CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Language barrier is one of the major obstacles facing a full global unity and globalization in a greater sense. Given the strong relationship between language and culture, there are specific cultural elements in the different languages that make it even harder to break the language barrier. These cultural elements, among other elements, determine semantics and syntax of the languages, thus, dictate the overall meaning of a particular word of sentence within the culture. This meaning cannot be comprehended in the same manner in a different language. It is for this reason that scholars, researchers and linguists are currently majoring on pragmatics. Pragmatics can be defined as a focused attempt at studying and understanding language as a major instrument of human communication, which considers all the rules and conditions that the surrounding society imposes on different languages. The concept and its aspects are contained in John Searle’s theory of speech acts. In the theory, while talking, speakers also perform actions. The theory also elaborates on various kinds of speech acts, which will be discussed further within the course of this study. The manner in which the speech acts are interpreted depends on the relationship between the speaker and the hearer. In the speaker-hearer relationship, the speaker is superior and aims at achieving a certain goal. The hearer on the other hand is at a lower hierarchy and is expected to decode the speaker’s instructions correctly and implement them accurately. As such, they have to consider all the possible dimensions of the intention from all perspectives including cultural and personal dimensions. Previous research has shown the challenges associated with translation of speech acts, especially between languages with very little or no common religious similarities. An example of such a scenario is the translation from Arabic to English or vice versa. These two languages are not only different in terms of religious aspects, but also the specific linguistic rules and conditions that govern them. As such, this study explores translation of requests or ‘requesting’ as they will be called in some parts of the study. These are directives in which the speaker makes an effort to have the listener or the hearer to perform an action.

1.2 Problem Statement

The following study explores translation of divine requests from the Arabic language into the English language within the Quran. A bigger portion of the existing study, even those that examined translation of requests in the Holy book, did not do it from a pragmatic standpoint. Therefore, it becomes hard to understand the change in meaning and intention from the source language to target language. The following study intends to solve this problem by trying to understand the meanings and functions of requests from Arabic to English from a pragmatic perspective. In the course of the discussion of findings, the study will also try to suggest some solutions to the challenges that often face translation of such directives from Arabic to English.

1.3 Research Objectives

The following are the main objectives of this research.

          i.            To understand the functions of imperatives in the Holy Quran as well as in the target language.

        ii.            To examine the similarity or compatibility between the function of the imperatives in both source text and translated text.

      iii.            To discover any challenges in the translation of imperatives between the source and target language.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The Holy Quran is a very important book in the Islamic religion. It contains God’s directives to human beings through Prophet Muhammad. This study, therefore, is important in helping human beings across the two cultures understand the Quran and directives from God. It will also contribute to linguistic study of the Quran in both Arabic and English. Finally, the study contributes to future research involving study or translation of the Quran through highlighting the challenges researchers face and how meanings of texts can differ from one language to another during translation of divine requests in the book.  

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter looks into literature that provide a deeper insight into the translation of requests as a directive speech act. The Holy Quran takes center stage in this particular chapter as the translation of this Holy book is used as a point of reference in relation to performative utterances and the speech act theory. The aim of this chapter is to explore on the translation of requests in the Holy Quran making Arabic Language the SL and the English language as the TL. The researched information in this chapter has been divided into seven sections, with each section having a series of secondary sources that support the findings.

The first section in this chapter details the translation of the Holy Quran. The findings get support from different English Quran translations from different eras. Under this section, the research also explores the concept of equivalence highlighting it as the most important aspect of translation. The study also explores the relationship between translation and culture, pointing out culture as a fundamental tool of reference in the translation process.

The second section covers the theory of speech acts with reference to John Austin. It explores Austin’s definition of the Speech Acts and relates it to the translation of divine requests in the Quran from Arabic to English. The third section focuses on the notion of request as a speech act and relates it to the requests made in the Holy Quran.

2.1. The Quran

Wheeler (2002) defines the Quran as the words of God revealed through the medium of angel Gabriel to the great prophet Mohammed. The word Quran is mentioned 70 times in the Holy Quran. Western scholars have related the term to the Syrian word ‘qeryana’ that means lesson/scripture reading. There exists an early Muslim tradition where the Quran is identified in 55 different terms within the Holy Quran.

