Psychological Operations in Islam: A Case Study of the PSYOP Tactics of Imam Ali’s (a.s.) Opponents and the Way he Dealt with them

Currently, one of the important issues is to note the shift in the hegemonic system’s approach towards Iran from a hard approach to a soft one and implementation of psychological operations. On the other hand, the sacred Islamic Republic system is seeking to follow Imam Ali’s government as a role model. Therefore, it seems necessary to consider psychological operations and how Imam Ali (a.s.) dealt with this issue, especially since the present era is very similar to that of Imam Ali (a.s.). At the present time, one can see some examples of the characters of his age knowing whom requires utilization of the kind of insight Imam Ali (a.s.) enjoyed. They have lined up against the truth front with copies of the Quran raised on top of spears, and no one can discern the falsehood of their claims except the followers of welayat. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the enemy's PSYOP tricks against Imam Ali (a.s.) and the way he dealt with them. The findings reveal that the enemies tried to disperse Imam's followers using such PSYOP tactics as deception, narcotization and enticement, and, of course, they were successful to a large extent. To confront them, Amir al-Mu'minin (a.s.) employed such schemes as incitement, intimidation, disclosure, and most importantly insight enhancement, and he resisted the huge army of the enemy relying on his small but strong army. This research work has been conducted using the descriptive-analytic type of the library method.