Illocutionary Speech Acts in the Holy Qur'an

the miracle of the words, rhetoric, eloquence, musicality, structure and texture. Researching into this aspect of the Qur'an appears to be a highly difficult task and discovering meanings in this endless sea seems very complicated if not impossible. The present study, using a descriptive-analytical method, attempted at analyzing examples of Qur'anic ayahs in order to review only a smart part of this book which is the miracle of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It also aimed to categorize directive speech acts and their diversity on the basis of Searle's theory. The analysis of the frequency of the speech acts in the Qur'anic ayahs showed that directives were the most frequent speech acts followed by commissives, expressives, declarations and representatives. As a result, this study categorized directives in nine cases of request, statement, commanding, declaring, eulogy, dispraise, exclamation, comradeship, and interaction, the analysis of which showed that indirect speech acts have been used more often in directing humans, which indicates the multi-dimensional and polysemous characteristic of ayahs. Besides, the principle of reflection on the Holy Qur'an has made it possible that humans grasp the meanings of indirect speech acts using the power of reason and logic enjoying the bounty of reasoning granted to him.