According to DawsarÄ«, Shafiq and Mujahid (2006), the Quran is Mohayminan over previous scriptures. This means that the Quran contains in preserved form the aims and teachings of previous revealed books such as Injeel (Gospel) and Torah. It functions to witness over these books confirming what is correct and correcting the existing distortions contained in them. The Quran is deemed to be exalted above all other books revealed by Allah to the prophets. The Quran is sometimes referred to Hakeem to mean ‘full of wisdom’ (DawsarÄ«, Shafiq and Mujahid, 2006). To the Muslims, the Quran is more than just a book. It is pre-existent that it interceded for those who read it on the Judgement day could absolve people from sin and heals sicknesses. The Holy Book is read in a variety of contexts such as over the Ramadhan period and during Muslim prayer rituals.

The Quran is organized by chapters (suras) and verses. There are 114 chapters (suras), beginning with "Al-Fatiha" and ending with "An-Nas”. Each of these suras consists of a number of verses. Suras are classified into two categories: Meccan and  Medinan, depending on whether or not the chapters were revealed before or after prophet Mohammed had migrated (Hijra) to the city of Medina. Nevertheless, a sura classified as Meccan can contain Medinan verses in it. The same applies to a Medinan sura. Muslim scholars believe that the order of verses within suras was set by divine inspiration during the time of Prophet Mohammed. On distinguishing factor between Meccan and Medinan Suras is that while the former are short and concise, the latter are more informative and clarify important Islamic aspects such as hajj (pilgrimage), fasting and Zakat (compulsory  alms). The Medinan suras concentrate of the social aspect of a Muslim’s life. They solve problems, set rules and suggest the consequences of different deeds- good or bad.

Muslim scholars regard the Noble Quran as a universal, meaning that it is not specific to a single era or to a particular group of people. The universality of the Quran is revealed in the Holy Book itself as it applies to different times, both sexes, all places, the young and old and all members of the society. Because of these reasons, Muslim scholars saw the need to translate the Holy Quran into languages that non-Arab Muslims could understand. This has seen the coming to existence of many translations of the Noble Quran. Scholars are however keen to ensure meaning is not distorted in these translations as this would violate the Quran.

2.2. Equivalence

The quality of any translated work lies on the notion of equivalence (Hatim & Muday, 2004). The purpose of any translation is not only based on transference of meaning between languages but rather the replacement of a source language meaning by a target language meaning that functions similarly to the situation at hand.  Equivalence ensures a replication of a similar situation to that in the original language using completely different wording. It maintains the stylistic and literary impact of the source language and is therefore an ideal method that a translator can use to deal with idioms, proverbs, animal sounds and clichés.  A translator must first seek the meanings of correspondence and formal equivalence before proceeding to translate a given text. In so doing, the translator will find a target language trajectory that has the same place in the target language as the Source Language has in the Source Language.

The choice language of the Quran is Arabic. According to Muslim scholars, this due to the superiority of the Arabic language as compared to other languages (Dawsarī, Shafiq and Mujahid, 2006). Allah mentions the blessing of revealing the Quran in the Arabic language in Quran 43:3

"إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُون"

Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Qur'an that you might understand”

(Al-Hilali and Khan, 2018).

The Quran needed to be revealed in a language that could accommodate its lofty meaning and handle its demands and Arabic was the only language that could fulfill these conditions. Arabic is meant to be spoken in an eloquent manner; its sentences, rules; grammatical forms and sentence structure do not promote anything less than eloquent speech.

In translating the Quran from Arabic to English, a translator must stay faithful to the Source Language because of its religious and divine nature and because any contradictions will be highly rejected and considered violations to the Noble Quran. The prominence that Allah gives to the Quran makes it the most important aspect of the Islam faith. It has a special effect in the behavior, minds and attitudes of people and the translations must therefore be an imitation of the original. Muslim scholars emphasize on interpretation of meanings rather than translation of content since it is considered impossible to translate.

