Leadership and Economics

Going by the expanding nature of global economics and varying national economies, today’s leaders should be compelled to understand that the best, much-applauded, and unanimously accepted form of fundamental economics is the capitalist market economy which contains many buyers and sellers of numerous goods and services where all of them are interested primarily in their own well-being. However, from Islamic perspectives, while the bond between the seller and buyer is accepted, the capitalist sellers demand for interest which is called Riba (usury) is totally haraam (forbidden). In modern times, Muslim banks have introduced what is referred to as “La Riba”–meaning no usury. From the Greek word oikonomos, economy denotes “one who manages a household.” However, according to the great 19th-century economist Alfred Marshall, “economics is a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life.”[i] In essence, economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources.[ii]

Two prominent economists, Adam Smith and David Ricardo inspired the modern economics we cherish today. Adam Smith’s 1776 book titled An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, shed light on the subject of trade and economic interdependence. Likewise, inspired by Adam Smith’s writings, David Ricardo, millionaire broker turned economist, in his 1817 book Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, developed the principle of comparative advantage as we know it today. The principle of comparative advantage explains interdependence and the gains from trade. As a member of the British parliament of the day and in his defense of free trade and his opposition to the Corn Laws which restricted the import of grain, Ricardo put his economic beliefs to work by displaying total rejection and repugnance at the British government’s infringement on free trade. Undoubtedly, the legacies left behind by Smith and Ricardo continues to empower the values and ideals of today’s capitalist economies.

Based on decentralized control and delegation, a leader who has the will and commitment to steer a nation to its right course must understand that micromanaging economies, people’s lives or jobs is nothing but a futile enterprise. Likewise, a leader cannot save, motivate, and satisfy everyone. Leaders must understand that when people associate no risk or cost to something, they will abuse it. That is why all social programs like welfare, social security, and Medicare fail to have rigid foundations despite concerted government efforts at their resuscitation. With markets being a good way to organize economic activity, boosting trade makes everyone better-off. Though not always positive, governments can sometimes improve market outcomes. During the Cold War era, the former Soviet Union and her Communist allies in Eastern Europe experienced retarded economies because their economies were based on outdated centralization systems managed by irrational central planners which culminated in their collapse in the 1980s.

Because of corruption, insecurity, coup d’états, political obscurantism, dictatorships, and a host of other natural and human calamities, Africa, a continent abundant in natural resources, remains entangled in a protracted economic mess that make it a laughing stork in every sector of the economic scale and a burden to international financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. Lack of human capital, grinding poverty and diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria, and the collective theft of state coffers, has diminished the continent’s prospects for economic prosperity and political maturity. Despite minor modifications, the economic principles left behind by Adam Smith and David Ricardo continue to drive the nerves and fibers of many nations including the United States while resourceful African nations continue to suffer from self-inflicted economic woes without any prospect for recovery.
Some important aspects of managing a capitalist economy include:
(1) a strong national defense–if people do not feel safe, economic growth will be retarded and suffering and destitution will reign.
(2) Property rights–when people own something, they have the tendency to invest and protect it.
(3) Judicial system to handle disputes.
(4) Low taxes and low regulatory environment.
(5) Few entitlement programs like welfare, social security, and Medicare. These programs are inefficient and wasteful (transfer payments-taking money from one citizen and giving it to another is always counterproductive). A program like welfare falls under what economists refer to as “the Law of unintended consequences” which occurs when government actions or policies fail to produce the desired results. Initially, welfare was intended to help the poor but only created more poverty and an underclass that grew reliant on government. We have to be careful what behaviors we reward because if people associate no cost or risk to something they will abuse it.

Said another way, production possibilities curves can be expanded with the following in mind: (1) movement towards capitalism and free trade (India, China), (2) education, (3) technological advances, and (4) discovery of new natural resources. By raising taxes, consumer and producer surplus is destroyed beyond measure and automatically the standard of living of the ordinary citizen is lowered. Leaders need to understand that people get what they earn and that there are no other solutions except trade-offs. Thus, growing economies need energy to safeguard and maintain their demand and supply. A country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services.

Consequently, leaders and politicians have caused extensive miscalculations to numerous national economies by thinking that they know more about economics than economists. In broad terms, this is what is referred to as “fatal conceit” by economists. Both golden rule and fatal conceit, malevolent in context, are based on self-interest and are detrimental to the economic well-being of any nation and must be shunned at all cost.

