A Methodological Framework for Interpreting Military Thought in the Qur'an

In response to the increasing complexity of emerging defense and security threats, including hybrid warfare and cyberterrorism, a systematic reexamination of the Qur'anic teachings on defense has become increasingly important. This study aims to identify, introduce, and comparatively evaluate the principal methodological approaches to interpreting military thought in the Qur'an in order to determine the most effective method for accurately deriving defense principles from the sacred text. The findings demonstrate that thematic exegesis, integrated with thematic analysis, provides the most comprehensive and methodologically rigorous framework for this purpose. The research is applied-developmental in nature and adopts a qualitative descriptive-analytical design. Data were collected through purposive sampling of Qur'anic verses related to defense, supported by MAXQDA software and authoritative lexical and exegetical sources. Data analysis was conducted exclusively through thematic analysis, involving the identification of defense-related verses, systematic coding, the development of thematic networks, and the construction of a theoretical model of Qur'anic defense principles based on the internal textual structure of the Qur'an. The findings revealed that, from a corpus of forty-eight key verses, nine fundamental defense principles were identified, including defense preparedness, the legitimacy of self-defense, proportional response, resistance against oppression, collective defense, sustained preparedness, Islamic solidarity, preventive deterrence, and ethical constraints on the use of force. The principal contribution of this study lies in the development of an integrated three-dimensional analytical model and a fifteen-criterion coding protocol, which together provide a rigorous methodological framework for defense policymaking, military education, and future research on Qur'an-based defense studies