Social Frames and Text-Worlds of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Qur'an: A Socio-cognitive Discourse Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

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Faculty of Languages, MSA University

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute the executive framework of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. They are a cohesive blend of economic, social and environmental scopes. Socio-cognitive discourse analysis (SCDA) examines the synthesis of cognition, social structures, and discourse. SCDA postulates that cognitive models influence production and perception of discourse, triggering particular social acts. The Qur'anic social discourse encompasses a conceptual framework that shapes Muslims’ worldview, and relations with the proximal and distant social contexts, and the environment. The study attempts a socio-cognitive discourse analysis of selected SDGs as framed and represented in the Qur'an in a discernible discourse. The study employs two studies: (i) social movement frame analysis (Snow et al., 1986; Snow & Benford, 1988; Snow et al., 2019) to examine the construction of social frames, and (ii) text world theory (TWT) (Werth, 1999; Gavins, 2007) to examine action-inducing mental models in selected SDGs: “No Poverty”,“Responsible Consumption and Production”, and “Good Health and Well-being”. It is concluded that the examined Qur’anic verses address the selected SDGs, employing prognostic frames to present the required social and personal actions in terms of imperatives and prohibitions. In addition, motivational frames depict the positive impacts, while punitive frames present the negative consequences. These frames are set within text-worlds, world-switches and blended worlds. It is also concluded that the the Qur'an addresses the selected SDGs in the Islamic context with particular emphasis on the ethical and spiritual aspects of life.

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