Explaining the Style and Corroboration of Imam Al-Baqir (PBUH) in a Hadith from Al-Kafi’s Kitāb al-ḥujja Regarding the Need to Follow Imams Based on John Searle's Theory of Speech Acts

The method of Imam Al-Baqir (peace be upon him), like other Imams (peace be upon them), has a fundamental role in shaping role models for Shiites in terms of both speech and behavior. It seems that by analyzing his corroborations in a hadith from Al-Kafi’s Kitāb al-ḥujja according to linguistic theories, new insights can be gained. This article is based on John Searle's theory of speech acts. This theory was first proposed by John Langshaw Austin and then developed by John Searle. Speech act theory is one of the theories that has played a key role in development of discourse analysis, which is a reaction against the more traditional form of linguistics, focusing on sentence structure. In this theory, the produced form of a sentence in a certain context is a part of speech, which if it is included in the concept of production, is called a speech act. From Searle's view, there are only five illocutionary points that speakers can achieve on propositions in an utterance, namely: the assertive, commissive, directive, declaratory and expressive illocutionary points. The study shows that in Imam Sadiq's corroborations, expressive illocutionary points is much more used than other acts. In other words, the very text of the above-mentioned hadith has been used the most: first in declaring the truth and then the Imam’s directive role to attract the audience and announcing the conditions of obeying or disobeying Imams. The adaptation of the situational context of the hadith with various acts used in the text shows the Imam’s power in knowing the audience and his deep understanding of the situational context; because the Imam's speech is actually his reaction to deviation of the Islamic society in the matter of divine authority towards the wrong and profit-seeking policies of the Umayyad government. The method used in this descriptive-analytical study is discourse analysis. The analysis unit is a sentence, and library research tool is used.