The War Strategy in the Information Era: An Analysis on the Qur’ān

and Ḥadīth about the Methods for Winning a War

Abdul Hakim Wahid

Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta

Keywords: War, Millenium Era, Qurān, Ḥadīth.

Abstract: The millennium era is characterized by an easily access to all information. A group of people which has

more data and information will gain power over the rests. Hence, it is necessary for Muslim to pay attention

to information and take it seriously to rule the world, even to win a war that can happen at any time. The

best way for that can be obtained from the two main sources of Islam. In the Qur‟ān, there are many verses

which portray the victory of a group, henceforth the Qur‟ānix text can be developed as reliable war

strategy. In addition, in the Ḥadīth of the Prophet is also found many messages about the future of Muslims

in this disrupted millennial age. For this reason, with a historical method and contextual approach, this

article aim to reveal the strategy for winning the war which is implicitly affirmed in the Qur‟ānic verses

and the Prophetic sayings.

1 INTRODUCTION

Information is a need of all individuals and

groups. By the development of the information era,

all elements are competing each other to dominate it

both as the recipient and the giver of information,

because in this age, who has more information will

have more authority in the world. Alvin Toffler,

quoted by Hakim Syah, has said that someday world

power will be controlled by information which he

calls „the third wave of world civilization‟ (Syah,

2014).

This statement is really proved today by America

in which it becomes the most powerful country in

the world both in politic and economy, since it has a

sophisticated information network system under its

intelligence agency, till it can control the world with

propaganda through the media (Proborini, 2016).

We also can see how dominant google and facebook

are nowadays, for they both control information.

The current world situation is in a state of „non-

war but not peaceful either‟ (Suryohadiprojo, 2005).

The situation of non-war and non-peace is more

worrying than the situation of war, because in this

situation, the enemy is still unclear, and war can be

happen at any time which is unpredictable.

Moreover, although the majority of mankind wants

to live in peace, in fact, there are still many people

who have desire to rule this world, so they utilize the

advances of technology to wage war for the sake of

power. In this millennium era, the truth is simply

just a word, and an internationally agreement of war

convention is no longer followed as well. Civil

society, media, and psychological operations are

often used to win the thought war which is the ideal

of the information war (Mustarom, 2014).

The background of war generally happened in

this world is caused by economic and ideological

interests. Above all, it is a part of the influence of

globalization which is more harmful than of

collonialism, for the globalization recruits its

soldiers from their culture and self-esteem by

making them follow the model of those who are

more powerful and who possess more (Ajmal,

2014).

Currently, some Middle Eastern countries have

been hit by civil war triggered by infiltration of

foreign powers which have created several countries

pitting against each other, and produced chaos

everywhere. Iraq, Syria and Yemen are the tangible

evidence of the countries that are experiencing chaos

within their country. Domestic warfare in the Middle

East regions is one of the effects of the global war

on terror initiated by the United States following the

September 11 tragedy of 2001, and continues to the

present day, and has an effect on the balance of

international politics as well as having a significant

impact on the relationship between Islam and the

West.

1936

Hakim Wahid, A.

The War Strategy in the Information Era: An Analysis on the Qur’

an and ad

ıth about the Methods for Winning a War.

DOI: 10.5220/0009937519361940

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 1936-1940

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

This is because Islam and Muslims are often

placed in a negative position and considered a real

threat to the West. In this regard, many observers

believe that the global war on terror is a war against

Islam, based on an analysis of the clash of

civilizations. However, with many Muslim countries

joining this agenda, some observers reject such war

against Islam, but the global war on terror is a war

against terrorists and radical Muslims who often

hijack Islam (Syah, 2014).

Although the global war on terror is not a war

against Islam, but its impact has brought the

destruction of cities in some Islamic countries. Thus

it is true what explained by the Qur‟ān about a

theory that every king who vanquishes another

country will do the vandalism and make the

honorable population becoming low. Allah said in

al-Naml: “Verily! Kings, when they enter a town

(country), they despoil it, and make the most

honourable amongst its people low, and thus they

do.”

What the Qur‟ān illustrates proves to be true,

and among the real examples that are still happening

is in Palestine, a country which is now never quiet

nor peaceful, and the damage is everywhere because

of the endless wars. This also appears in the city of

Aleppo which was previously wonderful, but now

the only thing in front of the eyes is the destruction

entire the city. Thus, in the current world situation, a

Muslim should alwaysbe vigilant.

herefore, it is important to prepare a strategy in

order the stability of the community can be

maintained. However, the strategy of war is not to

seek the enemy, for the Prophet forbids his people

from wanting to meet the enemy, but if the enemy

does exist, then a Muslim is encouraged to be patient

and ask God to be given health and courage to face

the enemy. Based on this background, this paper

seeks to find various ways or strategies to win any

kind of war that may happen without predictable

time in this information age.

