Introduction
⌅This article highlights the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic framing roles of the verb qāla (“said”) in the Qurʾānic text. The verb qāla, which has ca. 1600 occurrences in the Qurʾān (in its various inflections), belongs to what is known as the verbs of saying, where saying is defined as the “vocal production of verbal content that is transmitted from one person to another during a communicative circumstance.”1Shemesh, Verbs of Saying in Mishnaic Hebrew, p. 5. Saying does not only involve uttering or producing sounds. There must be a human speaker, there must be something said, and a receiver who understands what is being said.2Taylor, “Saying”, p. 31.
The central premise is that every text conveys a message. The Qurʾān as a religious text and a book of guidance for humankind must successfully communicate to people in a dynamic way. It is suggested here that qāla plays a key role in the interaction between major speech actors such as God and the prophet Muḥammad, and between the prophet Muḥammad and the unbelievers.
Scant research has been devoted to the meanings of the verb qāla in Arabic or specifically in the Qurʾān3In my search for scholarly works on the verb qāla I only found a few articles discussing the interpretation of this verb in Qurʾānic translations. However, these studies fail to clarify the reasons for the multiple interpretations of qāla. See for example: Salaeh, “Translation of Lexicons qala”. , unlike the steady stream of research investigating the meanings and functions of the verb “to say” in English and in Biblical Hebrew that view it as a speech act. Here Shemesh’s (1998)Shemesh, Rivka, Verbs of Saying in Mishnaic Hebrew: A Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Analysis, PhD Dissertation, Bar-Ilan University, 1998. study entitled “Verbs of saying in Mishnaic Hebrew: A Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Analysis” is used as a framework.
This article explores the syntactic features of qāla; i.e., the types of direct object that can follow qāla and their effects on the meaning of this verb and the semantic features associated with possible interpretations of the verb qāla derived from the speech acts they perform. The pragmatic analysis deals with the uses of the verb qāla related to the context of speaking and its features such as the discourse type as well as the identity of the addressor/sender of the message and the addressee/receiver.4According to Jacobson, “Closing Statement: Linguistic and Poetics”, p. 353, any speech occurrence in any act of verbal communication is made up of three constitutive factors: the ADDRESSER sends a MESSAGE to the ADDRESSEE. This methodology is designed to better understand the purpose of using this verb in Qurʾānic text and the kinds of acts or activities conveyed by verb qāla. I begin by defining the notion of speech act before delving into the analysis of qāla.
1. What is a Speech Act?
⌅Given that the verb qāla is a key component in the way participants communicate in all forms of Arabic discourse, including the Qurʾān, a presentation of the theory of speech acts is in order. As Vanderveken and Kuno (2002)Vanderveken, Daniel and Kuno, Susumu (eds.), Essays in Speech Act Theory, Amsterdam-Philadelpia, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2001. pointed out, any study of communication must take into account the nature of the speech acts involved, as well as the syntactic structure in which these verbs occur, their context and their conversational background.5See also Vanderveken, “Universal Grammar and Speech Act Theory”, p. 25. There are various speech act theories; here, however, I refer to the watershed works of Austin and Searle.6For a historical review of speech act theory, see Vanderveken and Kuno, Essays in Speech Act Theory.
The theory of speech acts starts with the assumption that the minimal unit of human communication is not a sentence or other expressions, but rather the performance of certain kinds of acts, such as asking questions, giving orders, describing, explaining and apologizing. Austin called these types of acts illocutionary acts.7Searle, Expression and meaning, p. 30. Austin (1962)Austin, John Langshaw, How to Do Things with Words, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1962. differentiated between three main kinds of speech acts, which he termed locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary. According to Austin, by uttering a sentence speakers actually perform a locutionary act; namely, they utter words with a certain sense and reference. At the same time, they also perform an illocutionary act, such as, for example, asking or answering a question, providing information, announcing a verdict or an intention and or handing down a sentence in court. The illocutionary act is the performance of an act by saying something, as opposed to the performance of an act of saying something. When these actions have an effect on the audience, such as, for example, convincing or pleasing the audience, the speaker is performing a perlocutionary act. These kinds of acts are performed at the time of the utterance by uttering appropriate words in the appropriate context of utterance.8Austin, How to Do Things with Words, pp. 94-95, 99-101. Cf. Vanderveken and Kuno, Essays in Speech Act Theory, pp. 3-4.
Austin classified illocutionary acts into five categories: (a) verdictives, which are typified by the giving of a verdict, e.g., “I pronounce”, “I hold that”; (b) expositives, where the main body of the utterance usually has the straightforward form of a statement; e.g., “I argue”, “I conclude” and “I admit”; (c) execratives which involve the exercise of powers, rights or influences; e.g., “I advise”, “I warn”; (d) behabitives, a kind of performative concerned roughly with reactions to behavior and behavior towards others and designed to exhibit attitudes and feelings; e.g., “I apologize”, “I criticize” and “I approve”; and (e) commissives which are typified by promising.9Austin, How to Do Things with Words, pp. 83-93, 150. See Searle, Expression and meaning, pp. 8-9. Searle (1999)Searle, John R., Expression and Meaning: Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts, Cambridge-New York, Cambridge University Press, 1999. classified illocutionary acts into the following categories:
Assertives: We tell people how things are.
Directives: We try to get people to do things.
Commisives: We commit ourselves to doing things.
Expressive: We express our feeling and attitudes.
Declarations: We bring about changes in the world through our utterance.10Searle, Expression and meaning, pp. 12-15. Cf. Searle, Speech acts, pp. 66-67.
Searle emphasized that not all verbs are illocutionary. For example, “intend” is clearly not performative and intending is never a speech act. For example, a person cannot fix the roof by saying “I am fixing the roof”. Performatives are statements like any other statement. The only difference is that in a performative statement the speaker is performing some other speech act indirectly by making the statement. For example, the verb “promise” is performative because one can promise a friend to come and visit. In this case, the illocutionary act (of promising) is performed by uttering a sentence containing an expression (i.e., the verb “promise”) that names the type of speech act. In the sentences “Leave the room!” as compared to “I order you to leave the room”, the first constitutes the performance of making an order but is not performative. The second sentence, however, is performative because the speech act of ordering is named or clearly encoded by the verb “order.” In other words, a performative utterance is completely explicit and overt.11Searle, “How Performatives Works”, pp. 85-87, 89-90, 100. Cf. Searle, Expression and meaning, p. 30. These verbs do not describe, are not true or false and the utterance of the sentence is part of performing the action.12Austin, How to Do Things with Words, pp. 5-6. With respect to the verb “promise”, which is mentioned by both Searle and Austin, according to Austin (p. 11) in the utterance “I promise”, if the intention is absent it does not mean that this utterance is false. This utterance may be misleading or wrong, but it is not a lie or a misstatement.
