Analysis of Cognitive Warfare Methods and Countermeasures in Surah al-Aḥzāb

Document Type : Original

Authors

1 PhD Student, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

2 Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Razavi University of Islamic Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Abstract

War, as an inseparable aspect of human social life, has evolved through various forms across different eras. In the contemporary world, we face cognitive warfare waged by the camp of falsehood. This form of warfare is more complex and perilous than its predecessors, as it directly assails the beliefs, attitudes, and cognitive faculties of individuals. Cognitive warfare involves targeting the public and elite perception of a society to alter its norms, values, beliefs, and behaviors through systematic perception management. The wars waged by polytheists and disbelievers against the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in early Islam present a prime context for such warfare, operating alongside conventional military conflict. Analyzing the key methods and strategies of enemy cognitive warfare within the framework of Surah al-Aḥzāb, this study demonstrates that the enemy’s tactics include: spreading fear and despair, evading responsibility and promoting complacency within society, disseminating rumors, instilling doubt, creating intellectual anxiety to polarize and sow discord, and undermining the legitimacy of the religious system. The most crucial countermeasures involve strengthening the cognitive capacities of the Islamic community through: exposing the false nature of the enemy, adhering to divine guardianship (Wilāyah), fostering steadfastness and resilience, generating hope, maintaining vigilance, and promoting unity and solidarity within the Islamic society.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. The Holy Qurʾān. [In Arabic]

    Nahj al-Balāghah. [In Arabic]