One other form of unwarranted government exploitation or practice that place unnecessary hardships on businesses is price gouging. A firm’s costs are a key determinant of its production and pricing decisions. This practice is outlandish and absolutely authoritarian in nature. Leaders fail to grasp the theory that demand is based on ability and willingness to pay. On the ability notion, one may have the ability to pay but unwilling to pay for the product either because the product is inferior or exorbitant. Apparently, wary consumers understand the implications of buying cheap and inferior Chinese products that flood the markets. Everything, regardless of make or model, has a price attached to it. Unquestionably, above that price, no one is willing to pay. Supply and demand of goods and services determine price. As a result, when the price of a commodity goes up, demand goes down; when price goes up it provides an incentive for suppliers to supply more of the goods or services if they can.

One other principle why price rise is when government prints too much money. Nations experience inflation when there is an increase in the overall level of prices in the economy. An observable fact where prices in the economy rose by similar standards was experienced by Germany in January 1921 when the price of a daily newspaper that cost 0.30 marks rose to 70,000,000 marks in less than two years. The best tool to defeat inflation is to limit the growth in the quantity of money. The U.S. experienced high inflation in the 1970s and high inflation in the 1980s because of high and slow growth in the quantity of money. Despite the U.S. experiencing “Every time we break down barriers to trade and investment, we open up new markets for American ranchers, farmers, workers, and entrepreneurs. ...”[iii]

Economics and leadership are two inseparable and intertwined subjects with significant advantage and contributions to free market economies. To have an effective economy, it is of vital importance for a leader to come up with effective planning and implementation. Economists are of the view that planning is never perfect and that plans are absolutely nothing without action and that at all times the trickiest thing to do is executing a plan.

There is a popular consensus among economists which affirms that in economics demand is easy and there is no limit to the wants and needs of human beings. The most difficult thing is meeting the supply of goods and services. What a country can do to encourage its people and how corporations and businesses can supply the necessary products and services demanded by the people is a pressing issue and a daunting task in the science of economics. As mentioned earlier, the answer of course is capitalism as reflected in the decentralized economy. An important resolution could be the 70 % solution adopted by the US military and corporations which states that if you feel that you have 70% of a problem covered –take action!! Because of the law of diminishing returns, trying to make a plan perfect is futile. The art of economics consists not merely looking at the immediate but at the longer effects of an act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

Because people respond to incentives, leaders must remain rational by weighing or comparing benefits and costs just as those they govern perceive it to be so. A situation in which the market price has reached the level at which quantity supplied equals quantity demanded, is called equilibrium. Also called market-clearing price, equilibrium is found where the supply and demand curves meet. At the equilibrium price, the quantity supplied equals the quantity demanded. In free markets, a so pervasive phenomenon that brings into balance the quantity of goods supplied and the quantity of goods demanded is referred to as the law of supply and demand–meaning the price of any good adjusts to bring the quantity supplied and quantity demanded for that good into balance. In economics, deadweight loss is referred to as the fall in total surplus that results from a market distortion, such as a tax. Because taxes cause deadweight losses, they prevent buyers and sellers from realizing some of the gains from trade. What determine whether the deadweight loss from a tax is large or small are the price elasticities of supply and demand. Henry George, the 19th century American economist and philosopher, in his 1879 book, Progress and Poverty, argued that the government should raise all its revenue from tax on land. To him, this “single tax”, was both equitable and efficient. However, not many economists of our era and age support George’s proposal for a single tax on land. Because governments have no money, the only way they can obtain it is through taxation which carries with it a deadweight loss to society as a whole.

With rigorous debate mounting in the U.S. regarding immigration, opponents and proponents of this contentious issue base their arguments on the supply of labor. Some factors that would cause the labor supply curve to shift include changes in tastes, changes in alternative opportunities, and immigration. For instance, when immigrants come to the United States, the supply of labor in the United States increases and the supply of labor in the immigrants’ home countries contracts. The never-ending policy debate about immigration centers on the effects of immigration and its effect on labor supply-equilibrium in the labor market.