The Noble Quran is a genre in itself. It entails cultural elements, guides social life, manners, worship, religion and also acts as a source of Islamic Law. Its universal nature encompasses a variety of aspects that govern human life and socialization. Translators must have a background knowledge of the aforementioned aspects in order to interpret the message.

Translating the Arabic Holy Quran into English has lately become an issue of urgency owing to the number of non-Arab Muslims converting to Islam and an increasing academic interest in the Islamic religion. The degree of accuracy of these traditions has become a significant point of concern. Poor translation strategies prevents readers of the target text from getting to the same effects and meanings as contained in the original text. Many attempts have been made to come up with more accurate versions of the Holy Quran. According to Muslim scholars, The Koran Interpreted (1955) by Arthur Arberry is considered one of the most accurate translation of the Quran into English language. Other recognized accurate translations are The Koran (1956) by N.J Dawood and The Bounteous Koran (1984) by Khatib.

In the translation of the Quran from Arabic to the English language, conversational implicature becomes the focus with maxims of relation, quantity, quality and manner. In rendering the intended Quran chapters and verses, English translators employ three translation strategies; brackets, footnotes and parenthesis. These strategies are used to give more information on cultural, religious and social elements of the Source Language to ensure that Target Text is an accurate translation of the original text and that meaning is emphasized.

2.3. Relationship between Translation and Culture

Guo (2012) defines culture as the entire ways of a people. It encompasses the traditions, patterns of customs, values, social habits, beliefs and the language of a particular society. A close relationship exists between language and culture.  As culture is diverse, so is language. Language contains in it cultural connotations which mirror cultural characteristics. A translator must explore the close relationship between culture and translation and understand the translation approaches of pragmatic and semantic equivalence.

An effective translation gives a target language reader the same conception of what a native reader understands from the original. A good translation is determined by the receptor’s response to the translated material. This message is then compared to the way in which the original receptor had responded and reacted to the message within its original setting. A translator must translate information into symbols, which are then sent out. According to Guo (2012), a meaning equivalence does not exist but a signifier equivalence does. Differences between languages have created a limitation on translation equivalence, which is manifested in cultural differences, grammatical features and in the meaning of words.

The purpose of translation is to promote and improve the level of understanding among different nations and cultures. It produces a receptor language which is the closest natural equivalent of the source language; both in style and meaning. Cultural differences influences the reproduction of the closets natural equivalent of a target language. The art of translation therefore demands of a translator to become acquainted with the respective culture of the source language. Translation in this essence means the ability to transfer between cultures.

In the Holy Quran, a translator is mandated to provide equivalent interpretations to culturally bound concepts that exist only in the Arabic language. This purposes to avoid misunderstanding and miscommunication that may arise. For example, the surah of At-Talaq (Divorce) advises Muslims on how to deal with their wives in the case of divorce. Muslim men are responsible for handling a divorce and even reconciliation is portrayed as a possibility in the case of divorce (Arberry, 1996). The cultural elements surrounding the Islamic Divorce Law has no equivalent in the English language. The role of the translator in transferring meaning to the Target Language becomes useful in a situation like this. The failure of a translator to understand the cultural implications of Islamic Divorce in this case scenario will automatically result in a translation that distorts meaning, resulting in a misinterpretation of meaning.

 2.4. Translating the Quran

According to Hatim and Munday (2004), translation is the process of rendering meaning of a text into another language as intended by the author of the original text. The notion of the word author when dealing with the Holy Quran takes an important standing because the text in this case is authored by God himself and therefore cannot be subject to any form of distortion.

According to Newmark (1988), to clearly understand a text a translator must immerse himself in both general and close reading. In the case of the Holy Quran, a translator has to read chapters and versus of the Quran in the original Arabic language to grasp the intended meaning of the author. As aforementioned, the Quran covers a variety of topics on culture, ethics, society, faith, religious practices and relationships. A translator has to carry out intensive research on these topics to understand them, and how they apply to the Islamic way of life. Moreover, a translator has to carry out extensive research on the styles used in the Quran such as figurative language and figure out the context within which they are used. This ensures that a translator is familiar with the additional meanings of words, phrases and stylistic devices incorporated in the Quran.