The verb qāla, “said” in Arabic, displays the features of performative verbs. It is not an utterance which can be true or false where by making the utterance the speaker is doing something (ordering, stating, asking, arguing, etc.), and not just reporting or describing. However, there is one grammatical difference between the verb qāla and the classical examples of performatives provided by Austin. He queried whether there was some grammatical criterion for distinguishing performative utterances such as “I promise” from non-performative utterances such as “John is running”, which is regarded as a statement. According to Austin, performatives are usually in the first person singular present indicative active. The advantage of the first person singular present indicative form, or likewise the second and third and impersonal passive form (e.g., “you are hereby authorized to pay…”) is what makes the speech situation explicit. Thus, “I bet” is performative as opposed to “I bet” in the past which is not performative but only describes an action.13Austin, How to Do Things with Words, pp. 57, 61-63. Here, I show that the first person is not a necessary feature of performative verbs. The verb qāla which is usually in the third person perfect, imperfect and imperative form, can be classified as an “expositive” illocutionary act, or according to Searle’s categorization, an “assertive” or “commissive” illocutionary act, as discussed below.
2. The Past Forms of the Verb qāla in the Qurʾān
⌅This section provides a characterization of the verb qāla in terms of its syntactic, semantic and pragmatic features. The verb qāla appears in two types of discourse: narratives that include dialogues, and non-conversational discourse.
2.1. The Past Forms of the Verb qāla in Reported Speech
⌅In narratives that include dialogues qāla is typically used by the speaker/narrator to introduce direct speech in the narrative. However, as studies on the verb “to say” have shown, there are three possible functions of this verb:
The foreground information, namely the sequence of events, is realized by the verb qāla and hence plays a crucial role in moving the plot forward.14Mir, “Dialogues in the Qurʾān”, p. 198. Cf. Dror Linguistic Features of the Qurʾānic Narratives, pp. 21-22.
Taylor (1980)Taylor, Michael, “Saying”, Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 12 (1980), pp. 27-46. argued that in sentences such as “Sarah said she didn’t like English”, “John said to his wife that the world is too much with us” and “Crusoe said he was hungry”, the verb “said” does not designate internal properties of a syntactic string. Rather, it denotes the relationship between two successive units of text, where the second unit does not realize the expectation elicited by the first. Rather, it is perceived by the speaker-hearer (writer-reader) as some form of incongruity.15Taylor, “Saying”, p. 31.
Shemesh (2006)Shemesh, Rivka, “Direct Discourse Markers in Mishnaic Hebrew”, Journal of Semitic Studies, 51, 1 (2006), pp. 45-58. considers the Hebrew verb amar (אמר) “said” and its infinitive construct form lomar (לומר) as direct discourse markers, where amar appears at the beginning of an asyndetic content clause that follows a verb of saying, such as “ask”.
However, after analyzing dialogues in which qāla is inserted, I identified an additional function. One example is Q 2:30-38:
(1) Qurʾānic excerpt number 1:
wa-iḏ qāla rabbuka16Gilliot, “Narratives”, p. 524 mentions that the particle iḏ in the Qurʾānic narratives is followed by the perfect, and the verb is expressing a mode of speaking (qāla, nādā), a fact which shows that for the Qurʾān, the events are not as important as the rendering of the words. Cf. Mir, “Dialogues”, p. 532; Cuciniello, “Joseph in the Qurʾān, a Prophetic Narrative. Incidents and Specific Language”, pp. 144, 147.li-l-malāʾikati ʾinnī ǧāʿilun fī l-arḍi ḫalīfatan qālū a-taǧʿalu fīhā man yufsidu (…)
wa-ʿallama ādama l-asmāʾa kullahā ṯumma ʿaraḍahum ʿalā l-malāʾikati fa-qāla anbiʾūnī bi-asmāʾi hāʾulāʾi in kuntum ṣādiqīna
qālū subḥānaka lā ʿilma lanā (…)
qāla yā-ādamu anbiʾhum bi-asmāʾihim fa-lammā anbaʾahum bi-asmāʾihim qāla a-lam aqul lakum innī aʿlamu ġayba s-samāwāti wa-l-arḍi (…)
wa-iḏ qulnā li-l-malāʾikati sǧudū li-ādama fa-saǧadū illā iblīsa (…)
wa-qulnā yā-ādamu skun anta wa-zawǧuka l-ǧannata (…)
fa-azallahumā š-šayṭānu ʿanhā fa-aḫraǧahumā mimmā kānā fīhi wa-qulnā hbiṭū baʿḍukum li-baʿḍin ʿaduwwun (…)
qulnā hbiṭū minhā ǧamīʿan (…)
“When your Lord said to the angels: I am appointing on the earth a deputy, they said: Will you place therein one who will make mischief therein (…) And He taught Adam all the names, then He presented them before the angels, and said: Tell Me the names of these if you are right. They said: Glory be to You! of knowledge we have naught save what you have taught us (…)
He said: O Adam, tell them their names. And when he had told them their names, He said: Did I not say unto you that I surely know the unseen things of the heavens and the earth (…) And when We said to the angels: Prostrate yourselves before Adam. They all prostrated themselves except Iblis (…) And We said: ‘O’ Adam, dwell you and your spouse in the Garden (…) But Satan caused them to fall from there, and brought them out from the state (of felicity) in which they had been. And We said: Get down all of you, and be enemies one of another (…) We said: Get you down from it, all together.”17The translation of the Qurʾānic verses is taken from the Internet site <https://www.al-islam.org> This project is headed by a group of Muslim scholars who have written a modern translation that strives to provide a semantic and syntactic translation accompanied by helpful and very clear commentary on the text. In some cases, I refer to this website to clarify the topic of the verses. Where clarification of the content in needed I usually refer to three authors who produced the mainstream Sunni exegeses: Ṭabarī, Rāzī and Bayḍāwī.
In Q 2:30-38 the creation of Adam (the first human) is referred to and the following three fundamental subjects are presented:
Allah informs the angels about man’s vice-regency on Earth and their questioning of Him.
The angels are commanded to prostrate themselves before the first human, Adam.
