Shi`a Pajoohi

Shi`a Pajoohi

The Shi'i Jurisprudential-Theological Approach to Soft Cognitive Threats and Strategies for the Development of Soft Power

Document Type : Original Article

Author
mahdi mohamadzadeh
Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Teachings Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The development of soft power, in essence, consists of laying the groundwork for an active engagement with the soft threats posed by adversaries. These threats manifest across three layers—cognition, inclination, and action—each of which carries particular significance. The degree of importance attributed to each of these layers, however, is contingent upon the specific temporal and spatial context. Nevertheless, irrespective of their relative significance, the teachings of Islam as a true religion have attended to the soft threats of adversaries and offer strategies for countering them. Given the intensification of the enemy's soft warfare through modern media, and considering that Islamic teachings constitute one of the epistemic sources for the designers of the Islamic social order, it is imperative to identify the various types of soft threats across the aforementioned layers and to formulate corresponding counter-strategies from an Islamic perspective, so as to develop applicable models for the contemporary world. The present study endeavors to articulate certain soft threats posed by the enemies of Islam at the cognitive layer, along with the strategies for confronting them from an Islamic standpoint, while deferring the examination of the inclination and action layers to future research. This study has collected data through library-based methods and analyzes them employing a descriptive-analytical approach.
Keywords
Soft Power
Soft Threat
Cognitive Warfare
Active Engagement
Groundwork for Active Engagement
Subjects
References
 