2.5. John Austin’s Theory of Speech Acts

Searle et al (1980) asserts that language is not only used to inform things or describe things. It is also used as to perform acts. Austin’s speech act theory considers language as a form of action rather than a medium of expressing or conveying emotions and messages respectively. John Austin developed the Speech At theory in 1975. Aspects of this theory were later brought into a higher dimension by John Searle, a language philosopher (Dore, 1978). Austin’s speech Act theory reflects on the notion that language is not used solely for the purpose of making assertions but also to do things or rather to perform actions. Actions performed through utterances are termed as speech acts.

According to Austin’s theory, utterances convey different meanings for the speaker and the listener other than the meaning contained in the language. Austin explores two types of utterances; the constative and performative utterance (Fish, 1976). A constative utterance is that which describes a situation in relation to whether it is true or false. For example, “The door is open” states a truth that is evident to both the speaker and the listener. These utterances do not denote an action and are only used in assertions or descriptions.  A performative utterance on the other hand are sentences that denote actions. For example a “Stop’ sign on a highway will likely prompt drivers to stop.

Speech act are further divided into three different categories: locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts. A locutionary act is the basic act of producing words or sounds (utterances) which are meaningful and correspond to the grammatical rules of a particular language (Searle, et al, 1980). It involves the physical utterance of words or performing an act of saying something. Illocutionary acts on the other hand are the real actions performed by an utterance. An utterance is formed by a particular function in mind. The communicative force of an utterance is known as the illocutionary force. Lastly, a perlocutionary act refers to the effect that a locutionary act has on a listener or rather the hearer’s response to a speaker.

Austin (1975) further classifies speech acts into five different types based on the speaker’s intention and the illocutionary force:

Verdictives: These are acts that consist of delivering a finding such as assessing, estimating, describing and reading.

Exercitives: These ae acts that give a decision for or against a particular course of action such as appointing, ordering, sentencing, advising and dismissing.

Commissives: These are acts which commit a speaker to a course of action such as intending, promising, contracting and declaring.

Expositives: These acts are used to conduct arguments, expound views and clarify ideas such as insisting, arguing, affirming, refereeing, informing and conceding.

Bahabitives: These are expressions of attitudes towards the fortunes, conduct or attitudes of other people. They mainly encompass feelings and reactions such as congratulating, blaming, thanking, apologizing, welcoming etcetera.

This classification has been criticized by some scholars such as Searle who perceives them as being overlapping such that one speech act may belong to two different categories at the same time. For example, describing can be considered an expositive and a verdictive at the same time. This theory is relevant to the research since it helps in definition and understanding of speech acts, thus, facilitating our understanding of the requests that will be taken from the Holy Quran.

2.6. Connection between Indirect Speech Acts and Politeness.

The act of making requests is face threatening to a hearer. They may cause imposition on the hearer from a speaker’s side. Often, requests vary in indirectness from one culture to another. The level of indirectness is an important implication to politeness and a cultures face wants. In some cultures such as the Chinese culture, directness is considered impolite. Some languages therefore tend to make requests less direct to increase the possibility of compliance and reduce imposition. The choice if directness or indirectness when making requests depends on external factors such as age, social status and rank amongst others. For example, when addressing older people or people of higher ranks, requests tend to be less direct than when addressing younger people or those of lower ranks. Distance is another factor that governs the speech act of request. The speaker-hearer relationship governs the level of formality or directness between them. Culture is an important factor in deciding the level of directness or kind of requests to be used. This is because what to one culture is impolite is to another culture polite.

Searle (1975) explains that indirect illocutions are more polite because they increase hearer’s options. It therefore goes that the degree of indirectness of an illocution determines the strength or weakness of its force. The politeness theory proposed by Brown and Levinson (1987) supports the notion of indirectness. According to this theory, a directive speech act is a face threatening act and violates a hearers need to maintain esteem because the speaker impedes the hearer by asking him not to do what the hearer wants but rather to oblige to the wishes of the speaker. This will help understand possibly how human beings may interpret the divine requests in the Quran. It is the interpretation that determine how the requests are translated.

