentioned. There is only one pragmatic function of promising which is expressed implicitly in this Surah , making up 20% out of the total (5). Consider the following example :

Translit. "Olaika ashabual maymanati"
According to Al Shirazi (2005), the word 'ashabual maymana' means the believers whose records of deeds will be given to their right hand. This verse tells that those who do the previously mentioned humanitarian works are rewarded with giving them their record to their right hand in the day of Judgment (Al Shirazi,2005;Qutb,1992). In the light of Searle's (1969) model, the verse above is not a representative speech act. Rather, it is an indirect commissive speech act with a promising pragmatic function in which Allah promises paradise to the believers on account of their good deeds. Exhortation in which the believers are promised paradise in this verse is employed as a means of persuasion to motivate people to struggle against the self, to do a humanitarian service to their community and to follow Allah's orders.

6.Speech Acts of Declarations
No instance of declarations occurs in this Surah. The table above shows that the indirect speech acts of directives with the censuring and ordering pragmatic functions occur with (47%) frequency of occurrence, which is higher than that of other types of speech acts in this surah. The indirect speech acts of commissives with the threatening and promising pragmatic functions have (29%) frequency of occurrence. Fathollahi and Kamely (2012) explain that the Quran involves all the features related to the elements of communication which are the messenger, the message and the audience when addressing people , in addition, it takes into consideration their location and time to achieve persuasion. In this Surah, several indirect speech acts like the two types mentioned above in addition to the indirect representative speech act with the asserting pragmatic function were performed in the form of rhetorical questions. Harris (2005, p. 17) considers the rhetorical question a technique that " allows your reader to think ,query, and conclude along with you." ( as cited in Faysal, 2013, p. 571).The other type of speech acts in this Surah is of expressives which were also used indirectly. It seems like performing these speech acts in this way is because Allah, in the Quran, addresses people of different mentalities in different places and at a different time. He wants to make a communication in which He involves them and motivate them to think of the answer and contemplate different issues like the importance of the steep path in addition to the rules they break and the punishment they deserve in case they do not question themselves and obey Him. As a result, they might reform themselves. So, performing these types of speech acts with different pragmatic functions implicitly and in the form of rhetorical questions seems more persuasive. Also, it might be more persuasive to perform the representative speech act with the asserting pragmatic function directly to assert the truth of creating human beings in intensity to attract their attention to it to make them accept it and behave accordingly. It is worth mentioning that this is the only direct speech act in this Surah.

4.5.2.Analysis of Surah At-teen ( The Fig)
Surah At-teen is a short one consisting of eight verses. Some speech acts in this Surah occur like direct and indirect speech acts of representatives, direct and indirect speech acts of commissives and an indirect directive speech act. There are also some pragmatic functions occurring in this Surah such as asserting, threatening, promising and censuring. After consulting tafsir books, it seems like there is no context of situation for this Surah ( see Al Shirazi, 2005;Al Tabatabaei,2008;Qutb, 1992;Alwahidi, 1994).

1.Direct Representative Speech Act
There are two examples of direct and indirect speech acts of representatives in the Surah under study, representing 40% out of the total (5). Only one example of a direct representative speech act with an asserting pragmatic function occurs, making up 50% out of the total (2). An indirect representative speech act with an asserting pragmatic function also occurs in one instance in this Surah, representing 50% out of the total (2). It is mentioned in a separate section, for the analysis of the verses depends on their interpretation which, in turn, depends on their order in this Surah. Consider the following example of the direct representative speech act with the asserting pragmatic function:

