Civility in Imam Hassan’s Speech: A Pragma-Rhetorical Study

Civil discourse is the discourse of peace and humanity values. On this basis, civility is defined as the civilized verbal and nonverbal behaviors; especially: politeness and courtesy. Thus, one can argue that ‘peace’ and ‘politeness’ constitute the basic concepts in this respect. This, in turn, makes civility associated with qualities that are phrased in terms of the virtues and manners of individuals – tolerance, self-restraint, mutual respect, commitment to other people, social concern, involvement, and responsibility (Evers, 2009: 241). It has been noticed that this issue has not been given its due scholarly investigation from a pragmatic point of view. Hence, the current study sets itself the task of investigating it, i.e. civility, in a certain religious context wherein it is believed that this issue can prevail. This context is represented by speeches delivered by an infallible character embodied by Imam Hassan Bin Ali Talib, the son of the cousin of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.T). The investigation is conducted within the framework of pragma rhetoric (interpersonal rhetoric) with the aims of finding out how civility is pragma-rhetorically manifested in Imam Hassan’s speeches. Civility and politeness are universal concepts, but they vary from culture to another. Therefore, data are analyzed by means of a model which is adapted to suit Arab and Islamic culture.