A. Scriptures
 
Holy Qur’an
Nahj al-Balaghah
 
B. Other sources
 
1.       ʿAbbāsī, Shahāb al-Dīn. 1382 Sh "Dīn, Fanāvarī va Tilvīzyūn az Dīd-i Nīl Postman" [Religion, Technology, and Television from Neil Postman's Perspective]. Faṣlnāmah-ʾi Pizhūhish va Sanjish [Journal of Research and Assessment], no. 35: 79–96.
2.       Bayāt, ʿAbd al-Rasūl. 1398 Sh. Farhang-i Vāzhah-hā [Dictionary of Terms]. Tehran: Intishārāt-i SAMT.
3.       Farāhīdī [Al-], Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. 1410 AH Kitāb al-ʿAyn [The Book of the Spring]. Qom: Intishārāt-i Hijrat.
4.       Fīrūzābādī [Al-], Sayyid Murtaḍā. 1394 Sh. Faḍāʾil-i Panj Tan dar Ṣiḥāḥ-i Shishgānah-ʾi Ahl-i Sunnat [The Virtues of the Five Persons in the Six Canonical Books of the Ahl al-Sunnah]. Translated by Muḥammad Bāqir Sāʿidī. Tehran: Mubīn-i Andīshah.
5.       Ḥarrānī [Al-], Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Shuʿbah. 1395 Sh. Tuḥaf al-ʿUqūl ʿan Āl al-Rasūl [The Masterpieces of Minds from the Household of the Prophet]. 6th ed. Translated by Aḥmad Jannatī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Amīr Kabīr.
6.       Hāshimī Rafsanjānī, Akbar. 1389 Sh. Farhang-i Qurʾān [The Qur'anic Dictionary]. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb.
7.       Ḥurr [Al-] al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. 1414 AH Wasāʾil al-Shīʿah [The Means of the Shiʿa]. 10th ed. Qom: Āl al-Bayt li-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth.
8.       Ibn al-Athīr, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Karam Muḥammad. 1387 Sh. Usd al-Ghābah fī Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah [The Lions of the Forest in Knowing the Companions]. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi Farhangī va Iṭṭilāʿrasānī-yi Tabyān.
9.       Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad ibn Zakarīyyā. 1404 AH Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lughah [Dictionary of Linguistic Analogies]. Edited by ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn. Beirut: Nashr al-Aʿlām al-Islāmī.
10.   Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar. 1419 AH Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm [Exegesis of the Mighty Qur'an]. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmīyyah.
11.   Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. 1414 AH Lisān al-ʿArab [The Language of the Arabs]. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
12.   Ibn Mashhadī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar. 1419 AH Al-Mazār al-Kabīr [The Great Pilgrimage Sites]. Edited by Qayyūmī Iṣfahānī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī vābastah bih Jāmiʿah-ʾi Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawzah-ʾi ʿIlmīyah.
13.   Iskāfī [Al-], Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh. 1374 Sh. Al-Miʿyār wa al-Muwāzanah fī Faḍāʾil al-Imām Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib [The Criterion and the Balance in the Virtues of Imam Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib]. Translated by Maḥmūd Mahdawī Dāmghānī. Tehran: Nashr-i Nay.
14.   Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. 1383 Sh. Nizāhat-i Qurʾān az Taḥrīf [The Qur'an's Purity from Distortion]. Qom: Intishārāt-i Isrāʾ.
15.   Jawharī [Al-], Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. 1387 Sh. Al-Ṣiḥāḥ: Tāj al-Lughah wa Ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿArabīyyah [The Correct: The Crown of Language and the Correct of Arabic]. 4th ed. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi Farhangī va Iṭṭilāʿrasānī-yi Tibyān.
16.   Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAlī. 1388 Sh. "Bayānāt dar Dīdār-i Mardum-i Chālūs va Nowshahr" [Statements in the Meeting with the People of Chalous and Nowshahr], October 7, 2009.
17.   Khātamī, Aḥmad. 1370 Sh. Farhang-i ʿIlm-i Kalām [Dictionary of the Science of Theology]. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ṣabā.
18.   Kulaynī [Al-], Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. 1369 Sh. Uṣūl al-Kāfī [The Principles of al-Kāfī]. Translated by Muṣṭafawī. Qom: Intishārāt-i ʿIlmīyah-ʾi Islāmīyah.
19.   Lislī Mān, Nurmān (Norman Leslie Munn). 1388 Sh. Uṣūl-i Ravān-shināsī [Principles of Psychology]. Translated by Dr. Sāʿatchī (). 15th ed. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.