Trasnslit. "Laqad khalaqna alinsana fee ahsani taqweemin"
Al Shirazi (2005) explains that the word ' taqweem' in this Surah means to create something in an appropriate shape. In these verses, oaths were made on four important things which are the fig, the olive, the mount Sinai and the sacred city 'Mekka'. The fig and the olive refer to places from which some great Prophets appeared. The mount Sinai is a place where the Prophet Musa performed supplications. By taking oaths on these things, Allah mentions a truth that He created human beings in an appropriate shape in all spiritual, rational and bodily aspects and has given them different talents and faculties that help them cover a way towards development and follow the lawful way ( Al Shirazi, 2005;Qutb, 1992). Based on Searle's (1969) model, the verses above are an instance of a direct representative speech act with an asserting pragmatic function in which Allah asserts the fact that human beings were created in the best mould to help them choose the path of truth and follow His law. He indirectly persuades them to question themselves and to contemplate the best mould in which they were created and the faculties and talents He has given to them so that they feel grateful to Him for these bounties and use them in a way which is compatible to what He orders to reach exaltation.

2.Direct and Indirect Commissive Speech Acts
In this Surah, there are two instances of direct and indirect speech acts of commissives, forming 40% out of the total (5). The first instance is of an indirect commissive speech acts with a threatening pragmatic function, making up 50% out of the total (2). The second example is of a direct commissive speech act with a promising pragmatic function, forming 50% out of the total

Trasnslit. "Thumma radadnahu asfala safileena"
Although Allah created humankind in the best mould and blessed them with different talents and abilities , there are those who rebel against Him and refuse to follow His teachings. So, they will fall lower than the beast and deserve punishment (Al Shirazi, 2005;Al Tabatabaei,2008). In the light of Searle's (1969) model, this verse is an indirect commissive speech act with a threatening pragmatic function. Allah threatens ungrateful human beings who follow after evil and do bad deeds with being placed in the lowest status and He will punish them if they do not deliver their potential He gave to them to go the righteous way and obey Him. Intimidating people by threat has an effect to change their future behavior. In this verse, threat was indirectly employed to motivate people, especially those who do not obey Allah, to question themselves and to see themselves as honored creatures due to the noble shape and the privileges bestowed on them. As a consequence, they might behave accordingly and avoid punishment in the afterlife .
There is also an instance of a direct commissive speech act with a promising pragmatic function in this Surah. Consider the following example : Trans. "except those who believe and do good deeds--they will have an unfailing reward." (Abdel Haleem, 2004, p.427).

Trasnslit. "Illa allatheena amanoow aAAamiloo alssalihati falahum ajrun ghayru mamnoonin"
According to Al Shirazi (2005), the word 'mamnoon' means non-stopping. People who are grateful to Allah for the noble shape He created them in and who do the righteous deeds are promised to be given a non-stopping reward (Al Shirazi, 2005;Qutb, 1992). Based on Searle's (1969) model, the above verse is an instance of a direct commissive speech act with a promising pragmatic function in which Allah promises to give an uninterrupted reward in heaven to the believers who thank Him for the faculties He has given to them and who go the lawful direction. Encouragement in this verse, is used as a means of persuasion to exhort people to follow the lawful way . The reward in heaven described as being uninterrupted was directly expressed to get people's attention to it and to motivate them to do good deeds and never deviate from the right way.

Indirect Directive Speech Act
Only one example of an indirect directive speech act of a censuring pragmatic function occurs in the data under analysis, forming 20% out of the total (5). Consider the following instance :  Shirazi (2005) and Al Tabatabaei (2008) explain that the word 'alddeen' means the Day of Judgment. After confirming the fact that humankind was created in the best shape and showing the destiny of the believers who go the right direction and the disbelievers who rebel against Allah in addition to the evidences of the Resurrection involving the death and rebirth of plants, the disbelievers have no justification to deny the Reckoning Day (Al Shirazi, 2005;Al Tabatabaei, 2008). In the light of Searle's (1969) model, the verse above is an indirect directive speech act with a censuring pragmatic function occurring in the form of a rhetorical question. Allah censures those who denies the Day of Judgment in spite of its signs and evidences in the present world. Through censuring, He directs them to believe in the Reckoning Day after giving the evidences of the creation of humankind and the destiny of the believers and disbelievers. By employing a rhetorical question in which this speech act was indirectly used, Allah wants to create an effect on people, especially the disbelievers, and to motivate them to contemplate the way humankind was created and the destiny of those who obey and disobey Him in addition to the proofs of the resurrection from the daily experience. By mentioning such truths, He wants to persuades them that they will not be left unrewarded or unpunished for the deeds they do in the life. So, they have no excuse to deny the Day of Reckoning.