2 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Strategy is best defined as “doing the right

thing”. While tactics are “doing everything right”

(Juono, 1962). To prepare a reliable strategy is to

recognize the battlefields. Information warfare is a

war of patience. This is a war that will happen in a

long time and protracted. The key to victory in a

battle is to comprehend the terrain and nature of war.

A failure to understand the nature of the new

generation of wars has created some superpower

countries implementing the wrong strategy in

dealing with its enemy (Mustarom, 2014).

Jalaluddin Rachmat, in his Hegemoni Budaya

(Cultural Hegemony), explained that in this era:

information is used to gain wealth, the use of

technology is dominated in all fields, more than 60%

people utilize information technology in their

workfields, global information is without difficulty

accessed by everyone, social communication

changes in which communication tools are the most

familiar friends for everyone, hence connecting a

family is through the virtual world (Rachmat, 1997).

One of the dark sides of the information era is

the rise of a new war of Information Warfare (IW)

as well as virtual war respectively. The most obvious

instance is the Arab Spring, in which the role of

social media has been able to overthrow a powerful

regime. Another example, Russian cyber which

attacked government systems had conquered the

economic and political orders of Estonia and

Georgia (Othman, 2017).

Looking at these examples, then the war that

may occur in the information age is a war of media

and virtual. Media wars can be in the form of

propaganda (Psychological Warfare) through

electronic media such as television and online

media, whilst virtual war is the utilization of radar

technology or the destruction of networks and

attacks with long-range weapons (Proborin, 2016).

In the Qur‟ānic verse of al-Naml, there is a

story of subjugation of the land of Saba‟ by the

Prophet Sulaymān (Solomon) with no war. In the

history of the life of the Prophet Muḥammad many

war stories can be worth as a reference to deal with

the possibility of war in this modern era. This paper

employs textual and contextual analysis of these two

authentic sources and summarizes them

comprehensively in order to derive a war strategy in

the information age to guide Muslims in the

millennium. Broadly speaking, there are 3 (three)

strategies exercise by the Prophet Sulaymān in

subjugating the Saba‟ state, and by the Prophet

Muḥammad in various wars, namely:

1) assigning spies to gather information,

2) controlling the media information for propaganda

and trickery and boasting of power,

3) keeping secretely the purpose of the attacks. And

in turn, an application of these three will be

depicted below.

2.1 Assigning the Spies

The growth of internet technology has led to the

emergence of a new crime called the new

cybercrime. The emergence of several cases of

cybercrime in Indonesia such as fraud, hacking,

The War Strategy in the Information Era: An Analysis on the Qur’

an and ad

ıth about the Methods for Winning a War

1937

eavesdropping of other people‟s data, spamming

emails, and data manipulation, and other parallel

crimes, has caused great harm to its victims and the

Indonesian economy and dignity in the eyes of the

world (Suharnawi, 2017). Several years ago, the

Indonesian government was shocked by the wiretap

conducted by the Australian government. For

Australian side, led by Tony Abbott as the Prime

Minister, said that information tapping is a part of

common spy activities by various countries in the

world, and he is reluctant to formally apologize for

the action (Liputan 6, 2013).

Tony Abbot‟s statement that tapping

information is usual and natural is one of the war

strategies described by the Qur‟ān in the story of the

Prophet Sulaymān. It is narrated that Prophet

Sulaymān sent a letter inviting people of Saba‟ to

surrender to God. After the letter was sent, Solomon

ordered the spies to scrutinize which steps would be

undertaken by the ruler of the country of Saba‟. The

spy in modern language is called intelligence. The

main principle of intelligence is called in Latin velox

et exactus meaning: “fast and precise” (Jamal,

2008). The senses of Hudhud, whose concern is to

perceive what Saba‟ rulers will do in response to

Sulaymān‟s letter, is mentioned in the following

verse: “Go you with this letter of mine, and deliver it

to them, then draw back from them, and see what

(answer) they return” (al-Naml: 28).

