Part 1
By Arsala Hassan
Any action or activity that affects a person’s mind, thought, and psychological state without the use of military weapons can be described as ideological and psychological warfare. Psychological and ideological warfare is the enemy’s hidden yet effective strategy. Instead of physical weapons, it attacks people’s emotions, beliefs, and thoughts in order to weaken their will and bring them under its influence to serve its own purposes.
In military warfare, artillery, aircraft, tanks, nuclear weapons, and other dangerous weapons are used. Blood is shed, people are killed and wounded, buildings, roads, farmland, and other infrastructure are destroyed, while the environment and living beings also suffer harm. Ideological and psychological warfare, however, is carried out without military weapons. In this kind of warfare, a person’s thoughts, beliefs, mind, and psychological state become the target. Although people may remain physically alive, their mental, psychological, and ideological identity can be severely damaged, causing them to lose sight of their original purpose and stray from their path.
Ideological and Psychological Warfare
In Usul al-Ghazw al-Fikri, ideological warfare is described as follows:
هو الغزو بالوسایل غیر العسکریة.
(Usul al-Ghazw al-Fikri, p. 4)
Translation: Ideological warfare is an assault carried out through non-military means.
It is also stated:
هو اسلوب جدید للغزو ضدالمسلمین بعد هزائم متکررة.
(Usul al-Ghazw al-Fikri, p. 4)
Translation: It is a new method of assault against Muslims following repeated defeats.
Objectives of Ideological Warfare
The greatest objective of ideological warfare is to bring the opposing side under one’s influence, make it accept one’s demands, and remove any obstacle standing in the way of one’s objectives. Its basic aim is to weaken a nation mentally and intellectually and make it follow the thinking of others. As stated in Usul al-Ghazw al-Fikri, this is also the main objective of the enemies of religion.
In short, its aims include destroying the spirit of resistance among Muslims against the West, making Muslims doubt Islam, its civilization, and its human values, and preventing the true and complete message of Islam from reaching Western societies. Creating false leadership for the Islamic world under the control of outsiders is also considered one of the main objectives of this warfare.
Subjects of Ideological Warfare
The subjects of ideological and psychological warfare include all the means and methods that can change the thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and values of a nation. (Usul al-Ghazw al-Fikri, p. 5)
Those who wage this kind of warfare seek to protect their own beliefs, thinking, culture, and civilization while gaining intellectual and cultural superiority over other nations.
Today, many of the world’s powerful countries are trying, openly and secretly, to expand their influence over Muslims. In many Islamic countries, alongside military aggression, ideological and cultural aggression is also taking place. Some countries have even become tools for achieving the objectives of foreign powers without any direct military invasion. When an Islamic country comes under military attack, some internal and external elements cooperate with the attackers. At the same time, media outlets publish material that works against the interests of the Muslim Ummah. (Usul al-Ghazw al-Fikri, p. 6)
Methods of Psychological Warfare
Psychological warfare mainly uses the following methods to influence people’s minds:
1. Spreading grief and sadness: The enemy tries to present a distorted and unbalanced picture of society’s reality, make people lose hope in their future, and weaken their aspirations.
2. Creating despair: When a person fails to reach his goals despite repeated efforts, he may fall into despair. The enemy tries to deepen this condition, weaken his self-confidence, and take away his hope for progress.
3. Creating fear and terror: Instilling fear is one of the most effective tools of psychological warfare. Through wars, economic pressure, political sanctions, and media propaganda, efforts are made to weaken people’s morale and destroy their motivation to resist.
4. Spreading rumors: In this area, efforts are first made to study the minds of society, understand its demands and preferences, and assess its economic, educational, cultural, social, and political conditions. Afterwards, different programs are launched to influence people, with the aim of shaping their minds in a way that allows them to be used for the benefit of others and makes them lose confidence in their own economic, educational, cultural, social, and political situation.
A small political issue may be presented to them as something so enormous that they begin to think everything will change and disappear within a very short time. At the same time, those waging ideological and psychological warfare may portray their own strength as so overwhelming that people become unable to bear the pressure, causing them to lose confidence in the strength and stability of their own system.
5. Finding proxies in Islamic countries and Muslim societies:
One of the important methods of ideological and psychological warfare is to identify, or bring under influence through different means, individuals, groups, or institutions within targeted societies that can help achieve foreign political, security, or propaganda objectives. This can be done through financial support, propaganda cooperation, political influence, media activities, the spread of misinformation, or the promotion of particular narratives.
Through such individuals or groups, efforts are made to influence public opinion, increase mistrust and divisions among people, create doubts about the general and religious values of society, and weaken social unity. In some cases, attempts are made through the media, social networks, cultural activities, and political propaganda to create an environment in which foreign interests are protected while society’s ability to make independent decisions is weakened.
For this reason, it is important for every Islamic society to remain alert to all forms of foreign influence and propaganda operations through media awareness, sound understanding, national unity, respect for the law, and careful evaluation of information. Before accepting false narratives and rumors, their truth should be examined and verified.
