Author: Abu Jurair
And prepare against them whatever force you are able{Anfal:65}(1st part)
What is power?
By general definition, power is the ability to obtain the desired object. In terms of international relations, power is the ability of a country to force other countries to accept its position, in the absence of this ability, the country in question will not be ready to accept its request. Considering this definition to measure the ability and power of countries, the types of power and the elements and indicators of power in international politics have been stated. However, there is a consensus that no diplomacy is more effective than the diplomacy of a country whose policies are backed by strong military power.
Types of power and elements of power
Thinkers in the arena of international politics have previously divided power into two types, but now into three main types.
1 -. soft power;
According to the existing differences, its elements are: culture, advancement of science, technology, means of mass communication, economy, trade, etc.
Of course, if we pay attention to the cultural and religious connection of soft power from the Shari’i point of view, we see that the Holy Quran has paid special attention to the power of faith and the power of reasoning combined with wisdom. Allah Almighty says: «فَإِن يَکُن مِنکُم مِائَةٌ صَابِرَةٌ يَغْلِبُوا مِائَتَينِ وَإِن يَکُن مِنکُمْ أَلْفٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفَيْنِ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَاللّهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ» [انفال: 66]
(If there are one hundred of you who persevere, they will overcome two hundred, and if there are one thousand, they will overcome two thousand by the command of Allah, and Allah is with the patient.)
«ادْعُ إِلَي سَبِيلِ رَبِّکَ بِالْحِکْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُم بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ إِنَّ رَبَّکَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ» [نحل: 125]
(Invite to the path of your Lord with good wisdom and admonition, and argue and debate with them in a way that is better. Your Lord knows better than anyone who has gone astray from His path, and He knows best those who are guided.)
In the Islamic law and also in the general custom of the people, the use of soft power before the war is a good and desirable thing.
Hazrat Umar, may Allah be pleased with him
When we examine the performance of Hazrat Khalid bin Waleed in the Syrian front and Amr bin Al-Aas in the Egyptian front, we find Amr bin Al-Aas a person who encourages people to surrender and not fight before the start of the war. He makes it about the protection of life, property, trade, honor and chastity and tries to conquer without much bloodshed. According to Hazrat Umar’s belief, the best conquest is that which takes place without a lot of war and bloodshed.
The use of soft power during the time of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, can be seen how the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, tamed the rebellious tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, while after his death, they rebelled so much that hundreds of thousands of Muslims were martyred in the bloody wars of apostasy with the Arab tribes. And according to some narrations, about seventy thousand Muslims were martyred only in the battle between Yamama and Muslimah Kazab.
According to the Western thinker Joseph Niall, soft power is: “the ability of a country to force other countries to accept its will by persuasion rather than by force.” He says: “With the exception of military and economic power, the rest of the means and methods to achieve the goal are considered soft power.”
-
hard power;
According to thinkers, the elements of this type of power are: army, weapon power, advanced weapons, etc.
This type of power is considered a solid support for the success of soft power in international politics.
In fact, hard power is the ability of a country to force another country to accept the will of this country. Examples of this type of strength can be seen in the wars of apostasy. When the Arab tribes didn’t accept the authority of the Islamic State and negotiations with the tribal leaders failed, Hazrat Abu Bakr sent a large force to suppress them. Also, the siege of the city of Alexandria by the forces under the leadership of Amr bin Al-Aas, or the military siege of the city of Damascus by the forces under the command of Abu Ubaydah May Allah bless him and grant him peace are clear examples of the use of hard power against the enemy.
New examples of the use of hard power can be found in the American campaign against Afghanistan and Iraq. And also the American sanctions against the regime of Saddam Hussein, Iran and North Korea are also among those cases.
In addition to these examples, there are dozens of other examples of using hard power to force an opposing country to surrender to another country.
3.smart power
But the new debate that has come up after the use of hard power by America in the last two decades is the use of smart power. Of course, this term SMART POWER became popular in international relations, in response to the aggressive policies of the Republicans by the opposition, as well as the unreasonable use of military power by the United States. Critics of George Bush’s policies believe that America did not use its military power intelligently during his time and it caused America to lose its friends and supporters in international politics and become isolated.
According to them, smart power means: “the correct use of hard power and soft power elements correctly and under appropriate conditions.” According to this group, the government’s leadership should be precise in determining to what extent and for what purpose it used the types and elements of power. For example: With what goals should the army be mobilized? Press ads should be launched to achieve what goals? Is there any need to accept heavy military losses in a place where you can force a country by persuasion and encouragement? Thinkers have called this type of reasonable use smart power. Although the content of this discussion is nothing new for Muslims, of course, in the political and administrative circles of capitalist countries, the use of intelligent power has led to a wide discussion in terms of administration and political challenges.
This challenge has been revealed in an article written by Earnest J. Wilson III, director of the Stenberg College of Communication at the University of Southern California, and a former senior officer at the US National Security Council. He says: “The influence of the US Ministry of Defense (hard power) in the policies of that country is higher than that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
According to this article, in 2008 the budget of the US Department of Defense (hard power) was 460 billion dollars, while the budget of the State Department was announced at 10 billion dollars. This issue clearly shows that the balance in American policies is definitely in favor of using hard power.
