Muhammad Saleh, Sultan, Dedi Gunawan Saputra, Muh. Bahly Basri
This study is motivated by a gap in pragmatic research on religious discourse, particularly regarding imperatives in the Qur'an. Previous studies have generally applied the theory of face-saving acts (Brown & Levinson, 2016) to human-to-human communication without accommodating the theological dimensions that characterize Divine discourse. Therefore, this research is designed to investigate face-saving act strategies in Qur'anic imperative discourse through a religio-pragmatic approach, focusing on Surah Yusuf. The method employed is content analysis of imperative verses that reflect both Divine and interpersonal communication. The findings reveal that politeness strategies in Qur'anic imperative discourse are divided into negative face-saving actsand positive face-saving acts. Negative strategies are realized through linguistic mitigation, such as conditional constructions, attributing authority to Allah and using soft lexical choices to avoid coercive impressions. Conversely, positive strategies are characterized by respectful address, empathy, inclusivity, and spiritual submission that foster social and moral harmony. This study introduces a new concept: divine face-saving politeness, a form of theocentric politeness that is relationally transcendental, integrating rahmah (compassion), hikmah (wisdom), and respect for human dignity within Divine communication. The study concludes that politeness in the Qur'an represents a spiritual act that builds an educational dialogue between revelation and humanity. Theoretically, this research broadens the scope of pragmatics to encompass theological dimensions and affirms Qur'anic ethical values as a model of empathetic, reflective, and humanistic communication. © 2026, Slovenska Vzdelavacia Obstaravacia. All rights reserved.
Department of Indonesian Language and Literature, Faculty of Languages and Literature, Universitas Negeri Makassar, Daeng Tata Raya Street, South Sulawesi, Makassar, Indonesia
