Konstruksi Argumentasi Persuasif dalam Surah Al-‘Aṣr: Analisis Stilistika Fungsional

Abstract

This study examines the construction of persuasive argumentation in Surah Al-‘Aṣr through a functional stylistic approach. It addresses a recurring limitation in Qur’anic stylistic studies, namely the tendency to identify linguistic features without sufficiently explaining the relationship between linguistic form, rhetorical function, and textual persuasiveness. This qualitative study employs textual analysis by integrating the stylistic perspectives of Leech and Short and Peter Verdonk, Aristotelian rhetoric, and Arabic balāghah. The analysis is conducted through three interconnected layers: linguistic devices, rhetorical functions, and potential persuasive effects. The findings demonstrate that the argumentation of Surah Al-‘Aṣr is constructed progressively and cumulatively. The qasam in wa Al-‘Aṣr functions to condition attention and strengthen discursive authority; the construction inna al-insāna lafī khusr establishes the central thesis while framing a condition of risk; illā alladhīna operates as an argumentative pivot that introduces the possibility of exception; and the sequence āmanū, ‘amilū al-ṣāliḥāt, tawāṣaw bi al-ḥaqq, and tawāṣaw bi al-ṣabr directs the recipient from belief toward action and social responsibility. The repetition of tawāṣaw and the parallelism in the closing part of the surah further indicate a shift from individual orientation to intersubjective commitment. These findings suggest that the persuasive force of Surah Al-‘Aṣr does not derive from a single rhetorical device, but from the systematic interaction between linguistic choices and their rhetorical functions. Overall, the surah develops a persuasive trajectory consisting of attention conditioning, risk framing, an argumentative pivot, solution orientation, and social reinforcement.