    1. Al-ʿAskarī, Abū Hilāl al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd Allāh. (1979). Al-Furūq fī al-lughah [The Differences in Language]. Beirut: Dār al-Āfāq al-Jadīdah. [In Arabic]
    2. Al-Azharī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. (2000). Tahdhīb al-lughah [The Refinement of Language]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    3. Al-Jawharī, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. (1997). Al-Ṣiḥāḥ: Tāj al-lughah wa ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿArabiyyah [The Correct: The Crown of Language and the Correct Arabic]. Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn. [In Arabic]
    4. Allport, Gordon W., & Postman, Leo J. (1995). Ravān-shenāsī-ye shāyeʿeh [The Psychology of Rumor] (S. Dabbestānī, Trans.). Tehran: Surūsh. [in Persian]
    5. Al-Qurṭubī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. (1985). Al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān [The Compendium of the Rulings of the Quran]. Tehran: Nāṣer Khosrow. [In Arabic]
    6. Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. (1967). Tārīkh al-umam wa al-mulūk [History of the Nations and Kings]. Beirut: Dār al-Turāth. [In Arabic]
    7. Al-Thaʿlabī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. (2002). Al-Kashf wa al-bayān ʿan tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The Unveiling and Elucidation of the Interpretation of the Quran]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    8. Ālūsī, Maḥmūd ibn ʿAbd Allāh. (1994). Rūḥ al-maʿānī fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm [The Spirit of Meanings in the Interpretation of the Great Quran]. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. [In Arabic]
    9. Al-Zabīdī, Muḥammad Murtaḍā al-Ḥusaynī. (1994). Tāj al-ʿarūs min jawāhir al-qāmūs [The Bride's Crown from the Jewels of the Dictionary]. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
    10. ʿĀmilī, Jaʿfar Murtaḍā. (2006). Al-Ṣaḥīḥ min sīrat al-nabī al-aʿẓam [The Authentic from the Biography of the Greatest Prophet]. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth. [In Arabic]
    11. Amīn, Sayyid Mahdī. (2011). Jang-hā-ye ṣadr-e Eslām: az jang-e Badr tā fatḥ-e Makkah az dīdgāh-e Qurʾān va ḥadīth [Early Islamic Wars: From the Battle of Badr to the Conquest of Mecca from the Perspective of the Quran and Hadith]. Qom: Bayān-e Javān. [in Persian]
    12. Bakhtiyārī, Shahla, & Taqavī, Hadiyyeh. (2013). Sankh-shenāsī va tabī̄n-e raftārī-ye mosalmānān dar hamrāhī bā payāmbar (ṣ) dar ghazveh-ye Khandaq bar asās-e sūreh-ye Aḥzāb [Typology and Behavioral Explanation of Muslims' Support for the Prophet (PBUH) in the Battle of the Trench Based on Surah al-Aḥzāb]. Tārīkh-e Eslām va Īrān [Islamic and Iranian History], *23*(17), 47–67. https://doi.org/10.22051/hii.2014.724 [in Persian]
    13. Bannister, Andrew G. (2014). An Oral-Formulaic Study of the Qur’an. Lanham: Lexington Books.
    14. Bayḍāwī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar. (1997). Anwār al-tanzīl wa asrār al-taʾwīl [The Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    15. Bernal, Alonso. (2023). Jang-e shenākhtī: ḥamleh be vāqeʿīyyat va andīsheh [Cognitive Warfare: An Attack on Reality and Thought] (M. Ḥ. Qorbānī Zavāreh & S. A. Moṣṭafavī, Trans.). Qom: Shenākht-Pazhūh. [in Persian]
    16. Bīrū, Ālan. (1987). Farhang-e ʿulūm-e ejtemāʿī [Dictionary of Social Sciences] (B. Sārūkhānī, Trans.). Tehran: Kayhān. [in Persian]
    17. Bruno, Franco J. (1991). Farhang-e toṣīfī-ye eṣṭilāḥāt-e ravān-shenāsī [Descriptive Dictionary of Psychological Terms] (M. Yasāʾī & F. Ṭāherī, Trans.). Tehran: Tarḥ-e Now. [in Persian]
    18. Dehkhodā, ʿAlī Akbar. (1998). Lughatnāmah [Dictionary]. Tehran: Dānishgāh-e Tehrān / Rūzanah. [in Persian]
    19. Fayyūmī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. (1994). Al-Miṣbāḥ al-munīr fī gharīb al-sharḥ al-kabīr li-l-Rāfiʿī [The Illuminating Lamp on the Unfamiliar Terms in al-Rāfiʿī's Great Commentary]. Qom: Dār al-Hijrah. [In Arabic]
    20. Flavell, John H. (1988). Roshd-e shenākhtī [Cognitive Development] (F. Māher, Trans.). Tehran: Nashr-e Roshd. [in Persian]
    21. Gorgī, Mahdī. (2021). Nofūdh-e rāhburdī dar niẓām-e dīnī [Strategic Infiltration in the Religious System]. Tehran: Surūsh. [in Persian]
    22. Ḥalabī, ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm. (2006). Al-Sīrah al-Ḥalabiyyah (Insān al-ʿuyūn fī sīrat al-Amīn al-Maʾmūn) [The Halabi Biography: The Man of the Eyes in the Biography of the Trustworthy, the Entrusted]. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. [In Arabic]
    23. Ḥaqqī Burūsawī, Ismāʿīl ibn Muṣṭafā. (n.d.). Tafsīr rūḥ al-bayān [The Exegesis: The Spirit of Elucidation]. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
    24. Ḥasanī, Hāshim Maʿrūf. (1995). Sīrat al-Muṣṭafā [The Biography of the Chosen One]. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf lil-Maṭbūʿāt. [In Arabic]
    25. Hutchins, Edwin; Hylagin, Francis; Heath, Margaret, et al. (2009). Shenākht-e towzīʿ-shodeh [Distributed Cognition] (Ḥ. Ramażānī & M. Mehr, Trans.). Tehran: Muʾassaseh-ye Āmūzeshī va Taḥqīqātī-ye Ṣanāyeʿ-e Dafeʿī. [in Persian]