A new field of economics known as behavioral economics has made basic psychological insights in human behavior. Some exclusive studies on human decision-making have come up with the following findings:
People are overconfident.
People give too much weight to a small number of vivid observations.
People are reluctant to change their minds.
Because economists have differing views regarding the imperfections of Homo sapiens, some economists have suggested that humans are “near rational” or that they exhibit “bounded rationality”. It was Herbert Simon, a social scientist who worked at the boundaries of psychology, who suggested that humans should best be viewed as satisficers and not rational maximizers. Thomas Sowell, an African American economist stated that the mark of a good economist is "thinking beyond stage one". In essence, this is part of leadership. Professor Richard Epstein University of Chicago Law School, commenting on Thomas Sowell’s book Applied economics: Thinking beyond Stage One, had this to say, “In Applied Economics, the companion volume to his earlier work, Basic Economics, Thomas Sowell uses rudimentary economic theory to unmask the cant that surrounds too many policy debates.”[iv]To further add more weight to Sowell’s book, the Publishers Weekly had a commentary that read: “The great achievement of Sowell's book is its simplicity. His writing is easy and lucid, an admirable trait considering the topic at hand. . .His target audience is the average citizen who has little or no economics background, but would like the tools to think critically about economic issues.”[v]

In broader terms, economics is an appealing subject, informative, and educative to the core. It is part sociology, part philosophical, and undoubtedly a subject meant for every human being seeking to overcome barriers in daily financial and economic handicaps.

 

Adan Makina

WardheerNews

Adan.makina@gmail.com

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[i] Marshall, A. (2009). Principles of economics: unabridged eighth edition. Cosimo, Inc.

[ii] N. Gregory Mankiw: Principles of Microeconomics (2007). Thomas Higher Education, 5191 Natorp Boulevard, Mason, OH 45040.

[iii] http://www.ustreas.gov/. Retrieved August 21, 2022.

[iv] http://www.tsowell.com/Appliedecon.htm. Retrieved August 21, 2022.

[v] www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved August 21, 2022.

Xasna Dhoorre

 Professor Ray Beachey was a Canadian who taught prominent African personalities.

"A quiet believer in the benefits of the British Empire, he liked to refer to Makere as a crossroads of the world. His students included Benedicto Kiwanuka, Uganda's first prime minister; Yusuf Lule, the country's provisional president in 1979; and Mwai Kibaki, the former Kenyan president, all of whom had an avidity for learning that was not matched by Beachey's students in his native Canada. Among his colleagues were the writers VS Naipaul and Paul Theroux, who referred to Beachey as the "gentle Canadian" in his travelogue Dark Star Safari."¹

"The Mad Mullah of Somaliland", deserves a pat on the back for shedding light on the military prowess of Hasna Doreh, who was one of the wives of Seyid Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, the man who fought the British Empire for almost two decades. 

The distinguished professor placed Hasna Dorre in par with Queen Boadicea who united British men to fight off the invading Romans.

Female Somali fighters who played vital roles to wade off belligerent foreign invaders, were referred to as Darwiishaad or Darawiishaad.²

In the year 60-61 AD, Boudicca assembled an army of 70,000 to fight off the Romans even though her forces were defeated.

Sources

¹ SOURCE: Telegraph (UK)

² Hoehne, Markus (2011). Political Orientations and Repertoires of Identification: State and Identity Formation in Northern Somalia.

³ Koch, John (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia.

Ibn Sina

 Ibn Sina, a famous Muslim scientist, put two lambs in separate cages. Lambs were the same age and the same weight, and fed with the same food. All conditions were equal. However, he put a wolf in the third cage. Only one lamb could see the wolf but not the other lamb.

Months later, the lamb who saw the wolf was cranky, restless, poorly developing, and losing weight. The lamb died whilst the other lamb remained healthy. Although the wolf did nothing to the lamb next to it, the fear and stress that lamb lived in killed it prematurely, while the other lamb that did not see the wolf, was peaceful and developed well with a healthy weight gain.

In this experiment lbn Sına demonstrated the importance of mental health. Do not trouble yourself with unnecessary worry and concerns. Learn to rely on Allah and take care of your mental health: 

*"And for those who fear Allah, He always prepares a way out, and He provides for him from sources he never could imagine. And if anyone puts his trust in Allah, sufficient is Allah for him. For Allah will surely accomplish His purpose: verily, for all things has Allah appointed a due proportion."* 

~[Quran, 65: 2-3].

Source: Avicenna, "Concerning the Soul", in F. Rahman, Avicenna's Psychology: An English Translation of Kitab Al-Najat.

An Honorable Man

 June is the month that divides the year into two halves. Back in the olden days of nursery school, I learned this song: "30 days have September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31, except February alone. " February is distinct from the other months since it ends in 28 or 29 interchangeably.