The depiction of the events surrounding Adam and his life in Heaven and the events causing him to be expelled from Heaven, and then his repentance and the order that he and his children were to live on Earth, are described.18See <https://www.al-islam.org the commentary on Q 2:30-39>.
Perhaps the best way to grasp the function of the verb qāla in narratives that include dialogues (including Q 2:30-38) is to read them when omitting qāla. In this case, what is immediately striking is how difficult it is to identify the addressor and the addressee. Clearly, the form of the verb (i.e., its inflection and suffixes) helps the hearer to determine who the speaker is. Johnstone (1987)Johnstone, Barbara, “He Says…So I Said: Verb Tense Alternation and Narrative Depictions of Authority in American English”, Linguistics, 25, 1 (1987), pp. 33-52., who studied verb tense alternations of the verb “to say” in narratives, noted this function. Johnstone gives the example of a young woman who describes an exchange with a police officer who stopped her on the road when she was a new driver. The conversation is reconstructed as a dialogue composed of sentences that begin with “I said” and “he/she said.” As she constructs the dialogue, she signals who is talking with what Johnstone calls “introducers”; i.e., clauses such as “she said”, “I said”. Sometimes these introducers are in the past tense and sometimes in historical present.19Johnstone, “He Says…So I Said”, p. 34. This description is consistent with Qurʾānic dialogue in which the verb qāla functions as a kind of “introducer”,20Note that there are cases in which qāla in narratives that include dialogues does not function as an “introducer”, but rather as a regular verb (with assertive illocutionary force), e.g., Q5:116 a-anta qulta li-n-nāsi ttaḫiḏūnī wa-ummī ilāhayni (…) mā yakūnu lī an aqūla mā laysa lī bi-ḥaqqin in kuntu qultuhu “Did you say to the people: Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah? (…) It was not mine to utter what I had no right to (say). Had I said it.” such that the verb “to say” (and in our case qāla) is a special class of verbs in narratives that should not be expected to function like verbs in narratives, and in fact they do not.21Johnstone, “He Says…So I Said”, p. 43-44.
To grasp the role of the verb “to say” or qāla as the introducer in the above-mentioned narrative dialogue, imagine the filming of a dialogue for a movie. In films, the characters are shown to be talking as the camera moves from one speaker to the other. In the written text the verb qāla takes on the same role as the camera movement. The camera effect in narratives was suggested by Sakaedani (2004)Sakaedani, Haruko, “The Correlation between Definite Noun Phrases and Verb Forms in Qur’anic Narrative Texts”, Journal of Qurʾānic Studies, 6 (2004), pp. 56-68., who related topic-shifting in narrative texts to camera angles and staging. In a number of relatively recent works, the Japanese academic Kuno22See Kuno, “Subject, Theme, and the Speaker’s Empathy”. analyzed cases where the speaker positions his/her “camera” when describing an event. For example, if the speaker says “John hit Mary” the camera is placed at some distance from both John and Mary, whereas for “John hit his wife” the camera is placed closer to John than Mary. Sakaedani also refers to Kuno’s concept of degree of empathy. To make this concept more explicit, Kuno introduces the idea that empathy can range from 0 to 1. A first person pronoun which is involved in the narrative is the superordinate in Kuno’s chart of pronouns and it has a tendency to be placed closer to the speaker’s camera angle.23Sakaedani, “The Correlation”, pp. 57-58. This explanation may partially clarify why the verb “say/says/said” is used in narratives; however, there are three additional related issues concerning the usage of qāla in narratives that include dialogues. These issues appear throughout Q 2:30-38 as discussed below.
(a) Two instances vs. one instance: When the verb qāla occurs twice in a verbal exchange, one mention refers to the addressor and the other to the addressee, as in Q 2:30 wa-iḏ qāla rabbuka li-l-malāʾikati innī ǧāʿilun fī l-arḍi ḫalīfatan qālū
a-taǧʿalu fīhā man yufsidu. The addressor is God, the addressees are the angels and the transmitted message is that God is appointing a man on Earth as his successor. When the verb qāla occurs only once, the addressor, the addressee and the message can be identified. However, in contrast to the first case, the response of the addressee is not expressed.
Miller (1996)Miller, Cynthia L., The Representation of Speech in Biblical Hebrew Narrative, Atlanta, Georgia, Harvard Semitic Museum Publications, 1996. termed the reported speech in this type of narrative “interactive reported speech”; in other words, a narrative depiction of a conversation. Dialogues defined as “interactive reported speech” are structured in terms of contiguous, alternative (conversational) turns known as “adjacency pairs” where the first member of the pair produces the expectation of a relevant and acceptable response by the second member.24Miller, The Representation of Speech, p. 235. In the example above (Q 2:30) the statement in the first part (qāla rabbuka…) requires a relevant response in the second part (qālū…).
(b) Syntactically the verb qāla can be followed by either an asyndetic clause or a verb in the imperative. In both cases the reported clause/direct speech aims to reproduce the exact words that were spoken. Direct speech can be preceded by the verb “said”, whereas the direct speech clause behaves like a main clause in the sense that it can, for example, be a question or a directive, e.g., “Dorothy said, ‘Tell my mother I’ll be over soon’.”25Quirk et al., Comprehensive Grammar, pp. 1020-1023. Cf. Miller, The Representation of Speech, p. 143. According to Miller (p. 144), the direct representation of speech adds a sense of vividness and immediacy to biblical narratives.
Furthermore, two components can be inserted between the verb qāla and the verb in the imperative or an asyndetic clause; e.g., a prepositional phrase indicating the identity of the addressee. For example, Q 2:34 wa-iḏ qulnā li-l-malāʾikati sǧudū or Q 2:54 wa-iḏ qāla mūsā li-qawmihi yā-qawmi innakum ẓalamtum anfusakum “And (remember) when Moses said to his people: ‘O my people, you have indeed wronged yourselves’. In other cases, a vocative structure is also inserted, as in Q 2:35 wa-qulnā yā-ādamu skun .
(c) Two speech acts are indicated by the verb qāla, but the illocutionary force is considered to emerge from the complete linguistic structure. If the verb is followed by a clause, the speaker expresses a statement; hence, the illocutionary force of qāla is assertion and can contextually be paraphrased as “state” or “assert”. However, if the verb is followed by a verb in the imperative, the illocutionary force of qāla is directive and can contextually be paraphrased as an “order” or “command”. In both cases the verb qāla focuses on the content of the statement.
