Tarikh Islam

During the caliphate of Imam Ali, two groups—hypocrites and opponents—exerted all their efforts to undermine his plans. In response, he adopted a purposeful struggle grounded in method and based on Islamic principles. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of a systematic perspective on the conceptual and functional framework of his struggles. This study, emphasizing the question of what strategies and methods Imam Ali used in confronting his enemies, examines the explicit content of messages found in early sources. The aim of the research is to clarify the intellectual and practical framework of his struggle. The findings indicate that his strategy—that is, the general and long-term policy—advanced in several stages and step by step. To implement each strategy—a logical process for reaching a goal—he employed various methods, that is, different ways of executing the plan. These included responding to doubts and accusations, clarifying the criteria of hypocrisy, cultural struggle (such as cursing in prayer), and others as different forms of such methods.