This is while there are many policy tools based on soft power in America, such as: the American National Institute for Democracy, the National Democracy Fund, the International Development Agency, IRD, etc.; But America’s investments in hard power are higher than ordinary people imagine.
The US Department of Defense’s 2012 budget was $695.7 billion, the largest expenditure on hard power in the world. The six countries that spend the most on military spending in the world are displayed in the picture below, among which not a single Islamic country can be seen. So it should not be surprising that today Muslims are afraid of the power of the West. Even the infidels have taken the place of God in terms of creating fear in the hearts of Muslims.
There are other important and vital elements that play a key role in the formation of soft and hard powers, and no country without those elements and indicators can easily conquer the high peaks of international politics, economic prosperity, and military progress. They include: geographical size, Geographical location, population, natural resources, non-natural resources, etc. On average, only powerful countries can have some of these important indicators.
There are other important and vital elements that play a key role in the formation of soft and hard powers, and no country without those elements and indicators can easily conquer the high peaks of international politics, economic prosperity, and military progress. They include: geographical size, Geographical location, population, natural resources, non-natural resources, etc. On average, only powerful countries can have some of these important indicators.
In order to compare the military and economic power of the countries, see the table below, which shows the share of the top ten consumer countries in terms of military in 2007 and 2008. In this table, the total consumption is shown in proportion to the percentage of GDP. This table is taken from SIPRI Military Expenditure Database website.
In another table taken from the Global Fire Power website, it can be seen that among the top ten military consumers in the world, only one Islamic country, Saudi Arabia, is in the seventh row. It is not to use this weapon to defend Islam and suppress infidels, but the purpose of spending 46 billion dollars in military expenses is to fill the budget of American companies. Despite this, Saudi Arabia does not invest in the creation of military technology, but rather obtains its military needs from Western colonialists.
These statistics show the fact that the most powerful country in the world is America. Really, when we pay attention to the components of American power and other powers in the table above, we realize the important dimensions of this matter.
First: If we carefully consider one of the important factors that cause the production of huge wealth in the United States, it is that the United States has allocated four percent of its gross national product to hard power or military power, which is equivalent to more than 600 billion dollars.
America’s geopolitics is an Allah-given wealth that has played a key role in securing America’s power. The Mississippi Sea basin with its coast alone forms the largest network of navigable seas in the world; Middle America, which lies along these sea lanes, it is the largest arable connected piece in the world; There are more ports along the Atlantic Ocean than there are in the entire Western Hemisphere. What can be the benefit of these features in the practical field? To answer this question, pay attention to the text below. This phrase shows the fact that sea routes are the least-consuming means of transporting goods, therefore, they are considered the most beneficial economic means. While the middle region of America has the largest economic production area. The navigable roads of that region have made it easy and cheap to transport goods between these provinces and to the outside world.
The United States has the surplus food production capital of natural geography, which no country in the world has these advantages to the extent of the United States. Therefore, no country in the world alone is able to stand against the domination of America, let alone Karzai, whose country doesn’t even produce a needle. Therefore, it isn’t without reason that Europe is trying to create political and geographical unity in order to challenge America’s hegemony in the world.
In the field of international security, the idea of alliances and security pacts has been proposed, so that by making security agreements between weak countries and strong countries, weak countries can guarantee their security. This issue is nothing but accepting the leadership of colonial countries over the destiny of nations. These countries create threats to force weak countries to come under their security and political umbrella; If for Pakistan, they have raised India as a threat, and for South Korea, North Korea, and for Japan, China, and for China, North Korea, and for the Arabs, Iran and Israel, and for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Of course, the list is longer.
But since Islam obliges Muslims to support the flag of Islam with the strongest terrorist and combat force, therefore, it is obligatory for them to create this force and provide the needs and conditions for its emergence. Of course, it isn’t possible to create a force equivalent to the military and economic power of America except by annexing and integrating Islamic lands under one leadership.
Conclusion
No thought is realized unless:
First: to be connected with executive and comparative institutions, which include: military institutions and political organizations of the government;
And secondly: he can lead the military institutions in the right way and in the direction of promoting the belief and principle. Therefore, any thought without a practical method is nothing more than an imaginary philosophy.
Two results are obtained from this article:
-
The issue of power is directly related to the establishment of power institutions; Therefore, no country is powerful except by providing advanced war tools and an organized and strong army; Or to make a security agreement with a country that has such power. Since it is absolutely forbidden for Muslims to be under the security umbrella of infidels, it is necessary to create a strong military institution.
-
. Considering the elements that make up power in the world, such as a large army, vast geography, strategic resources and ways, large economy, etc., it cannot be imagined that with the current political geography of the Islamic world, which consists of dividing Islamic countries into more than 50 National governments, Muslims can form a strong power against the infidels, whether conventional power or restraining power. In this sense, in addition to the fact that the Sharia texts on Muslims explicitly and clearly indicate the political unity of Muslims, the fact of the matter is that in order to defeat and confront the infidels, it is necessary for Muslims to form a large geographical, economic and political bloc in order to be able to do so. Create a wealth that accounts for only 4% of its gross national income, more than $600 billion in military spending. Only in this way, the Muslim Ummah can spend sufficient resources on research in the strategic sciences of ground warfare and take back the leadership of the world from the leaders of disbelief.