This analysis can be applied to other Qurʾānic passages which are classified as dialogues in narratives:
(2) Qurʾānic excerpt number 2:
wa-ǧāʾa s-saḥaratu firʿawna qālū inna lanā la-aǧran in kunnā naḥnu l-ġālibīna
qāla naʿam wa-innakum la-mina l-muqarrabīna
qālū yā-mūsā immā an tulqiya wa-immā an nakūna naḥnu l-mulqīna
qāla alqū fa-lammā alqaw saḥarū aʿyuna n-nāsi wa-starhabūhum wa-ǧāʾū bi-siḥrin ʿaẓīmin (Q 7: 113-116)
“And the sorcerers came to Pharaoh, and they said: Verily there will be a reward for us if we are victors. He said: Yes! and you will surely be of the near-stationed (to me). They (the sorcerers) said: O Moses! Will you throw, or shall we be the (first) throwers? He (Moses) said: Throw (yours)! So when they threw, they bewitched the people’s eyes and terrified them and produced a great magic.”
Q 7: 113-116, which is only part of a larger portrayal of an event, describes the meeting or, more precisely, the verbal exchange/interaction between Moses and Pharaoh’s sorcerers. The verb qāla is followed by either a clause or a verb in the imperative. To underscore the illocutionary of qāla in the translation of Q 7:113-116, the instances of qāla are replaced below by their illocutionary equivalents:
“And the sorcerers came to Pharaoh, they stated/argued: Verily there will be a reward for us if we are victors. “He asserted: Yes! and you will surely be of the near-stationed (to me). They (the sorcerers) stated: O Moses! Will you throw, or shall we be the (first) throwers? He (Moses) demanded/ordered: Throw (yours)! So when they threw, they bewitched the people’s eyes and terrified them and produced a great magic.”
The utterances in this context can be interpreted as assertions or commands. Shemesh (1998)Shemesh, Rivka, Verbs of Saying in Mishnaic Hebrew: A Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Analysis, PhD Dissertation, Bar-Ilan University, 1998. divided the Mishnaic Hebrew verbs of saying into three categories according to their focus on the pragmatic components of the act of saying. The verbs of saying in the first category deal with the content of the utterance. The verbs in the second category have to do with the relationship between the participants, and characterize the status of the addressor and the addressee and the influence of the message on the addressee. The verbs in the third category reflect the circumstances.26Shemesh, Verbs of Saying in Mishnaic Hebrew, p. 22. Most of the occurrences of the verb qāla in narratives that include dialogues can be classified under the first category; namely, they all have to do with the message or the content. This is not surprising given the fact that there are usually two parties involved in a dialogue and each side presents an argument, as the following example illustrates:
(3) Qurʾānic excerpt number 3:
qāla firʿawnu wa-mā rabbu l-ʿālamīna
qāla rabbu s-samāwāti wa-l-arḍi wa-mā baynahumā in kuntum mūqinīna
qāla li-man ḥawlahū a-lā tastamiʿūna
qāla rabbukum wa-rabbu ābāʾikumu l-awwalīna
qāla inna rasūlakumu llaḏī ursila ilaykum la-maǧnūnun
qāla rabbu l-mašriqi wa-l-maġribi wa-mā baynahumā in kuntum taʿqilūna
qāla la-ini ttaḫaḏta ilāhan ġayrī la-aǧʿalannaka mina l-masǧūnīna
qāla a-wa-law ǧiʾtuka bi-šayʾin mubīnin
qāla fa-ti (فأْتِ) bihi in kunta mina ṣ-ṣādiqīna (Q 26:23-31)
“Pharaoh said: And what is the Lord of the worlds? He said: (He is) the Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between them, if you have faith. Pharaoh said to those around him: Do you not hear (what he says)? (Moses) said: Your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers. (Pharaoh) said: Verily your messenger who has been sent unto you is a veritable madman. (Moses) said: ‘The Lord of the East and the West and what is between the two, if you have understanding. (Pharaoh) said: If you take any god other than me, I will certainly make you one of the imprisoned. (Moses) said: Even if I bring unto you something manifest? (Pharaoh) said: Bring it then, if you are of the truthful ones.”
This passage (Q 26: 23-31) is part of a larger section which narrates (again) the story of the children of Israel, Moses and Pharaoh. First, it is said that God has sent Moses to the unjust people - the people of Pharaoh, but Moses’ immediate reaction is to say that he fears that they will reject him. Furthermore, he fears that the people of Pharaoh may kill him in retaliation for killing one of them. By using the word kallā (nay) Allah assures him that this will not happen and he will protect him. God asks Moses to say to Pharaoh that they (Moses and his brother) are the messengers of God and to demand him to release the children of Israel. From this point on, we are informed about the verbal exchange between Pharaoh and Moses. It could be argued that in verse 23 the verb qāla, which is followed by a clause, can be paraphrased as “stated” or “claimed”. Whereas Pharaoh states or argues that God’s messenger is a madman, Moses asserts that God causes the very rising and setting of the sun in the East and the West and the universe is the sign of His magnificence. Then Pharaoh states that if Moses persists in worshiping other gods he will be imprisoned. Moses, however, rejects this statement by saying that he can produce a manifest sign of God’s omnipotence.
The illocutionary force of assertion is not only found in narratives that include dialogues. It can be found in Qurʾānic sections, such as the one in Q 2:113 below, where two opposing parties are having a dispute:
(4) Qurʾānic excerpt number 4:
wa-qālati l-yahūdu laysati n-naṣārā ʿalā šayʾin wa-qālati n-naṣārā laysati l-yahūdu ʿalā šayʾin wa-hum yatlūna l-kitāba
“The Jews said: The Christians rest on naught, and the Christians said: The Jews rest on naught; yet they (both) recite the (same) Book.”
In this verse, which is formulated as a grammatical parallelism, the Jews have already been mentioned in verse 40 when God addresses them, asking them to remember the favor that He had bestowed upon them, and to fulfill (their obligations to) their covenant with God so that He might fulfill his covenant. In verses 49-61, various events are mentioned showing how God saved them, as in verse 49, where he drowned Pharaoh’s army. In verse 62, the Jews and the Christians are both mentioned when it is stated that those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and whomever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does righteous good deeds, will have his/her reward. Next, Moses and Jesus are mentioned in verse 87, where it is said that God gave Moses and later prophets the book, whereas God gave Jesus, the son of Maryam, a clear sign. However, whenever a messenger came to them, they refused to listen to his words.