4.Indirect Representative Speech Act
This Surah has two instances of speech acts of representatives as previously mentioned. Only one example of an indirect representative speech acts with an asserting pragmatic function occurs. The following is a good example :

Trasnslit. "AlaysaAllahubiahkamialhakimeena"
In the above verse, Allah asserts that he is wise in the way He created human beings and fair in punishing and rewarding them according to their deeds. Since Allah is wise in creating the universe, He will not leave people without reward or punishment depending on their deeds. So, people should believe in and obey Him (Al Shirazi, 2005;Al Tabatabaei,2008;Qutb, 1992). Based on Searle's (1969) model, this verse is an indirect representative speech act with an asserting pragmatic function which was expressed in the form of a rhetorical question to put emphasis on the attributes of Allah. He asserts that his qualities as knowledgeable in creating human beings, fair in rewarding and punishing them and wise in running the universe is great evidence to make people follow Him. Also, employing this type of speech acts in the form of a rhetorical question serves to motivate them to think of the answer and admit that He has the attributes of being knowledgeable, wise and fair. So, He did not create them in vain and He will reward and punish them in the hereafter on the account of what they do in the present world .Therefore, they have to obey Him.

Speech Acts of Expressives
There is no reference to this type of speech acts in the Surah under scrutiny.

Speech Acts of Declarations
No example of this kind of speech acts occurs in this Surah. 2-In Surah Al-Balad, four illocutionary speech acts occur: representatives, directives, commissives and expressives. There are two examples of representatives, one of them is direct and the other is indirect and both of them are of an asserting pragmatic function. Concerning directives, eight examples occur. Two pragmatic functions which are censuring and ordering occur within this types of speech acts and both of them were implicitly expressed. This type of speech acts occurs with (47%) frequency of occurrence, which is higher than that of other types of speech acts in this Surah. In regard to commissives, there are five examples whose pragmatic functions are threatening and promising which also occur with a high frequency of occurrence, which is (29%). These two pragmatic functions were indirectly expressed. In this Surah, expressives occur in two examples of one embedded pragmatic function which is blaming. Rhetorical question was used to express several speech acts like directives and commissives. It might be more persuasive to express these speech acts in the form of this rhetorical technique in addition to indirectly using other types of speech acts in this Surah to address people's minds and hearts. Furthermore, performing these speech acts types as such creates a communication in which people are involved to contemplate the issues mentioned in this Surah like the gifts Allah has given to them and which guide them to Him, the steep path which can be passed by following some orders and the believers' reward and the disbelievers' punishment. As a result, they might reform themselves and obey Allah. It also seems more persuasive to use a direct representative speech act to assert the truth of creating humankind in struggle and trial to attract the attention of the audience to it and to make them accept it and behave accordingly. In this Surah, this is the only direct speech act.
2-As far as Surah At-teen is concerned, there are only three types of illocutionary speech acts: representatives, directive and commissives. Representatives occur in two examples with an asserting pragmatic function which was implicitly and explicitly used . Commissives occur twice, involving two pragmatic functions which are threatening, which was performed indirectly, and promising, which was expressed directly. The two speech acts types mentioned above have the same frequency of occurrence, which is (40%). Regarding directives, only one example of an embedded pragmatic function of censuring occurs. It might be more persuasive to use indirect speech acts of which two were expressed in the form of a rhetorical question to create an effect on people and to make them contemplate two important truths through censuring and asserting in this Surah. The first one is Allah's justice and the evidences of the resurrection denied by the disbelievers. The second one is the