2.7. Requesting As a Speech Act

One of the most broadly assessed features in both cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics field is requesting as a speech act. According to Blum-Kulka and Olshtain, E (1984), requesting encompasses an illocutionary act where the speaker asks the hearer to perform an act which is beneficial to the speaker. In this connection, this particular speech act has been regarded as quite threatening since it intrinsically threatens the hearers face (Saddock, 2004). Due to the face threatening nature of this speech act, the speaker may be forced to improve its impact by utilizing modification devices. These devices are classified into two categories: external and internal. External modification devices are those that appear in the immediate linguistic content surrounding the request act. For example, Could you clear the table for supper? I have so much cooking to do that I cannot do it.

Solar et al (2005) asserts that the study of requests is carried out from a pragmatic point of view. Since it aims to examine the strategies used in the translation of the Quran, requests are examined syntactically and pragmatically in both the Arabic and English languages. Since speech acts deal with performing actions, imperatives in the source language (Arabic) are chosen as subject of study since they are considered doing words.

The most challenging aspect of translating requests in the Holy Quran is because the speaker is God and the reader will realize that the Supreme God is directing hearers regarding specific aspects of the society. Requests therefore take the shape of an advice or an imperative for the benefit of the hearer. Making requests in one language or another requires knowledge of society and culture as macro elements (Fish, 1976).

2.7.1. Perspectives of Requests

The choice of the type of pronouns used in requests is referred to as perspective or point of view operation (Blum-Kulka, 1989). For example, the difference between ‘could you move’ and ‘could we have it moved’ is the perspective ‘could you’. It emphasizes the role of the hearer in the situation. ‘Could we’ on the other hand stresses on the role of the speaker and the hearer. Since the hearer is the one under threat during requests, refraining from naming the hearer as the principle actor of an action softens the imposition impact.

Blum Kulka (1989) suggests four perspectives of requests:

Hearer-Oriented: This is where the hearer is requested to do something.

Example: Could you shut the door?

Speaker-oriented

Example: Do you think I could borrow your pen?

Speaker and hearer oriented

Example: Could we do the job together?

Impersonal

Example: It will be a great idea to walk the dog this evening.

Requests can also be realized from a semantic point of view. An utterance is divided into three parts: the address term, the head act and the adjuncts (Searle, 1975). These parts cannot be taken apart without making references to a speaker, a hearer and the action. Address terms often come at the beginning of an utterance and are guided by factors such as gender, social rank, and the distance (relationship) between the speaker and the hearer. The head act is considered the most important of these parts since it points out to the proposition of the act whether it is a declaration, warning or a request. The adjuncts come last. They are external modifications that affect the context of the situation and indicate the reasons for making a request. This is an important factor a translator will have to consider, thus, this helps determine the approach a translator will take while translating any particular request made in the Quran.

2.7.2. Requests’ Felicity Conditions

Austin (1975) proposed that a performative utterance can neither be true or false. However, such utterances can be felicitous of infelicitous. To succeed, performatives must meet a given set of conditions. Since they constitute speech acts, a performative action or verb must be in the present tense to make the illocutionary act explicit and achieve the intention of the speaker in the utterance. Each sentence must also have a first person subject. Finally, the presence of the word ‘hereby’ in the sentence is a marker of the performative. The aforementioned are general conditions that constitute the performance of a speech act. For example felicity condition for declarations can differ from those of warnings or requests. However, if one felicity condition doesn’t exist then the act goes unhappy or is misfired (Austin, 1975).

The chapter explores the different studies in the translation of the Arabic Quran into the English version. The research also explores the notion of equivalence, citing its importance in a translator’s work of translating.  The study further explores Venuti’s translation theory and the speech act theory by John Austin. All these theories help understand the subject of discussion and the overall process of translation of religious items like Quran requests in this research. The research proceeds to examine requesting as a speech act in relation to the interlocutors. The notion of directness or indirectness is explored extensively in relation to culture, social status and age of interlocutors.  This chapter gives a theoretical background into the study of requests in the Quran and the translation of these requests from Arabic to English.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1. Research Method and Techniques

