The Concept of Defense in the Quranic Thoughts of Ayatollah Khamenei (May His Life Be Prolonged)

In the historical study of life phenomena, defense is recognized as a highly important and prominent phenomenon. This phenomenon emerges in the face of external threats and dangers so that beings can maintain their path of movement and perfection and preserve their survival. Therefore, "defense" is considered a sacred, valuable concept, and one of the pillars of survival. What further enhances the importance and value of this issue is familiarity with the defensive ideology of Ayatollah Khamenei (May His Life Be Prolonged), the esteemed leader of the Islamic Revolution, as His Eminence has expressed their perspective and theory under the concept of "defense" relying on Quranic verses. Accordingly, their view on "defense" is profound and comprehensive. This article, with an exploratory and applied purpose, adopts a qualitative approach. Given the nature of the research, the method of thematic analysis is used for the initial categorization of themes and for the analysis of the emerged themes, an evolutionary method is employed to extract the intellectual framework of His Eminence's thoughts. The research results, while providing clear answers to the questions, present a model consisting of 34 themes under the category of principles and foundations, 58 themes under the category of strategies, and 24 themes under the category of goals in the field of "defense."