The Addressee (Al-Mukhatab) in Legal Theory (Usul al-Fiqh): A Pragmatic Approach

Abstract

The addressee (Al-Mukhatab) occupies a significant position in pragmatic studies as a primary component of the communicative process, and since the addressee is the intended target of speech production, discussing the capacities and faculties employed for discourse analysis becomes essential; in this context, this article aims to clarify these aspects, identifying types of addressees and the competencies required of them; modern linguistic methodologies offer numerous possibilities for studying traditional linguistic heritage and observing its similarities with modern achievements, notably the pragmatic approach which pays great attention to the parties of the communicative process; accordingly, this article utilizes pragmatic theory to study the addressee according to legal theorists (Usuliyyin), addressing questions such as: What are the characteristics of the addressee in legal theory? How did legal theorists treat these characteristics and conditions? Is there a similarity between the Usuli and pragmatic heritage regarding the addressee? And is it not time for the Arabic linguistic heritage to take its rightful place within the current scientific context by leveraging the outcomes of contemporary linguistic studies?