While we know the "People of the Cave" whose remains are in Amman, Jordan, slept 300 years add 9---with the 300 years being solar years and the 9 being lunar years, I'll leave to our Cosmologists to decipher the causes of February's calendar changes. 

That aside, June 1 brings to my attention someone very important to all of us and he is none other than Mohamed Yabarag. I mentioned before that I'll be sharing with you a man whose great, grandfather meticulously strolled down the gorges and valleys and other distinctive Somali landscapes with the author of "First Footsteps in East Africa", Richard Burton, the man who spoke 29 languages and whose sole intention was to penetrate the impenetrable City of Harar---a city whose inhabitants are known to Somalis as Adaris or Adariyiin.

While it is known to historians, missionaries, explorers and globe trotters that Somalis are skillful at travel adventures, and that they are given to warfare since they are Africa's number one warriors, and that they can survive 3 days without water as long as they have camel milk at their disposals, the man whose name appears as " Buh" or "Booh"...

The man mentioned by the English author left remarkable historical footprints while on horses, mares, and rakoubs while evading carnivorous animals, distinct landscapes, and hostile fellow clansmen.

His horse could cover long distances like our own Seyid's Xiin Faniin and the famous Bucephalus of Alexander the Great III. The mare he rode, must have been one that resembled in speed and might, this author's 3rd grandfather whose name was Ali and rode one called Danood---a name derived from the water well mentioned in Cali Dhuux's poetic chain that is Guba. For those who did not know before, rest assured that the water well that gave Cali Dhuux and his she camel Cartan harrowing experience, was the work of Cali who rode a mare called Danood.

The name Yabarag is Latinized, for the correct form of writing in Somali could have been Yaab-Arag, for astonishment, mouths agape, hair raising, shocking, unbelievable etc. Perhaps, something unanticipated, mind boggling or an eventful incident may have occurred instantaneously, but not a lugubrious event, I would presume.

As Jeffrey Getleman noted in the past that "most Somalis have nicknames", the name Yabarag jostled my mind the first time it came to my focus. A widely traveled man he is, Mr. Yabarag has been my friend and dear brother for decades. A Certified Public Accountant by profession, he's also specialized in various fields.

He's multilingual and multicultural. In terms of generosity, he's a generous man driven by gentility.

To better define his gentility, his character is one embossed or decorated in good breeding and refinement and that's because he was raised by parents who were committed to articulate child upbringing in an environment of peace and tranquility. 

Raised in a land surrounded by mountains and valleys, wild animals like the gazelle and birds of distinct species, meadows and fields having historical structures such as tombs for saints, the region he hails from is considered to have been the seats of ancient Somali history. The succession of Somali sultanates that played significant roles fighting off foreign intruders or infiltrators came from Yabarag's region.

His region is a Shangri-la or a worldly paradise. The current temperature of his hometown is 27°C.

With regards to his multilingualism and multiculturalism, Yabarag speaks fluently the language of the Qur'an which is Arabic and also the most widely spoken in the African Continent with over 150 million speakers. As for multiculturalism, his openness to every culture makes him a friend of everyone.

A composed man with brilliant mind deserves to be emulated because of his inherent audacity to circumvent obstacles that deserve to be removed for others to evade previous supercilious roadblocks.

Originally from Somalia's environmentally most hospitable city and region, from the most educated family, secularly and religiously, he's been the closest to me among Somali men without an iota of doubt, and that he's my brother.

The Mongols

 The majority of Mongol men were voluptuary, multitudinous, vulturous and ravaging force comprising of a composition of a confederation of five wild tribes and other various amalgamation of communities drawn from willing or unwilling forcefully captured slaves. They captivated historians because they applied sophisticated militaristic strategies that have never been seen or recorded in the past. Born to warfare, the courageous nomadic men and women from the steppes, left a historical legacy to be admired. The steppes must not be mistaken to equal deserts that are known to be dry and devoid of vegetation. The steppes could have various vital plant species that are profitable to domesticated and wild animals. It is a remarkable and expansive natural habitat that covers several countries.

Regardless of humanity admiring ancient Greek, Persian, and Roman history and philosophy, the emergence of the Mongols changed the mindsets of contemporary historians, simply, because of their thunderous and devastating movements that became a common discussable trend that continues to this day. Moving with tremendous speed never experienced before in warfare applications, the Mongols seemed miniature like in appearance since they were smaller and shorter, but superhumans to their opponents.

