The Quranic Principles and Strategies for Negotiation with the Enemy

Document Type : Original

Authors

1 PhD Student in Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Islamic Studies and Theology, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Professor, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Islamic Studies and Theology, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Political negotiation is one of the most crucial and common tools of diplomacy for reaching agreements between states in various domains, including diplomatic relations and foreign policy. It plays a key role in the peaceful attainment of the demands, interests, and ideals of the negotiating parties. Every state, in seeking a favorable agreement with either allies or adversaries, must adhere to its own religious and legal frameworks during the negotiation process. The Holy Quran presents principles and strategies for the negotiation of Islamic governments with both friendly and hostile states. However, these principles and strategies have not been explicitly and systematically articulated and categorized; they must be inductively derived and presented based on evidence from books of Quranic exegesis. Therefore, this research employs a descriptive-analytical method, referring to Quranic lexicons and exegetical works to collect and categorize verses related to negotiation, extracting from their meanings the relevant principles and strategies. According to the findings of this study, the negotiation strategies from the perspective of the Holy Quran are: pre-negotiation strategies, intra-negotiation strategies, post-negotiation strategies, and strategies common to all three stages. All these strategies fall under four overarching principles: The Principle of Monotheism and Guardianship (Tawḥīd and Wilāyah); The Principle of Dignity and Authority; The Principle of Justice-Seeking and Anti-Oppression; and The Principle of Wisdom and Expediency.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

  1. The Holy Qurʾan. (Translated by Hossein Anṣāriyān).

    1. ʿAbd al-Bāqī, Muḥammad Fuʾād. (2007). Al-Muʿjam al-mufahras li-alfāẓ al-Qurʾān al-karīm [The Indexed Dictionary of the Words of the Noble Quran]. Tehran: Nashr-e Eslāmī [Islamic Publications]. [In Arabic]
    2. Abū Zuhrah, Muḥammad. (n.d.). Zahrat al-tafāsīr [The Flower of Exegeses]. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
    3. Āghā Bakhshī, ʿAlī; Afshārī Rād, Mīnū. (2000). Farhang-e ʿulūm-e siyāsī [Dictionary of Political Sciences]. Tehran: Chapār. [in Persian]
    4. Aḥmadī Aslānshāh, Forūzan. (2017). Tīpʾshināsī-ye mokātebāt-e siyāsī va goftemānhā-ye ejtemāʿī va farhangī-e payāmbar-e akram (ṣ) [Typology of the Political Correspondence and Socio-Cultural Dialogues of the Noble Prophet (PBUH)] (Supervisor: Fāṭemeh Jān Aḥmadī). Master’s Thesis, ʿAllāmeh Ṭabāṭabāʾī University, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences. [in Persian]
    5. Akhavān Kāzemī, Bahram. (2019). Dīplomāsī va raftār-e bayn al-milalī dar eslām [Diplomacy and International Conduct in Islam]. Tehran: Samt. [in Persian]
    6. Aladpūsh, ʿAlī; Tūtūnechīān, ʿAlīrezā. (1993). Dīplomāt va dīplomāsī [The Diplomat and Diplomacy]. Tehran: Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [in Persian]
    7. Al-Azharī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. (2001). Tahdhīb al-lughah [The Refinement of Language]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    8. Al-Baḥrānī, Hāshim ibn Sulaymān. (1995). Al-Burhān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The Proof in the Interpretation of the Quran]. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Baʿthah. [In Arabic]
    9. Būzhmehʾrānī, Ḥasan; Kūhsarī, Reżā; ʿIravānī, Jawād; Ṣaberīyān, ʿAlīreżā. (2022). "Ḥawżah-ye taḥaddī va taʿāmal bā bigānegān dar jahat-e taḥaqquq-e eqteṣād-e moqāvematī az manẓar-e Qurʾān va ḥadīth" [The Scope of Challenge and Interaction with Non-Believers in Realizing the Resistance Economy from the Perspective of the Quran and Hadith]. Majallah-ye Taʿlīmāt-e Qurʾānī [Quranic Teachings Journal], 19(35), 135–158. https://doi.org/10.30513/qd.2021.1863.1381 [in Persian]
