The Nature of the Desirable Soft Power from the Perspective of the Noble Qur’ān

Soft power is an emerging term in the world’s political literature. In political science, various definitions have been given to it, mainly by the Western scholars. In the scientific atmosphere of the Islamic Republic of Iran, these definitions have also overshadowed the scientific atmosphere. What is necessary in the meantime is to redefine the nature of this power from the perspective of the noble Qur’ān as a text that expresses the word of God. With a qualitative analytical-descriptive textual approach and with the ijtihadi method of interpretation of the noble Qur’ān, this article has answered the question regarding the view of the noble Qur’ān on the nature of the desired soft power from the Islamic point of view. In conclusion, this research found that, contrary to the Western definitions, the nature of soft power, from the noble Qur’ān’s point of view, not only includes influencing the target community through attraction, but also includes the deterrent power, as well as areas of soft bait and soft threat. Soft power, on the other hand, is not a two-way relationship between people and societies, but a three-way relationship in which God on its main side, is the sole absolute power of the universe. Also, the sources taken from the nature of the divine soft power in the noble Qur’ān are exclusively in the realm of divine commands, and violating it causes the departure of the soft power from the aspect of being divine to being evil, and this is the fundamental difference in the desirability of the soft power. The last point is that the components of the soft power that are taken in its nature are both material and spiritual, contrary to the Western definition which pays special attention to the material factors.