The Steppe, a grassland belt,  extends from Hungary in the west through Ukraine and Central Asia to Manchuria in the east, and covers an area spanning 5,000 miles or 8,000 km.

The current construction of a wall to restrain reindeers crossing into Russia by Norway's government is a clear indication that the steppes covers parts of Russia.

What is War?

 In simple language, according to Miriam Webster Dictionary–a dictionary that was established in 1828, war is defined as “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations.”[1] The penumbration (from penumbra) of ancient wars has been common among historians. One example is the battle between the Athenians and the Spartans and it was Thucydides who was the first to narrate the nature of that war.[2]

Thucydides on Strategy of war is mainly on the Peloponnesian War. Regarded as the father of realism, Thucydides was a historian and among the elites of Athens.[3] Another devastating war was fought between Alexander the Great III and the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela when Darius ruled the Achaemenid Empire.[4] Born in 356 BC, the tutor of Alexander was Aristotle while his father Philip II of Macedon who made the Macedonian army the strongest force of that era taught him everything related to war strategies. Prior to the rise of the Macedonians, the Greek states of Athens, Sparta and Thebes had a strong stranglehold on the Mediterranean Sea. However, after the assassination of Philip II of Macedon, the rise of Alexander the Great III turned the tables upside down.

In the war between the Macedonians and the Persians, there is something worth narrating since the two strategies of the two armies who were in great opposition could reveal why the Macedonians defeated the mighty Persians.

Despite the two armies fought face-to-face, the Macedonians applied a unique tactic that almost decimated the Persians. While the Persians fought in standing positions shooting arrows, shields and javelins, the Macedonians stood on their knees such that all their shields were joined together and from a distance, they resembled one massive shield. When the Persians shot at the Macedonians, their weapons fell on the Macedonian shields and surprisingly, no Macedonian soldier got hurt or killed. In retaliation, the Macedonians shot back and many Persians perished at the battlefield. Alexander was known for riding his famous horse Bucephalus that was named after a city called Bucephala. Finally, the Persians were defeated. This strategy was another narration to the professor I previously mentioned.

Even diseases have modern war strategies and they include Chemotherapy and oncolytic virotherapy.[5] But military war strategies are quite different for diseases spread by alien cells and human altercations are incomparable in concept. There are offensive wars that are meant to recover missing, stolen, or abrogated rights. In modern political history, wars may be defensive or offensive.

Thucydides recollection of the Peloponnesian War disclosed frightful state of the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1947. International politics is a world imperial system[6] where governments control those it has contact with. One example is the formidable Western Roman Empire. In the sixteenth century, Spain tried to imitate the Roman supremacy while France followed in the seventeenth century though both failed miserably in their attempts to galvanize imperial domination of other countries.[7] Modern historians are of the opinion that empires usually last 240 years with the last one being the British Empire. In the nineteenth century, the British Empire tried its best for global supremacy and it materialized by sharing its global dominions with other stronger states to avoid loss of control of its grabbed expansive landmasses including oceans and seas and lakes and rivers. That’s why the British Empire had the largest global landmass and waters during its era. While Britain was a global empire, ancient world empires like the Roman, Sumerian, Persian and Chinese were in fact, regional empires and despite their fallacies and wrong thoughts that they ruled the entire world, they remained out of harm’s way in conflict with other empires of equal measure mainly due to lack of communication.

Some powers remained in wars of invasions for long periods while others fought to recover territories. Besides wars on invasions, there were wars of interventions. While peaceful coexistence is the best way to cherish harmonious relationships among people of differing political ideas, again, beginning from the era when Cain killed his younger brother Abel over jealousy and other impervious to reason psychological defects, at times, war is a necessity. Standing up for the rights for the rights of the defenseless is a major human obligation. In modern times, we have seen the rise of frightful or peaceful demonstrations and movements such as the civil rights and human rights movements have become a force to reckon with. Coups and guerilla movements have been common in many African countries and South America in contemporary history. The most recent coups happened in the nations of Niger and Gabon in Africa–though peaceful but foreign orchestrated. Citing “deteriorating security situation and bad governance”, Niger soldiers took over the presidential palace in July 2023 and then detained President Mohamed Bazoum.[8] Before Niger, the West African nation of Burkina Faso experienced the same fate. Blaming  President Roch Kabore for failing to contain the growing Islamic militants, the military ousted him in January 2022. In Mali, in August 2020, aggrieved colonels who were led by Colonel Assimi Goita, overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The following year in April 2021, while visiting troops who were in the battlefield fighting rebels, President Idriss Deby got killed and his son General Mahamat Idriss Deby, a polygamous man with three wives, was given an 18-month transition by the soldiers who were behind his father’s killing. To date, he remains the President of Chad.