    10. Burūjerdī, Muḥammad Ibrāhīm. (1987). Tafsīr-e jāmeʿ [Comprehensive Exegesis]. Tehran: Kitābkhāneh-ye Ṣadr. [in Persian]
    11. Château, Jean. (1990). Bozorgān-e parwaresh [Great Educators] (Translated by Gholām Ḥusayn Shukūhī). Tehran: Dānishgāh-e Tehrān [University of Tehran Press]. [in Persian]
    12. Faḍl Allāh, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1999). Min waḥy al-Qurʾān [From the Revelation of the Quran]. Beirut: Dār al-Malāk. [In Arabic]
    13. Al-Farāhīdī, al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. (1989). Kitāb al-ʿayn [The Book of al-ʿAyn]. Qom: Hijrat Publications. [In Arabic]
    14. Al-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]
    15. Ghowharī Moqaddam, Abūẕar; Kīyānī Mujāhid, Ḥāmid. (2019). "Model-e mokātebeh dar sunnat-e nabavī" [The Model of Negotiation in the Prophetic Tradition]. ʿUlūm-e siyāsī [Political Science], 15(1), 217–242. https://doi.org/10.30497/pk.2019.2624 [in Persian]
    16. Golpāyegānī, Sayyid Muḥammad Reżā. (1993). Kitāb al-qadāʾ [The Book of Judiciary] (Notes by Sayyid ʿAlī Ḥusaynī Mīlānī). Qom: Dār al-Qurʾān al-Karīm. [In Arabic]
    17. Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, Akbar. (2007). Tafsīr-e rahnamā [Guide Exegesis]. Qom: Bustān-e Ketāb. [in Persian]
    18. Al-Ḥijāzī, Muḥammad Maḥmūd. (1993). Al-Tafsīr al-wāḍiḥ [The Clear Exegesis]. Beirut: Dār al-Jīl. [In Arabic]
    19. Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir. (2000). Tafsīr al-taḥrīr wa al-tanwīr [The Exegesis of Liberation and Enlightenment]. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Tārīkh al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    20. Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad. (1984). Muʿjam maqāyīs al-lughah [Dictionary of Language Standards]. Qom: Maktab al-Aʿlām al-Islāmī. [In Arabic]
    21. Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. (1994). Lisān al-ʿArab [The Tongue of the Arabs]. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
    22. Ismāʿīlī Khosrowābādī, Maryam. (2016). Mokātebeh bā doshman az manẓar-e Qurʾān va Nahj al-balāghah [Negotiation with the Enemy from the Perspective of the Quran and Nahj al-Balagha] (Supervisor: ʿAbd al-Raḥīm Ṣayyāḥ). Master’s Thesis, Islamic Azad University, Dezful Branch, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies. [in Persian]
    23. Jaʿfarī, Yaʿqūb. (1997). Tafsīr-e kowsar [Kawthar Exegesis]. Qom: Hijrat Publications. [in Persian]
    24. Javādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. (2018). Ravābiṭ-e bayn al-milalī dar eslām [International Relations in Islam]. Qom: Isrāʾ. [in Persian]
    25. Al-Jawharī, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. (1997). Al-Ṣiḥāḥ: Tāj al-lughah wa ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿarabiyyah [The Authentic: The Crown of Language and the Authentic Arabic]. Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm li-l-Malāyīn. [In Arabic]
    26. Khāliqī Bāyegī, ʿAzīz; Rajāʾī Pūr, Muṣṭafā; Aḥmarī, Ḥusayn. (2019). Nafy-e sāyiṭah va taslīm az āyāt-e baqarah, nisāʾ va qaṣaṣ [Negation of Domination and Submission in the Verses of al-Baqarah, al-Nisāʾ, and al-Qaṣaṣ]. Taʿlīmāt-e Qurʾānī [Quranic Teachings], 16(30), 155–180. https://qd.razavi.ac.ir/article_284.html. [in Persian]
    27. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAlī. (2011). Rāhbordhā-ye siyāsat-e khārejī estenbāṭ shodeh az bayānāt-e rahbar-e moʿaẓẓam-e enqelāb [Foreign Policy Strategies Deduced from the Statements of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution]. Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Enqelāb-e Eslāmī. [in Persian]
    28. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAlī. (1997). Taḥqīqī darbāreh-ye ṣābeʾān [A Research Concerning the Sabians]. Qom: Muʾassasat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-e Fiqh-e Eslāmī. https://www.ghbook.ir/index.php?option=com_dbook&task=viewbook&book_id=9605&lang=fa [in Persian]
