Priority of Soft-War over Hard-War; Why and How?

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to review the priority of soft-war over hard-war as well as its causes and ways. The method of study is descriptive analysis and the results showed that Islam has always emphasized that before any military conflict, the enemies should be invited to the religion of Islam by logical dialogue and clarification but if they did not accept the word of truth and persisted on their heresy and enmity, then they should be opposed. As it is mentioned in religious texts, soft-war has always priority over hard and military war and Jihād and that before military Jihād, the enemies should be invited to religion and attracted to Islam through advertisement or mental force. Therefore, it is everyone's duty that firstly and innately, think about soft-war, and secondly, hard-war should be followed in the meantime just in necessary cases and for preventive purposes. The causes and grounds of hard-war should be eliminated as much as possible and if hard and physical war occurred in a place, it is necessary to apply some strategies to turn it to soft-war.

Keywords

• war
• hard-war
• soft-war
• jihād
• enemies