It is important to understand that this research is contrastive in nature. According to Lado (1957), contrastive analysis entails a systematic examination of two languages in order to note the differences and draw a conclusion from the existing differences or similarities. To be more specific it contrasts the functions of Quran requests in Arabic and in English. In this way, it analyzes whether the function of the request changes after translation. A contrastive analysis was deemed suitable for this research, as it is the method that, over time, has been preferred by most scholars when a study of more than one language is involved. Lado (1957) further says that contrastive analysis facilitates a better understanding of the two language involved. As such, lays a foundation for better translation and solution of any problems that may be associated with the translation. The analysis that results from this technique is important in overcoming any linguistic challenges. In line with this technique, the study adopts a corpus-based approach that will select particular sentences from the Quran versions used. These sentences must meet a particular criterion: They must be requests, must be imperatives, and must be coming from Allah to human beings. The corpus-based approach is meant to facilitate drawing of contrasts during analysis. The research uses various versions of the Quran as the source text. To refine the data further, the research is built on three different dimensions. Each of the dimensions is elaborated individually but still, serve as a contribution to the main topic. The division into three dimensions is made to create a reflection on the importance of different pragmatics used in the understanding this research.

The first dimension is based on the act of speech requesting the illustration from a pragmatic point of view. The study has given different literature reviews on what has been studied and written in this subject matter. The literature provides a background on the requests from a pragmatic point of view while another part adds new things but from a language point of view.

Both the pragmatic point of view and the types are functions of requests which are examined in both English and Arabic and examples are provided in each case. The study has taken the Arabic language to be the source language. All the examples mentioned in this context are made in Arabic and have been obtained from the Holy Quran as the primary text. Requests in the Arabic language are also called Performative Utterances. This is a vast topic of study, but for this case, it has been divided into five subtitles.  These subsections include; negation, vocation, imperatives, wish, and interrogative. Nevertheless, for the sake of this study, only the imperatives are taken into consideration in both languages as they have a relation in their pragmatic meanings. The study does not find it useful to have a definition of each of the five categories, but it explains the logical functions that come along in the Holy Quran.

The most critical part of the method used in this research is the analytical part that connects the pragmatics with the linguistics. This section explains the pragmatic functions of each of the imperatives giving examples in each case. There are translations given in each case together with an example. When the readings are compared to the original ones from the source texts, the study finds the best of which would come up with the same meaning or the closest meaning to the original version. The examples are chosen from the Surahs. The choice has to be made from different Surahs because each of the verses in the Holy Quran has a specific title in a particular context. The fact that the Holy Quran has a particular occasion for its texts helps in achieving the aim of this study. That is, the variety expands the focus of this research and increases its reliability.

3.2. Methods of Data Collection and Instruments

The data for this research was collected from both primary and secondary sources. A primary source, in simpler terms, is the source from which the raw data is taken from. Primary sources can be found in libraries and even online in case there are electronic versions of the same. There are so many translated versions of the Quran both in libraries and on the internet, which makes it hard to determine the specific ones to use for a study. However, as it is in most cases, the determining whether a primary source is suitable depends on the particular objectives of a study as well as the needs of the research team. This study chose the three translations for the sake of their credibility, wide reception and usage, and their validity, which were determined by the fact that they have been widely quoted in Muslim literature. The first translation used in this study is that by (Ali, 1989) who was considered to be one of the most dependable, remarkable, and reliable translators of the Holy Book, the Holy Quran.  This translation has a broad audience within the Muslim community, and its use has spread even unto the Islamic people who are not members of the Arabic Society. The second translation sued is that of (Arberry, 1955). He is considered to be a Christian Orientalist. He took his time to do a study of the Holy Quran language. He concluded that the language of the Quran is difficult to translate, but the meaning and the context can be transferred to the target language. The last translation this study observes is one by (Dawood, 1956) whose origin can be traced back to Iraq. The choice of these three translations was arrived at after careful considerations on the subject matter of translating the Holy Quran to English. Two more reasons that made these translations be the priority of the research in spite of the existence of the many interpretations. First, these translations trace their origins to different cultural backgrounds, thus, good for study of pragmatic functions. The first Translator is a Muslim; the second translator is a Christian, while the third translator is a Jew. This makes it attractive in getting the difference when trying to find out the differences in translations of the Arabic imperatives. It also makes it easy to get the mistakes in translations especially when the context is not well understood by a translator who is not a Muslim. When errors are detected in the readings, they should be highlighted because the text used in this study is a raw text. In as much as these primary sources are suitable to the study, it is important to note a few shortcomings that they have which may affect the reliability of this study. Firstly, most of Quran versions are criticized by different scholars and religious leaders and the three used here were not exempted. The criticisms make the study controversial. Another challenge is that it is difficult to go through three versions of the Quran and find data that specifically meets the earlier set criterion. Therefore, the research may have missed the most important examples because of the time factor. However, those that were used still served the intended purpose. Last challenge is the volume of the books which makes it time consuming to go through them and find the data needed within the short time allocated for this study.

Alongside the primary sources, several secondary sources were used in this research to support, help understand and analyze the primary sources. The main function of primary sources is to provide information that elaborate the data found in the primary sources. These sources included books, periodicals, journals, magazines and newspapers as well as research papers. Some were found online while others were found in archives and the library. Various instruments helped in locating these sources. They include computers, library search engines, and the internet that was a major tool in the location and classification of some of the secondary sources. Care should be taken while sorting out the secondary sources for any research since there is a high likelihood of using sources that are not only irrelevant, but those that are outdated. The secondary sources used in this research, however, explained some of the claims made in this study and facilitated the discussion of the data obtained from the primary sources.

3.3. The Research Process

After identifying the primary sources based on the criterion set, the next step was to go through the sources to find examples that meet the second criterion set for the imperatives to be discussed. To make the process easier since it involved several examples, a snippet of the verse to be used as an example was taken and set aside for future evaluation with respect to the set criterion. It is important to note that the snippets that are chosen eventually will be pasted in the data/findings chapter followed by a short explanation because most of the analysis will be done in the data analysis section of this research. Even while the snippets were taken, they were referenced properly for ease of identification and further location.

3.4 Data Analysis

The final part of the methodology is the manner in which the data would be analyzed. This study combines description, contrastive and analytical type of research as already mentioned. In the analysis chapter, the pragmatic functions are examined extensively. For ease of analysis, the functions are subdivided into two different parts. The first part will provide the primary functions, and examples are given in each case while the second part the secondary features are explained with examples provided. The models used are texts that are rarely used in the Holy Quran. The patterns are described as well. This is the section where most secondary sources come in as they assist in explanation and understanding of the data. The study will also give the areas that the survey has registered success in the translation of imperatives form the Arabic language to English and then provide suggestions on the areas that can improve on. While the previous sections have explained various speech acts, in the data analysis section it will mostly major on imperatives. Therefore, the findings chapter presents imperatives both in English and Arabic.

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DATA AND DISCUSSION

4.1. Imperative in Arabic

This chapter involves describing "Imperatives" as a sub-group of requestive- performatives which was defined in the previous chapters. The study seeks to fully illustrate its forms of syntax as well as pragmatic functions in both English and Arabic. An imperative is defined as a step taken by an inferior to ask for a permission to perform an act in the form of obligation (Ali, 2001). It is clear from this definition that superiority and obligation are two main issues. Superiority involves a person belonging to a higher rank giving instructions to the hearer belonging to a lower rank to perform an action.

4.1.1 Forms of Syntax of Imperatives

It is important to note that, in Arabic, there maybe indirect or direct imperatives.

Direct: (Fi'l Al- amr)   ÙÙØ¹ÙÙ„ الأمرِ 

It is considered as the direct form of the command verb. Consider the two examples below:

قال تعالى: «ÙˆØ£Ù‚يموا الصلاة وآتوا الزكاة"(البقرة/43)

 "And perform the prayer, and pay the alms "(Al- Baqarah, 43) (Arberry, 1955, p.34).

قال تعالى: «Ø®Ø° من أموالهم صدقة تطهرهم وتزكيهم بها"(التوبة/103)

"Take alms from them, so that they may thereby be cleansed and purified