    29. Khātamī, Aḥmad. (2007). Farhangnāmeh-ye mawżūʿī-ye Qurʾān-e majīd [Thematic Encyclopedia of the Noble Quran]. Tehran: Daftar-e Nashr-e Farhang-e Eslāmī. [in Persian]
    30. Khazāʿī, Aḥmadreżā. (2014). Dīplomāsī-e payāmbar (ṣ) va abzār-e taḥavvol-e ravābiṭ-e bayn al-milalī bā salṭanat-hā-ye dīgar [The Diplomacy of the Prophet (PBUH) and Tools for Transforming International Relations with Other Sovereign States]. Nameh-ye pažūhesh-e ravābiṭ-e bayn al-milalī [International Relations Research Letter], 7(28), 103–132. https://journals.iau.ir/article_511101.html [in Persian]
    31. Khorramshāhī, Bahāʾ al-Dīn. (1997). Dāneshnāmeh-ye Qurʾān va Qurʾān-pažūhī [Encyclopedia of the Quran and Quranic Studies]. Tehran: Dāneshnāmeh-ye Qurʾānī. [in Persian]
    32. Mahdavī, Parvīn. (2019). Mokātebeh chūn rāvesh-e siyāsī-e ḥall-e ekhtelāfāt dar sunnat-e maʿṣūmīn (as) va ḥoqūq-e bayn al-milal [Negotiation as a Political Method for Resolving Disputes in the Tradition of the Infallibles (AS) and International Law] (Supervisor: Masʿūd Raʿīyī). Master’s Thesis, Āshrafī Eṣfahānī University, Faculty of Law. [in Persian]
    33. Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir et al. (1992). Tafsīr-e nemūneh [The Exemplary Exegesis]. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyyah. [in Persian]
    34. Al-Marāghī, Aḥmad Muṣṭafā. (n.d.). Tafsīr al-Marāghī [Al-Marāghī Exegesis]. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic]
    35. Mishkīnī, Mīrzā ʿAlī. (n.d.). Iṣṭilāḥāt al-fiqh [Jurisprudential Terminologies]. (n.p.): (n.p.). [In Arabic]
    36. Mīrmorshedī, Sayyid Aḥmad Muhyī al-Dīn. (2016). Dīplomāsī dar negāh-e payāmbar-e aʿẓam (ṣ) [Diplomacy in the View of the Great Prophet (PBUH)]. (n.p.): Gorooh-e Pažūheshī-ye Andīshehʾvarān-e Āryā. [in Persian]
    37. Al-Muḍarrisī, Muḥammad Taqī. (1999). Min hudā al-Qurʾān [From the Guidance of the Quran]. Tehran: Dār Muḥibbī al-Ḥusayn. [In Arabic]
    38. Mushīrī, Mahshīd. (1992). Farhang-e fārsī (alefbāʾī-moqāyesehʾī) [Persian Dictionary (Alphabetical-Comparative)]. Tehran: Intishārāt-e Surūsh. [in Persian]
    39. Mūsā, Ḥusayn Yūsuf; Saʿīdī, ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ. (1990). Al-Ifṣāḥ fī fiqh al-lughah [Clarification in the Jurisprudence of Language]. Qom: Maktab al-Aʿlām al-Islāmī. [In Arabic]
    40. Mūsavī, Sayyid Muḥammad. (2020). Dīplomāsī va raftār-e siyāsī dar eslām [Diplomacy and Political Conduct in Islam]. Tehran: Dānishgāh-e Payām-e Nūr. [in Persian]
    41. Movaḥḥedī Nīā, Mahdī; Gharāmalekī, ʿAlī Maẓhar; Ḥusaynī, Sayyid Muḥammad. (2018). Qavāʿed va uṣūl-e fiqhī-e ḥākem bar mokātebeh [Jurisprudential Rules and Principles Governing Negotiation]. Majallah-ye pažūheshhā-ye fiqhī [Jurisprudential Researches Journal], 14(3), 581–606. https://doi.org/10.22059/jorr.2018.241075.1007797. [in Persian]
    42. Nahāvandī, Muḥammad. (2007). Nafahāt al-raḥmān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The Fragrances of the All-Merciful in Interpreting the Quran]. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Baʿthah. [in Persian]
    43. Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan. (1996). Taḥlīlī bar fiqh-e ravābiṭ-e bayn al-milal [An Analysis of the Jurisprudence of International Relations]. Majallah-ye fiqh [Fiqh Journal], 3, 10–13. https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/articlepage/27087. [in Persian]
    44. Qarāʾatī, Muḥsin. (2009). Tafsīr-e nūr [Light Exegesis]. Tehran: Markaz-e Farhangī-ye Darsʾhāʾī az Qurʾān. [in Persian]
    45. Qureshī Bonābī, ʿAlī Akbar. (1996). Tafsīr-e aḥsan al-ḥadīth [The Best Narration Exegesis]. Tehran: Bunyād-e Baʿthah. [in Persian]
    46. Quṭb, Sayyid. (2004). Fī ẓilāl al-Qurʾān [In the Shade of the Quran]. Beirut: Dār al-Shurūq. [In Arabic]
    47. Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad. (1992). Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān [Vocabulary of Quranic Words]. Beirut: Dār al-Qalam. [In Arabic]