Spying assignments were also always done by

the Prophet in every war. An example was when

Muslims suffered defeat in the war of Uḥud, and

Abū Sufyān with his troops had left the scene of

war. The Prophet was worried if the Quraysh would

go to Medina and hurt women and children. At that

time, the Prophet assigned Sa„d ibn Abī Waqqās to

spy on the enemy (al-Wāqidī, 1989). In the war of

Khandaq, when hearing the commotion of the

enemy, the Prophet sent Khudhayfa ibn al-Yaman to

infiltrate the opposing army in order to know what

was going on (Ibn Hishām, 1955). Sun Tzu in his

book The Art of War said that the key to a victory is

to recognize the state of the enemy and the state of

yourself, and to know the weather and the battlefield

will make the victory more perfect. According to

Sun Tzu, most warlord losers in war are those who

do not have preliminary knowledge (Juono, 1962).

Therefore, the existence of good intelligence is

indispensable in the information age to win the war.

2.2 Mastering the Information Media

The second step in a winning war strategy is to

master the information media. Mastery of this media

can be used for propaganda to do war tricks and

show strength. Mastering social media today is a

must. For those who dislike world peace have used

the information media to spread their ideology.

Media is an instrument or channel that can affect and

change one‟s mind with information. Therefore,

information is a key element in any war strategy in

the millennium (Mustarom, 2014).

The media has been able to cultivate the

growing issues in society so that conflicts will be of

great or little intensity, when news is presented in

the media. At this point, the media often sides with a

group that carries profitable (Wardhani, 2010). Even

the today alignments of media owners to a certain

group influence the presentation of information, and

consequently, there are important events that should

be reported, but deliberately not exposed to the

general public for a particular purpose. This was

replicated in the case of the Iraq invasion-

occupation, 2003-8, when the elite was eventually

splintered, but many stayed with the official line and

the media continued to support the war (oppose any

withdrawal date, etc.).

In both cases, the media fail to give serious

space to the news and opinion reflecting the position

of the majority. The media has been able to

propagandize that the use of weapons for the

invasion of a state is legitimate and justified. The

war against terror, anti- communist ideology is also

a tactic for creating common enemies or the face of

evil, with the aim of legitimizing the use of weapons

and wars (Mullen, 2009).

A real example of the use of information media

is what ISIS sent through social media, and was able

to recruit many members from abroad including

from America and Indonesia. Related to that, the

National Intelligence Agency (BIN) of Indonesia

stated that the most difficult against ISIS is their

social media front which acted as the most effective

tool and was used massively to campaign for jihad.

The social media front is able to attract the attention

of its readers to join them and create solidarity

(Djelantik,2015).

Meanwhile, internet service providers are

looking for advertising revenue to finance their

operations, sacrificing their alternate character; and

the largest users, such as Google and Yahoo, heavily

rely on advertising revenue (Mullen, 2009), which

leads to freedom of access with many targeted

visitors to get more aids. Thus, everyone can access

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the media without any filter. This social media

mastery needs to be completed to seize the virtual

world territory that has been controlled by the

terrorists which always use as a means of

propaganda. And keep in mind is that propagandists

have the power to increase the frequency and

intensity, and adjust the character of their message in

the face of the audience in order to be affected by

the thought offered (Mullen, 2009).

Media proclamation is also conducted for the

purpose of deception. The Prophet declares that war

is deception. In the war of Aḥzāb, the Prophet made

every effort to defeat his enemy which was too large

in number. The infidels of Quraysh succeeded in

getting allies from the Jews so that the people of

Medina at that time had enemies outside and inside

the city of Medina namely Banū Qurayḍah. It was

then that the Prophet did a war trick. The trick in the

war of Khandaq was when Nu„aym ibn Mas„ūd al-

Ashja„ī, a friend of the Quraysh and Jews from

Ghaṭafān came to him and said: “Yā Rasūlallāh innī

qad Aslamtu, wa qawmī lā ya„lamūn bi-islāmī,

famurnī bi amrika ḥattā usā„iduka. Fa qāla: Anta

rajulun wāḥidun wa mādhā „asā an taf„ala, walākin

khadhdhil annā mā istaṭa„ta fa inna al-ḥarba

khad„ah” (O Messenger of Allah, I have converted

to Islam but my people do not know it. Order

something to me so I can help you. The Messenger

of Allah replied: You are alone, what can you do?

But help us according to your ability, for war is a

trick) (al-Bajurī, 1425).

Hearing the Prophet‟s words, Nu„aym ibn

Mas„ūd then went to the tribes Banū Qurayḍ

Quraysh and Ghaṭafān to wage war by making them

pitting against each other. This Mas„ūd‟s action

made the tribes which had been allied to the fight

against the Muslims lost their confidence,

accordingly, there arose suspicion which ruined the

unity among them, for fear of some who betrayed

and attacked back. With the suspicion of mutual

suspicion within the group of Quraysh allies, the

chaos ensued and the intention to withdraw from the

assault increased, until Allah sent down the help of a

strong wind which made the enemies of Islam falter

and leave the war (Ibn Hishām, 1955).

The above narration confirms that deception in

war is permissible under the Sharī„a. This

conclusion is reinforced by „Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib‟s

statement on the eve of the Ṣiffīn war, whence he

used a special code in his command, that was, if he

sayd “the Messenger of Allah said” then it was his

will, but if he did not utter it, then it was a trick and

not an actual command. Such statement of „Alī ibn

Abī Ṭālib is the basis of the Prophet‟s Ḥadīth that

war is a trick (Ibn Ḥibbān, 1417).

In addition to waging a war trick, controlling

the information media is also for propaganda and to

show strength. In the war of Uḥud, when the Muslim

forces suffered defeat, Abū Sufyān uttered the words

of pride as propaganda to undermine the Muslims

mentally. “Umar who heard these words then asked

the Messenger of Allah whether he should answer or

be silent? The Messenger then ordered „Umar to

answer all the words of Abū Sufyān, and when he

challenged the Muslims to meet again in the next

year‟s war, the Messenger of Allah also ordered

„Umar to answer the challenge (al-Waqidī, 1989).

From this incident can be concluded that answering

propaganda or threats with the appropriate conduct

is necessary, in addition to improve mentally, and

also to tear down the guts of the enemy who has felt

stronger. This was also showed by the Prophet

Sulaymān to refuse gifts bestowed by the queen

Bilqis, and exhibited the strength he had when the

gifts servants came.

2.3 Keep Secretely the Objectives

In the spread of propaganda, not necessarily all

information is disseminated intact. There should be

entities not to be revealed, moreover to the enemy.

This strategy was always practiced by the Prophet in

facing the war. It is stated in a Ḥadīth that every

time goint to a war, the Prophet always hid his main

purpose, and led the enemy to a different purpose

(kāna Rasūlullāh qallamā yurīd ghazwatan yaghzūhā

illā warrā bi ghayrihā) (al- Bukhārī, 1422). As when

the Prophet intended to perform fatḥ Makka, he

asked the companions to keep it a secret. His

strategy was to smack the Quraysh tribe suddenly, so

they had no preparation and could be subjugated

with no resistance, and bloodshed would be avoided

(al-Najjār).

The Prophet‟s action to preserve the secret

corresponds to the war strategy in the information

age, called by Mustarom, as the “Fourth Generation

War”. The war in this era was the creation of

information-based conflicts. Information media is

used with a focus of purpose to break the will of

decision makers and influence their minds, using

different paths to convey different messages to

different goals. This message is used to accomplish

three purposes:

1) To discourage enemies;

2) To defend the will of their own people, and

3) To ensure neutral parties remain neutral or

providing silent support based on their own

The War Strategy in the Information Era: An Analysis on the Qur’

an and ad

ıth about the Methods for Winning a War

1939

reasons. If in the war of the previous era, the

media was only used to report an event, but in

this information age, the media can be used to

weaken opponents with the target of decision

makers, the community of a country, and the

global community by forming a worldview as a

target (Mustarom, 2014).

``In addition, to support the achievement of a

victory in war, secret codes are known only to the

entire army, either with special words, or other

secret codes that correspond to the times. In every

war performed by the Prophet, he often used secret

codes, in the line with the word “Amit, Amit,” or

with the word “yes Mansur Amit.” In one narration,

in the days of tābi„īn, the spoken word was “yā

Muḥammadahu” (al-Najdī, 1987). What this Prophet

did could be put into practice in the information war.

3 CONCLUSIONS

Being a Muslim in the millennium era is a lot of

challenges. The ability to master information is

necessary in order to defend oneself against the

attacks of enemies of Islam. The existence of a

strong intelligence is needed for every group or

Islamic organizations to know the movement of the

enemy and the plans they will do, so that with the

knowing a lot of information, the Islamic

organizations will be able to know the best way to

deal with all the risks that may arise from the war on

this information age. Broadly speaking, there are

three (3) war strategies that can be inferred from the

Qur‟ān and Ḥadīth, namely:

1) assigning spies to collect information,

2) mastering the media information for propaganda

and deception and arrogance of power,

3) conceal the purpose.

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