Q 2:113 is part of this plot that has the Jews and Christians as the central figures, yet throughout the parallelism a new twist to the story of the Jews and Christians is presented; namely, the confrontation between them. According to Ṭabarī’s exegesis, verse 113 came after the Jews and the Christians had encountered each other in the presence of the prophet Muḥammad, when the Jews renounced Jesus and the New Testament (al-inğīl) and the Christians renounced Moses and the existence of the Old Testament. This event is marked by the statement that God will sentence them on the Day of Judgment for their differences. Immediately after this verse, the narrative involving the Jews and the Christians continues by presenting further elements of the conflict between them.27Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 1, p. 292. In this context, qāla can be understood as expressing an assertion that can be paraphrased as “the Jews argued” and “the Christian argued” thus making the content the element that is emphasized.28Another example is Q 34:31-33. For a contextual explanation see Dror, “Grammatical Parallelism in the Qur’ān”, p. 178.
Most of the occurrences of qāla in narratives that include dialogues have the illocutionary force of either assertion or command. However, one other interpretation can be found where qāla can be paraphrased as “asked” or “answered”, as in Q 3:40:29Another example is Q 19:20.
(5) Qurʾānic excerpt number 5:
qāla rabbi annā yakūnu lī ġulāmun wa-qad balaġaniya l-kibaru wa-a-mraʾatī āqirun qāla ka-ḏālika llāhu yafʿalu mā yašāʾu (Q 3:40)
“He said: My Lord! how can I have a son (born) while, indeed, old age has already overtaken me, and my wife is barren? He said: Even so does Allah whatsoever He pleases.”
In Q 3:38 the reader is told about Zachariah, who prayed to his Lord to ask Him to grant him offspring. Then the angels called to him while he was standing praying in the sanctuary, saying that Allah had granted him the glad tidings of a son, Yaḥyā, who would confirm the word of Allah, and would become a leader and a prophet among the pious. When Zachariah heard this, he asked God how it was possible for him to have a child, since he is old and his wife was barren. God answered that it is possible since He does whatever he pleases. According to Shemesh (1998)Shemesh, Rivka, Verbs of Saying in Mishnaic Hebrew: A Syntactic, Semantic, and Pragmatic Analysis, PhD Dissertation, Bar-Ilan University, 1998., verbs of saying which have the meaning of asking and answering belong in the second group; i.e., verbs that focus on the relationship between the participants in the dialogue. They characterize the status of the addressor and the addressee and the impact of the message on the addressee.30Shemesh, Verbs of Saying in Mishnaic Hebrew, p. 197. This is implied in Q 3:40 where there are three participants: God and the angels (the addressors) and Zachariah (the addressee). The verb qāla which refers to Zachariah characterizes his reaction when he heard the words of the angels; namely he was amazed by their announcement. On the other hand, the verb qāla that refers to God indicates that His answer is certain.
Thus overall, three aspects of the verb qāla were discussed above. Grammatically, the verb occurs in 3rd person of the past tense followed by a verb in the imperative or direct speech. Semantically, it has an assertive illocutionary force indicating that the focus is on the content rather on the speaker. Some occurrences can be also interpreted as “asked” or “answered”. Pragmatically, had this verb not been used, the addressee would have been difficult to identify in the interaction between the participants.
2.2. The 3rd Person Form of the Verb qāla in Non-Conversational Sections
⌅The verb qāla can also occur when no speech event is reported; i.e., when no interaction between speech participants is described.31Miller, The Representation of Speech, p. 234 calls this form “non-interactive reported speech”, i.e., reported speech that is not part of a dialogical exchange or that does not report any actual or putative speech event. However, the verb qāla in non-dialogic passages exhibits the same features of the verb qāla as in narratives that include dialogues. Specifically, syntactically it is followed by either an asyndetic clause or an imperative clause, but the nature of the direct object affects the illocutionary meaning of the verb qāla. Furthermore, most of the verbs in this type of construction emphasize the message, as in:
(6) Qurʾānic excerpt number 6:
badīʿu s-samāwāti wa-l-arḍi wa-iḏā qaḍā amran fa-innamā yaqūlu lahū kun fa-yakūnu (Q 2:117)32Another example is Q 3:59.
“Originator (is He) of the heavens and the earth and when He decrees a matter to be, He only says to it ‘Be’ and it is.”
In this sentence the verb qāla is in the imperfect tense, indicating the habitual aspect of God’s omnipotence. The verb of saying is followed by the imperative verb kun, but the verb yaqūlu is ambiguous in that it can represent two different illocutionary standpoints:
(a) The objective meaning of yaqūlu is a verbal command such that the clause might be interpreted as “When He decrees a matter to be, He commands: ‘Be’ and it is.”33This interpretation is strengthened by Ṭabarī’s explanation (Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 1, p. 712): wa-iḏ kāna ḏālika ka-ḏālika fa-amara llāhu ǧalla wa-ʿazza iḏā arāda īǧādahu wa-takwīnahu irādatahu iyyāhu “[And when it is [i.e., when something unspecified is decreed by God] it is God, may He be exalted and glorified, who commands when He wants to create [something] and to bring it forth.”
(b) yaqūlu can also take on its basic meaning of “He says”. However, it is associated with another facet of meaning; namely “downtoning”, so that here yaqūlu means “He just, only, simply says”. Using the interpersonal particles “just” or “only” in discourse highlights emotions or opinions and are favored in speech characterizing the involvement of the discourse partners in the speech event.34Aijmer, English Discourse Particles, pp. 153-154. Q 2:117 is oriented towards God’s omnipotence: when He wills something to exist, it exists without any preparation or effort.
In the following example the verb qāla also can have both a directive and an assertive meaning:
(7) Qurʾānic excerpt number 7:
wa-qāla llāhu lā tattaḫiḏū ilāhayni ṯnayni innamā huwa ilāhun wāḥidun fa-iyyāya fa-rhabūni (Q 16:51)
“And Allah has said: ‘Do not take two gods. Verily, He is only One God; hence, fear Me (and Me alone).’