20.   Mahdiyān, ʿĀdil. 1400 Sh Tiknīk-hā-yi Jang-i Narm-i Dushman va Rāh-hā-yi Muqābalah bā Ān az Manẓar-i Qurʾān va Ravāyāt [The Enemy's Soft War Techniques and Ways to Counter Them from the Perspective of the Qur'an and Traditions]. Master's thesis (Level 3), Ḥawzah-ʾi ʿIlmīyah-i Qum.
21.   Majlisī [Al-], Muḥammad Bāqir. 1386 Sh. Biḥār al-Anwār [Oceans of Lights]. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyyah.
22.   Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. 1371 Sh. Tafsīr-i Nimūnah [The Exemplary Exegesis]. 10th ed. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi Farhangī va Iṭṭilāʿrasānī-yi Tibyān.
23.   Maʿrifat, Muḥammad Hādī. 1396 Sh. Taḥrīf-nāpazīrī-yi Qurʾān [The Immunity of the Qur'an from Distortion]. Translated by Ghulām Riḍā Naṣīrī. Qom: Nashr-i Tamhīd.
24.   Muḥammadī Ray Shahri, Muḥammad. 1390 Sh. Dānishnāmah-ʾi Qurʾān va Ḥadīth [Encyclopedia of the Qur'an and Hadith]. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth.
25.   Mutafakkir, Ḥusayn. 1390 Sh. Jang-i Ravānī [Psychological Warfare]. Qom: Pizhūhishgāh-i Taḥqīqāt-i Islāmī.
26.   Muṭahharī, Murtaḍā. 1377 Sh. Majmūʿah-ʾi Āthār-i Shahīd Muṭahharī [Collected Works of Shahīd Muṭahharī]. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Ṣadrā.
27.   Naṣr, Ṣalāḥ. 1387 Sh. Jang-i Ravānī [Psychological Warfare]. Translated by Maḥmūd Ḥaqīqat Kāshānī. 4th ed. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Surūsh-i Ṣadā va Sīmā-yi Jumhūrī-yi Islāmī-yi Īrān.
28.   Nowrūzī, Muḥammad Taqī. 1385 Sh. Farhang-i Difāʿī-Amnīyatī [Defense-Security Culture]. Tehran: Markaz-i Muṭāliʿāt va Pizhūhish-hā-yi Mudīriyat.
29.   Qarāʾatī, Muḥsin. 1375 Sh. Tafsīr-i Nūr [The Exegesis of Light]. 23rd ed. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi dar Rāh-i Ḥaqq.
30.   Rāghib [Al-] al-Iṣfahānī , Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad. 1412 AH Al-Mufradāt fī Gharīb al-Qurʾān [The Vocabulary of Obscure Qur'anic Terms]. Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm - al-Dār al-Shāmīyyah.
31.   Rashvand, Ḥasan. 1388 Sh. Basīj va Tahdīd-i Narm [The Basij and Soft Threat]. Tehran: Omīd-i Inqilāb.
32.   Shaykh al-Ṣadūq, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. 1377 Sh. Maʿānī al-Akhbār [The Meanings of the Traditions]. Translated by Muḥammadī. Qom: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah.
33.   Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. 1416 AH Al-Bidʿah: Mafhūmuhā, Ḥadduhā, Āthāruhā [Innovation: Its Concept, Limits, and Effects]. Qom: Intishārāt-i Muʾassasah-ʾi Imām Ṣādiq (AS).
34.   Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. 1421 AH Fī Ẓilāl al-Tawḥīd [In the Shades of Monotheism]. Tehran: Dār-i Mashʿar.
35.   Suyūṭī [Al-], Jalāl al-Dīn. 1404 AH Al-Durr al-Manthūr fī al-Tafsīr bi al-Maʾthūr [The Scattered Pearls in Exegesis by Tradition]. Qom: Maktabat Āyat Allāh al-Marʿashī al-Najafī.
36.   Ṭabarī [Al-], ʿImād al-Dīn Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī. 1420 AH. Kāmil al-Bahāʾī [The Complete of Bahāʾī]. Arabized by Muḥammad Shuʿāʿ Fākhir. Najaf: Intishārāt al-Maktabah al-Ḥaydarīyah.
37.   Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. 1374 Sh. Tafsīr al-Mīzān [The Balance in Exegesis]. Translated by Muḥammad Bāqir Mūsavī Hamadānī. 9th ed. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī-i Jāmiʿah-ʾi Mudarrisīn-i Ḥawzah-ʾi ʿIlmīyah-i Qum.
38.   Ṭabrisī [Al-], Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. 1360 Sh. Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The Gathering of Elucidation in Qur'anic Exegesis]. Edited by Riḍā Sotūdah. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Farāhānī.
39.   Tamīmī [Al-] Āmidī [Al-, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Muḥammad. 1410 AH Ghurar al-Ḥikam wa Durar al-Kalim [The Pearls of Wisdom and the Gems of Sayings]. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb al-Islāmī.
40.   Ṭurayḥī[Al-], Fakhr al-Dīn. 1408 AH Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn [The Confluence of the Two Seas]. Edited by Maḥmūd ʿĀdil. Tehran: Daftar-i Nashr-i Islāmī.
41.   Turner, Jonathan. 1378 Sh. Mafāhīm va Kārburd-hā-yi Jāmiʿah-shināsī [Concepts and Applications of Sociology]. Translated by Muḥammad Fūlādī and Muḥammad ʿAzīz Bakhtiyārī. Qom: Muʾassasah-ʾi Āmūzishī va Pizhūhishī-yi Imām Khomeinī.