A Semiotic Analysis of Hand Gestures in Some Selected Hadiths

Most of body language researchers, like Mehrabian, a pioneer researcher of body language, confirm that over two-thirds of communication is done non-verbally. Non-verbal communication has different forms, such as hand gestures, facial expressions, etc. Briefly, Hadith (Prophet Muhammad’s speeches) is a corpus of statements articulated by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) inspired by Allah through the Archangel Jibril, the inspiration angel. It is considered to be a complement of the Noble Qur'an and the second source of Islamic legislation, clarifying some Islamic rules such as the prayer times. Since Hadith is conducted through communication, including non-verbal communication, it is important to shed some light on it. This thesis has shed light on clarifying the significance of hand gestures in some hadiths contextually. Also, it has clarified the impact of different cultures on understanding the significance of the hand gestures.