The message in Q 16:51 is that polytheism is prohibited. God states or commands that the people who believe must not worship two gods or more. The verb qāla is commonly used in Qurʾānic polemic language. Polemics in the Qurʾān consist primarily of argumentation directed against pagans, Jews and Christians. However, polemic language can also be employed in other contexts, such as when addressing erring or recalcitrant Muslims.35Zebiri, “Polemic and Polemic Language”, vol. 4, p. 114. For an overview of the topics and features of polemic discourse in the Qurʾān see Azaiez, Le contre-discourse coranique, pp. 28-54. There are various stylistic/linguistic features of Qurʾānic writing such as exhortations, curses, declarations of woe and rhetorical and hypothetical questions.36Zebiri, “Polemic and Polemic Language”, vol. 4, p. 116. Arguments and challenges are also mentioned by Zebiri and are characterized by a large number of occurrences of the verb qāla because the hypocrites/unbelievers are not fully committed to God and challenge Muḥammad and the message of the Qurʾān repeatedly. However, God guides Muḥammad how to respond to their claims. This suggests that the verb qāla in polemic discourse has the illocutionary force of assertion as shown in Q 23:81:37This category can also include Q 2:116 which is mentioned by Azaiez, Le contre-discourse coranique, p. 145. In this verse the verb qālū introduces the reported direct speech in the counter-discourse (i.e., discourse in which opposing voices are presented).
(8) Qurʾānic excerpt number 8:
bal qālū miṯla mā qāla l-awwalūna (Q 23:81)
“Nay, but they say the like of what the ancients said.”
In the previous verses (Q 23:77-80) it is said that God created the people. He created and caused them to multiply in the land and brings about life and death. Nevertheless, those who deny God’s oneness imitate their ancestors by using arguments identical to those of their ancestors, who claimed that they denied the signs of God.38Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 10, p. 61.
Another structure worth mentioning in this context is constructed with the passive verb qīla followed by the active verb qālu:
(9) Qurʾānic excerpt number 9:
wa-iḏā qīla lahum āminū ka-mā āmana n-nāsu qālū a-nuʾminu ka-mā āmana s-sufahāʾu (Q 2:13)
“Whenever they are told: Believe as others believe, they answer: Shall be believed as the fools have believed?”
Typically, the subject of the verb say (or qāla) is the speaker. However, when a verb in the passive (qīla in Arabic) is used, the speaker is left out of the picture, although he or she is known and relevant39Goossens, “Say: Focus on the Message”, pp. 87-88., as in Q 2:13 where God is defined as the originator of the message. The verb qīla is followed by a prepositional phrase followed by a verb in the imperative. In this contextual frame qīla has a directive illocutionary force and thus might be interpreted as “were requested”, “were asked”, while the active verb qālū has an assertive illocutionary force and is interpreted as “answered” or “claimed”.
In the following example qāla can be paraphrased as an interrogative (“they asked”):
(10) Qurʾānic excerpt number 10:
qālū a-iḏā mitnā wa-kunnā turāban wa-ʿiẓāman a-innā la-mabʿūṯūna (Q 23:82)
“They say: When we die and become dust and bones, shall we then be raised up again?”
A similar meaning can be found in Q 75:10 where on the day of resurrection the disbelievers seek to escape the burden of sins and fear of torment, and ask where this salvation will come from:
(11) Qurʾānic excerpt number 11:
yaqūlu l-insānu yawmaʾiḏin ayna l-mafarru (Q 75:10)
“On that day man shall inquire: Where is the escape?”
Finally, qāla can be paraphrased solely as “say” or “stated”, and not as an argument:
(12) Qurʾānic excerpt number 12:
wa-wariṯa sulaymānu dāwūda wa-qāla yā-ayyuhā n-nāsu ʿullimnā manṭiqa ṭ-ṭayri wa-ʾūtīnā min kulli šayʾin inna hāḏā la-huwa l-faḍlu l-mubīnu (Q 27:16)
“And Solomon made David his heir and he said: O people! We have been taught the language of the birds, and we have been granted everything; verily this is a manifest favor.”
Searle (1969)Searle, John R., Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1969. defined an illocutionary act as “assertive” in the case where the addressee is told how things are, and this is exactly what Solomon does in Q 27:16. He stands in front of his people and states the following facts: we understand the language of birds and we have been endowed with this power.40Searle, Speech acts, pp. 12-15.
The grammatical, semantical and pragmatic uses of the verb qāla in the examples discussed in this section are not very different from their use in section 2.1. Here too, the verb occurs either in the past or imperative form followed by an asyndetic clause. The verb may be interpreted as a command, answer, question or claim and it is mostly used to emphasize the message expressed in the utterance.
2.3. The Imperative (2nd person) Form of the Verb qāla
⌅Radscheit classifies the qul-statements into three basic types: (1) The polemic patterns, which concentrate on three issues: the emphasis on God’s omnipotence, the legitimizing of the prophet and his revelation, and various themes such as fighting. (2) Instructive patterns. This consists of an indirect question introduced by yasʾalunaka upon which the qul-statement answers. (3) Independent qul-statements that appear as prayers, credos, slogans or polemic utterances.41Radscheit, “Word of God”, pp. 33-36; Cf. Neuwirth, “Form and Structure of the Qurʾān”, p. 261. Azaiez, Le contre-discourse coranique, p. 8, mentions that the form yaqūlūna… fa-qul is a prominent character of the Qurʾānic counter-discourse.
These types have a number of features in common. Although the giver of orders is supposed to be God, in many cases the verb qul should not be interpreted as a simple request/order from God but rather as an instruction.42Gwynne,Logic, Rhetoric and Legal Reasoning in the Qurʾān, pp. 39, 41, 63, 81. The setting of the text seems to imply that God instructs the prophet Muḥammad how to react or how to answer with the verb qul.