    48. Rawandī, Quṭb al-Dīn Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd Allāh. (1989). Fiqh al-Qurʾān [The Jurisprudence of the Quran] (Edited by Sayyid Aḥmad Ḥusaynī). Qom: Kitābkhāneh-ye Āyatollāh Marʿashī Najafī. [In Arabic]
    49. Reżāʾī, Aḥmad. (2017). Mokātebeh-ye siyāsī dar eslām: ahdāf, uṣūl, rāveshhā [Political Negotiation in Islam: Goals, Principles, Methods]. Qom: Zamzam-e Hedāyat. [in Persian]
    50. Reżāʾī Eṣfahānī, Muḥammad ʿAlī. (2008). Tafsīr-e Qurʾān-e mehr [The Sun Exegesis of the Quran]. Qom: Markaz-e Taḥqīqāt-e Tafsīr va ʿUlūm-e Qurʾānī. [in Persian]
    51. Sabzewarī, Muḥammad. (1986). Al-Jadīd fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-majīd [The New in Interpreting the Noble Quran]. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf li-l-Maṭbūʿāt. [In Arabic]
    52. Al-Ṣadr, Sayyid Muḥammad. (2000). Mawārid al-fiqh [The Sources of Jurisprudence]. Beirut: Dār al-Aḍwāʾ. [In Arabic]
    53. Shabannīyeh, Qāsem. (2020). Mokātebeh-ye dawlat-e eslāmī bā sāyer-e dawal az manẓar-e fiqh-e eslāmī [Negotiation of an Islamic State with Other States from the Perspective of Islamic Jurisprudence]. Qom: Markaz-e Tarjomeh va Nashr-e Al-Muṣṭafā al-ʿĀlamīyah. [in Persian]
    54. Shabannīyeh Roknābādī, Qāsem. (2016). Shākheshhā-ye mokātebeh-ye maqbul-e eslāmī dar ḥall-e ekhtelāfāt-e siyāsī-e mantagehʾī va bayn al-milalī [Indicators of Desirable Islamic Negotiation in Resolving Regional and International Political Conflicts]. Pažūheshhā-ye siyāsat-e eslāmī [Islamic Policy Research], 9, 95–113. https://ensani.ir/fa/article/447306. [in Persian]
    55. Al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn Mūsawī. (1985). Rasāʾil al-sharīf al-murtaḍā [The Treatises of al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā]. Qom: Dār al-Qurʾān al-Karīm. [In Arabic]
    56. Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. (1992). Jāmiʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The Comprehensive Exposition in Quranic Exegesis]. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah. [In Arabic]
    57. Ṭabarsī, Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. (1993). Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [Compendium of Elucidation in Quranic Exegesis]. Tehran: Nashr-e Nāṣer Khosrow. [In Arabic]
    58. Ṭabarsī, Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. (n.d.). Tarjomeh-ye Majmaʿ al-bayān [Translation of Majmaʿ al-Bayān] (Translated by Ḥusayn Nūrī Hamadānī). Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Farāhānī. [in Persian]
    59. Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (2011). Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [The Balance in Quranic Exegesis]. Beirut: Al-Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt. [In Arabic]
    60. Al-Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn. (1996). Majmaʿ al-baḥrayn [Confluence of the Two Seas] (Edited by Aḥmad Ḥusaynī Eshkevarī). Tehran: Intishārāt-e Murtażavī. [In Arabic]
    61. Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (n.d.). Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān [Clarification in Qur'anic Interpretation]. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    62. Al-Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar. (1987). Al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl [The Revealer of the Truths of the Subtleties of Revelation]. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
    63. Zūghī, Amīr. (2019). Darāmadī bar jaigāh-e solḥ va jang dar Qurʾān va sunnat-e nabavī [An Introduction to the Status of Peace and War in the Quran and Prophetic Tradition]. Tehran: Nashr-e Dānishgāh-e Emām Ṣādiq (as). [in Persian]
Quranic Doctrines
Volume 22, Issue 42 - Serial Number 42
December 2025
Pages 185-222

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 27 March 2025
  • Revise Date: 16 November 2025
  • Accept Date: 27 October 2025
  • Publish Date: 22 December 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics