Dialogues of the Hereafter in the Holy Quran: An Argumentative Study

Abstract

This study explores the argumentative strategies employed in the Quranic dialogues of the Hereafter from the perspective of pragmatic argumentation. It examines how eschatological dialogues in the Holy Quran function as persuasive discourse by integrating rhetorical and argumentative techniques to influence both the participants within the dialogues and the audience receiving the Quranic message. The research focuses on a unique textual corpus whose events are presented as certain future realities, making it a rich source for argumentative analysis. Adopting a pragmatic-argumentative methodology, the study investigates three principal dimensions of Quranic argumentation: argumentative connectives, argumentative operators, and argumentative scales. These linguistic and rhetorical devices are analyzed to demonstrate how they contribute to the coherence, persuasive force, and communicative effectiveness of the dialogues. The findings reveal that argumentation is an essential feature of Quranic eschatological discourse, with nearly every dialogue employing carefully structured persuasive mechanisms. The study concludes that these argumentative strategies serve not only to shape the interactions between the speakers within the Quranic narratives but also to strengthen the moral and spiritual impact of the text upon readers and listeners in worldly life.