The use of a verb qul first requires addressing the issue of the “narrator”. In the previous section where the verb qāla (i.e., the verb in the past or habitual present) was analyzed, we saw that the narrator conveys his duties to the participants in the narrative. In this case he can be characterized as an external narrator, who does not explicitly refer to himself as an actor,43Bortolussi and Dixon, Psychonarratology, pp. 63-64, call this type of narrator “extradiegetic”. whereas in other instances he becomes a character-bound narrator44Bortolussi and Dixon, Psychonarratology, pp. 63-64, call this type of narrator “homodiegetic”. who is identified with one of the actors in the story.45Bal, Narratology, p. 22. Barthes’ definition of the narrator concept46Barthes, “Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives”, p. 57. suggests that God - the Qurʾānic narrator - can be seen as a sort of omniscient, impersonal consciousness that tells the story from above. This narrator (God) knows everything: the participants in the story, their actions and their ways of thinking. By knowing everything, God is responsible for choosing the message to be conveyed. In other words, when the verb qul is used, it indicates that God actually puts words in the mouth of Muḥammad. Radscheit mentions that this explanation of qul-statements was put forward by Western scholars. He notes that according to Horovitz the function of qul is a literary device “to remind the hearer again and again that Allah is the speaker.”47Radscheit, “Word of God”, pp. 36-37. See: Horovitz, Koranische Untersuchungen, p. 5. Cf. Gwynne,Logic, Rhetoric and Legal Reasoning in the Qurʾān, p. 67. This is illustrated in the following examples:
(13) Qurʾānic excerpt number 13:
wa-iḏā qīla lahum āminū bi-mā anzala llāhu qālū nuʾminu bi-mā unzila ʿalaynā wa-yakfurūna bi-mā warāʾahū wa-huwa l-ḥaqqu muṣaddiqan li-mā maʿahum qul fa-li-ma taqtulūna anbiyāʾa llāhi min qablu in kuntum muʾminīna (Q 2:91)
“When it is said to them: Believe in what Allah has sent down they said: We believe (only) in what was sent down to us (before). But they disbelieve what is beyond that, while it is the Truth confirming what is with them. Say: Why then were you slaying the Prophets of Allah in former times, if you were (indeed) faithful?”
The event described in Q 2:91 is that the children of Israel were asked to believe in what God sent down; namely, the Qurʾān; however, they said that they believed in what had been revealed to them; i.e., the Torah, and not in anything else. In reply God instructs Muḥammad to say to the children of Israel that if they truly believed in the Torah, the Divine Book in which killing is prohibited, they would not have killed the prophets of God.
(14) Qurʾānic excerpt number 14:48Another example is Q 25:4-8, which is mentioned by Azaiez, Le contre-discourse coranique, p. 150.
wa-qāla llaḏīna kafarū lā taʾtīnā s-sāʿatu qul balā (Q 34:3)
“And those who disbelieve say: The Hour (of Judgment) shall not come upon us. Say, yes indeed [it will come]”.
This verse refers to those who deny God’s omnipotence and claim that there will be no resurrection for human beings. However, in view of the fact that the evidence for the hereafter is manifest, God orders the Prophet to declare that the resurrection indeed will take place.
(15) Qurʾānic excerpt number 15:
in tuṣibka ḥasanatun tasuʾhum wa-in tuṣibka muṣībatun yaqūlū qad aḫaḏnā amranā min qablu wa-yatawallaw wa-hum fariḥūna qul lan yuṣībanā illā mā kataba llāhu lanā huwa mawlānā wa-ʿalā llāhi fa-l-yatawakkali l-muʾminūna (Q 9:50-51)
“If (any) good befalls you, it vexes them; but if an affliction visits you, they say: We took care of our affairs in advance, and they turn away, rejoicing. Say: Never shall afflict us (anything) save what Allah has prescribed for us; He is our Master; and on Allah should the believers rely.”
In Q 9:50-51, the Qur’ān refers to one of the other arguments put forward by hypocrites. If something good happens to the Prophet and Muslims, such as a victory on the battlefield, they will be annoyed. They will be troubled if the Prophet overcomes an enemy in war or claims bounty. However, if an affliction befalls the Muslims, such that they fail or are killed, for example, they will rejoice and say that they have ceased criticizing Muḥammad and do not adhere to the beliefs of his enemies.49Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 6, p. 193.
Ṭabarī interprets the clause which follows the verb qul in this verse as follows: yaqūlu taʿālā ḏikruhu muʾaddiban nabiyyahu muḥammadan “God Almighty says while teaching his prophet Muḥammad.” This sheds light on the pragmatics of the utterances beginning with qul in that they teach or instruct the prophet in his interactions with unbelievers or hypocrites. Thus, in reaction to what was said in Q 2:91, God orders Muḥammad to say or reply as follows: Whatever happens to us, the believers, is dictated by God. We live under the mastership of Allah and we rely on him.
The following examples illustrate another type of discourse in which qul is used.
(16) Qurʾānic excerpt number 16:
yasʾalūnaka ʿani l-ahillati qul hiya mawāqītu li-n-nāsi (Q 2:189)
“They ask you about the new moons; say: They are times appointed for mankind and (for) the Hajj.”
Q 2:189 refers to a series of laws which start with the verb yasʾalūnaka “They ask you/will ask you”; i.e., yasʾaluka aṣḥābuka yā muḥammadu “Your company ask/will ask you O Prophet.”50See Razī, mafātīḥ al-ġayb, vol. 6, p. 20-21. Cf. Bayḍāwī, Anwār al-tanzīl, vol. 1, p. 499.
The people come to Muḥammad asking him what the crescent moon is for and its uses. In response, God ordered the Prophet to tell/explain to them the effects and the different usages of the crescent for all peoples; namely the sighting of the crescent moon tells them when to begin fasting and when the fast ends, when to make pilgrimages, etc.51See Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 253. All are timed according to the lunar months and can easily be calculated according the phases of the moon. In other words, the Moon is a natural calendar for all human beings that can be used to regulate their lives.
(17) Qurʾānic excerpt number 17:
yasʾalūnaka ʿani l-ḫamri wa-l-maysiri qul fīhimā iṯmun kabīrun (Q 2:219)
“They ask you about wine and gambling. Say: There is a great sin in both of them.”
Q 2:219 also features a question and a divine answer. The question is about wine and gambling. In response, God addresses the Prophet and tells him to say or to answer that both are sins, although certain people derive benefits. According to Ṭabarī, when people drink they get drunk and can hurt others, whereas gambling distracts people from worshiping God and from prayer.52Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 2, p. 488.
Q 2:219 illustrates the argument of Gwynne regarding the structure of the law where the structure of the original rule-sentence must imply that in circumstances X, Y is required/permitted. If it cannot be so restated, it cannot serve as a guide for inference.53Gwynne, Logic, Rhetoric and Legal Reasoning in the Qurʾān, p. 67. In Q 2:219 it is inferred that under the rule, it is prohibited.
In the following example God instructs Muḥammad to address the associationists, by asking them to acknowledge the act of the giver of sustenance (such as rain from heaven, the light and heat of the sun, the air in the atmosphere of the Earth, that also makes human existence possible and the plants which both people and animals can eat):54Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 12, p. 114.