    26. Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir. (2000). Al-Taḥrīr wa al-tanwīr [The Liberation and Enlightenment]. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Tārīkh al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    27. Ibn Hishām, ʿAbd al-Malik. (n.d.). Al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah [The Prophetic Biography]. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah. [In Arabic]
    28. Ibn Khaldūn, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad. (1988). Dīwān al-mubtadaʾ wa al-khabar fī tārīkh al-ʿArab wa al-Barbar wa man ʿāṣarahum min dhawi al-shaʾn al-akbar [The Book of Lessons and Record of the Beginnings and Events in the History of the Arabs and Berbers]. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
    29. Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. (1994). Lisān al-ʿArab [The Tongue of the Arabs]. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
    30. Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad. (1990). Al-Ṭabaqāt al-kubrā [The Great Generations]. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah. [In Arabic]
    31. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. (2022). Tafsīr-e Tasnīm [The Exegesis Tasnīm]. Qom: Isrāʾ. [in Persian]
    32. Kharqānī, Ḥasan, & Ḥusayn-Nezhād Moḥammadābādī, Sajjād. (2024). Goftegān-e tablīghī-ye anbīyā dar sūreh-ye Hūd [The Prophetic Discursive Method in Surah Hūd]. Āmūzehhā-ye Qurʾānī [Quranic Teachings], *21*(40), 277–308. https://doi.org/10.30513/qd.2025.6750.2498 [in Persian]
    33. Khaṭīb, ʿAbd al-Karīm. (2001). Al-Tafsīr al-Qurʾānī lil-Qurʾān [The Quranic Exegesis for the Quran]. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    34. Khūzīn, Ḥasan. (2021). Mabānī-ye jang-e shenākhtī (tahdīdāt-e novīn ʿalīyeh-ye Jomhūrī-ye Eslāmī-ye Īrān) [Foundations of Cognitive Warfare (New Threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran)]. Tehran: Ārmān-Pazhūhān. [in Persian]
    35. Klosko, George. (2023). Tārīkh-e falsafeh-ye siyāsī [History of Political Philosophy] (K. Dihīmī, Trans.). Tehran: Ney. [in Persian]
    36. Moḥsenī, Nikchehreh. (2001). Naẓarīyehhā dar ravān-shenāsī-ye roshd [Theories in Developmental Psychology]. Tehran: Pardīs. [in Persian]
    37. Moqaddamfar, Ḥamid-Reżā, & Moḥsenī Āhūyī, Ebrāhīm. (2021). Jang-e shenākhtī: ʿelm-e pīrūzī dar nabard-e zehnhā [Cognitive Warfare: The Science of Victory in the Battle of Minds]. Tehran: Nashrīyāt-e Khabarguzārī-ye Tasnīm. [in Persian]
    38. Nietzsche, Friedrich. (1996). Farā-ye nīk va bad [Beyond Good and Evil] (D. Āshūrī, Trans.). Tehran: Khwārazmī. [in Persian]
    39. Nye, Joseph S. (2008). Qodrat-e narm [Soft Power] (S. M. Rūḥānī & M. Zolfaghārī, Trans.). Tehran: Dānishgāh-e Emām Ṣādiq (ʿa). [in Persian]
    40. Pourafkārī, Noṣrat Allāh. (2001). Farhang-e jāmeʿ-e ravān-shenāsī va ravān-pezeshkī [Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychology and Psychiatry]. Tehran: Farhang. [in Persian]
    41. Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad. (1992). Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān [Vocabulary of Quranic Words]. Beirut: Dār al-Qalam. [In Arabic]
    42. Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar. (n.d.). Al-Tafsīr al-kabīr (Mafātīḥ al-ghayb) [The Great Exegesis (Keys of the Unseen)]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    43. Sahāb, Mahdī. (2010). Jang-hā-ye ṣadr-e Eslām [Early Islamic Wars]. Tehran: Toseʿeh-ye Farhang-e Qurʾānī. [in Persian]
    44. Saʿīdpour, Kāẓem. (2008). Barʾrasī-ye jang-hā-ye ṣadr-e Eslām [A Study of Early Islamic Wars]. Qom: Fiqh. [in Persian]
    45. Sun Tzu. (1985). Honar-e jang [The Art of War] (Ḥ. Ḥabībī, Trans.). Tehran: Qalam. [in Persian]
    46. Ṭabarsī, Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. (1993). Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [Compendium of Elucidation in the Interpretation of the Quran]. Tehran: Nāṣer Khosrow. [In Arabic]
    47. Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1973). Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The Balance in the Interpretation of the Quran]. Beirut: Al-Muʾassasah al-Aʿlamī lil-Maṭbūʿāt. [In Arabic]
    48. Ṭarīḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad. (1996). Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn [Confluence of the Two Seas]. Tehran: Murtażavī. [In Arabic]
    49. Ṭuhāmī, Mukhtār. (1976). Al-Raʾy al-ʿām wa al-ḥarb al-nafsīyyah [Public Opinion and Psychological Warfare]. Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif. [In Arabic]
    50. Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (n.d.). Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The Clarification in the Interpretation of the Quran]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    51. Wāqidī, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar. (1989). Kitāb al-maghāzī [The Book of Military Expeditions] (M. Jones, Ed.). Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī. [In Arabic]
    52. Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar. (1987). Al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl [The Unveiler of the Realities of the Subtleties of Revelation]. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 25 June 2025
  • Revise Date: 10 September 2025
  • Accept Date: 27 October 2025
  • Publish Date: 22 December 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics