Principles of War in the View of Amir al-M’omenin Imam Ali (AS)

A very important issue in wars, playing a great role in planning and achieving victory, regards the recognition of the principles of war. Designing and reviewing the principles of war indicates that war, as a human phenomenon, is based on a set of faithful, rational, epistemological, moral and empirical principles. All scholars and experts, propose decisive principles for war on the basis of their worldview and philosophy about the universe. In the same way, Amir al-m’omenin, the Imam, and the leader of the society, who was aware of politics, mindful of the principles and criteria of military and combat, had a divine and transcendent worldview, possessed a moral and spiritual philosophy towards life, have considered the principles and criteria for war. He has founded his views about war on such principles. The question of this research regards the principles of war from the point of view of Amir al-M’omenin (AS). The findings of this descriptive-analytical normative research using inferential statistics and documentary/library method, revealed that, in Imam Ali’s point of view, the principles of war can be classified into two general human-spiritual and scientific-technical dimensions. These two dimensions, especially the first one, are fundamentally different from the view of most specialists in this field.