Examining the Implications of Imperative Structure from the Viewpoint of Arabic Literary Studies and the Science of Principles of Jurisprudence

Imperative Structure is one of the controversial issues in literary studies and the science of principles of jurisprudence. This issue is very important, especially in the field of Semantics, so that the diversity in interpretations has led to inference of two different judgments from the initial meaning of Imperative Structure about the same action, one of which is Mustahab (Recomended) and the other on is Wajib (Compulsary). In literary studies, rhetoric has the greatest contribution to the determining the primary meaning and explaining the secondary meaning of the forms. The scholars of jurisprudence have also used the achievements of rhetorical sciences to explain the meanings of the commandments, but, as a result of the difference in the functions of these two sciences, the scholars of the science of Principles of Jurisprudence changed the aesthetic attitude of the literary scholars in expressing the discussions to the attitude towards the deduction of the rules; and added to the delicacies of the discussion. Therefore, in view of the importance of the Imperative Structure as one of the three main structures in Arabic language, and as a means for communicating the rules of the laws of Shari‘ah, this research tries to study the dimensions of the two sciences through a comparative analysis; and also take a look at the ideas of the scholars of the science of Principles of Jurisprudence through a comparative approach. The scholars of the science of Principles of Jurisprudence have different ideas about the Imperative Structure, but what it seems to be true is that the explanation and limitation of the meaning of the structure should be based on the prevalence of its usage. Regarding the type of the demand expressed through the Imperative Structure, the fact is that what is understood from the structure is merely the seriousness of the demand; therefore, using the Imperative Structure for seriousness of the demand has a literal meaning, but for other purposes it has a figurative meaning. The fact that whether the action is compulsory or not can be understood from its application in Shari‘ah.