(18) Qurʾānic excerpt number 18:
qul man yarzuqukum mina s-samāwāti wa-l-arḍi quli llāhu wa-innā aw ʾiyyākum la-ʿalā hudan aw fī ḍalālin mubīnin (Q 34:24)
“Say: Who gives you sustenance from the heavens and the earth? Say: Allah. And verily we or you are upon right guidance, or in manifest error.”
The question and answer argumentative mode is designed to awake their consciences, and discover the source of their error within themselves.55See <https://www.al-islam.org Commentary on Q 34:24>. However, the associationists’ retorts are not mentioned, perhaps because they were unable to reply satisfactorily.56Ṭabarī, Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 12, p. 114. However, it is noteworthy that without waiting for God to instruct him, Muḥammad knows how to answer to the question: Say/tell them it is Allah who is the origin of all these bounties. That is, the issue is so clear and evident that their answer would have been meaningless.
According to the setting elaborated by the Qurʾānic text Allah is the supreme God, and Muḥammad is his messenger. He has the authority to command or to require from his prophet to execute or say things on Allah’s behalf. For this reason, the verb qul focuses on the relationship between the participants of the utterance, Allah and Muḥammad, while underscoring the status of each participant. It could be argued that the illocutionary force of qul expresses a directive act, when God orders Muḥammad to say/transmit his words.
The key meaning in the verses above is that the unbelievers claim to believe in God when they do not, whereas ultimately, they are powerless and dependent on His grace. The same is true for the legal passages incorporating the verb qul, which can be interpreted in this context as “explain” or “state”. When people ask the prophet about a certain law and he transmits God’s answer, he indirectly explains and guides them what to do and how. This interpretation is also implied in Gwynne’s explanation on the usage of the imperative form qul: “while human beings may not be entitled to demand explanations from God, they are entitled to know their relation to him. Accordingly, Qur’anic commands and commandments are usually accompanied by explanations of the results God will produce when his orders are obeyed, or of the circumstances which create the obligation to perform a certain action or achieve a certain state. In other words, God’s commandments come with answers to the question ‘Why?’.”57Gwynne, Logic, Rhetoric and Legal Reasoning in the Qurʾān, p. 82.
The final example illustrates one exceptional case of the verb qāla, which in my opinion acts as a non-illocutionary rather than a locutionary verb:
(19) Qurʾānic excerpt number 19:
wa-l-yaḫša llaḏīna law tarakū min ḫalfihim ḏurriyyatan ḍiʿāfan ḫāfū ʿalayhim fa-l-yattaqū llāha wa-l-yaqūlū qawlan sadīdan (Q 4:9)
“And let those fear who, if they left behind them weak children, would fear on their account, so let them be in awe of Allah, and let them speak right words.”
This verse may refer to the prohibition against outsized donations and bequests rather than entire properties to avoid having young, powerless children be reduced to poverty and misfortune after their death. These people should trust in God and they should speak only right and honest words; namely, to mention helpless children [in their wills].58See Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān, vol. 3, p. 362.
In all the instances analyzed up to now, three components including the verb qāla have been identified in discourse: the addressor, the addressee and the message. In Q 4:9 there is no addressee and no (concrete) message, such that it is not clear who the words are addressed to and in which communicative circumstance they are uttered. The type of direct object also differs. Whereas qāla usually introduces direct discourse comprising an exact quotation formulated as either an imperative verb or an asyndetic clause, qāla in Q 4:9 is followed by a noun in the accusative. Therefore, the verb yaqūlū in Q 4:9 has the basic meaning of ʿsayʾ and can be paraphrased as “let them utter”. It cannot be paraphrased as “stated” or “argued” unlike most of the forms of qāla.
Conclusion
⌅The verb qāla can be seen as an ordinary verb which does not differ a great deal from other verbs indicating a certain action. This is illustrated in the Qurʾānic translations, where analysis showed that qāla is usually translated simply as “said”. For example, the verb qāla in Q 3:40 (example 5) and in Q 6:51 (example 7) is translated by Abdel Haleem (2005)Abdel Haleem, Muhammad A. S, The Qurʾān: A new Translation, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2005. as “said”, by Rubin (2015)Rubin, Uri, ha-Qurʾān. Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv University Press, 2015. as “amar (said)” and by Bobzin (2010)Bobzin, Hartmut, Der Koran: Neu übertragen von Hartmut Bobzin, München: C.H. Beck, 2010. as “sprach”. This verb was only translated differently in two cases. In Q 75:10 (example 11) Rubin chose to translate the verb qālū as “yasʾalū (they will ask)” and in Q 4:9 (example 19) qālū is translated in English, Hebrew and German as “speak”. The question is why the basic translation of qālū as “said” was not maintained in the translation of Q 4:9 and Q 75:10.
Scholars often point out that the verb qāla is a prominent feature of polemic discourse in the Qurʾān. However, studies have not clarified why this particular verb is employed in this discourse. There are many other verbs such as zaʿama “claim” which could have been used instead.
In various works on verbs of saying in English and Hebrew the verb “say” is considered to belong to a class of verbs related to communication and the transmission of ideas. It communicates a message, whereas its semantic meaning differs with respect to the nature of the message, the way it is communicated, and its sentential complement. This explanation is fully realized in all the verses analyzed in this article. qāla as a performative verb usually occurs in two contextual domains: in verbal exchanges between participants as part of a conversation, and in non-conversational contexts. Both domains require a verb that focuses clearly on the message, and this might explain why the verb qāla is used frequently in polemic discourse or word-exchange situations.
We also saw that qāla performs three elementary illocutionary acts: assertion, question and orders. Thus, in most cases qāla can be paraphrased as “stated”, “argued”, “ordered”, “asked” and “answered” and is only understood as “uttered” in a few cases. Therefore it is plausible to argue that the argumentative feature of Qurʾānic polemical language or any situation of word-exchange in the Qurʾān is the result of the use of the verb qāla, since this verb not only signals the word-exchange between the parties but has an illocutionary force and hence it is interpreted by the addressee as “argued”, “claimed” or “stated”.
Thus, to have a better understanding of the usage of the verb qāla in the Qurʾān it is not enough to identify its discursive context. Rather approach that associates these semantic, syntax, context and pragmatic components is needed to elucidate the usage of this verb. This association is and summarized in the table below:
The table clearly shows that meaning, context and pragmatics of the verb qāla are inseparable. The many occurrences of the verb qāla show that it plays an integral role in the Qurʾānic text. It is used as a thread that connects the discourse participants, but primarily this verb, like the chameleon that changes its color as a function of its surroundings, change its meaning according to the context.