There’s military theory that defines and informs how war and warfare are conducted.[9] In modern military history, it is a requirement for military officers to have a glimpse of military science. To better understand how warfare is conducted, the theory mainly deals with normative and explanatory analyses, where normative concentrates on behavioral phenomena while explanatory deals with the casual aspects of war. Despite military theory being multi-disciplinary, it deals with three questions:

1.      What are the natural causes of war?

2.      What are the characteristics of war?

3.      How is military power or warfare applied to attain victory?[10]

In summarizing war tactics, the major factors that make it a reality constitute the following:

1.      Effective Statesmanship–The total application of dynamic military and state leadership as it relates to war. It is of vital importance for the leader of the state to be aware of the military leader’s war applications before embarking on the defensive or invasion. On the other hand, top military leaders must discuss and listen to the officers fighting on the ground, in the air or in major and minor waters.

2.      Strategy–implies properly organizing and directing select groups to the theater of war either for the sake of defense or invasion. Having war hardened and able-bodied men and women who can strive to survive longer periods in the battlefields is a requirement. Depending on the type and kind of war being fought, the military usually applies either a platoon, company or a division. A platoon could be headed by a sergeant or senior sergeant while a company could be headed by a captain, a battalion could be headed by colonels, a brigadier is head of a brigade, while the military officer in charge of a division could be the rank of a major general who is assisted by two brigadiers. Usually, as for divisions, even though it applies to developed countries with large militaries, a division could either be airborne, armored, infantry and mountain divisions. In a nutshell, a military strategy has been conclusively divided into 5 categories: extermination, exhaustion, annihilation, intimidation, and subversion.

3.      Grand tactics–is an exclusive modern military tactic or strategy each opposing party applies to emerge victorious. Some of the military tactics applied to this day are almost 17 in number, even though they could exceed according to differing military sources: 1. infiltration tactics, 2. Flanking maneuver, 3. Peaceful penetration, 4. Guerilla warfare, 5. Marching fire 6. Rapid deployment, 7. Ambush, 8. Skirmisher, 9. Frontal assault, 10. Penetration or infiltration, 11. Envelopment, 12. Basic drill, 13. Encirclement 14. Raid, 15. Hammer and Anvil, 16. Individual movement techniques, 17. Bull horn formation.

4.      Logistics–it is the art of moving modern military and their heavy machineries that could be a composition of transport planes and faster than sound jet fighters, Aircraft Carriers (A/C) and other warships such as auxiliaries, battleships, destroyers, and frigates for long distance travels. Other heavy carriers such as heavy trucks deliver soldiers to specific locations before getting instructions from their commanding officer. The heavy trucks could be loaded with armaments such as machine guns, modern automatic rifles, shoulder- held grenades

5.      Engineering–that is the attacking of defensive fortifications. This fighting criteria requires sophisticated application of the necessary war implements that could be used to cause total devastation since a fortification is like a military barrack that is heavily guarded. Scorched earth bombing is a modern warfare that is also known as saturation bombing or carpet bombing. Destroying forts or all types of military structures such as bridges, roads, farms, reconnaissance and satellite radars, lighthouses used by ships, ports or harbors plus the jetties and their anchored ships, mooring buoys, and oil refineries together with every type of communication installations that sustains the enemy, is part of the scorched earth bombings. Ancient Romans also used the scorched earth tactic against their enemies to cut off water supplies and farming produces.

6.      Minor tactics–it is the art of fighting individuals or small units and was coined in 1780 by a French military author whose name was Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte de Guibert.

Even though they fought barbaric enemies around their borders, regional empires of that era were incomparable to modern global empires who are known to have advanced communication and technological equipment or armaments. During the eras of regional powers, fighting in battlefields could have been headed by generals whose army were warriors and not soldiers in contemporary times. Knight warriors fought while on horses and their main weapons were bronze spears and bows and arrows. In modern times, soldiers are now known as modern standing army that are equipped with advanced military equipment that are no match for the warriors of past regional powers. Modern armies are known for precision and guidance when dealing with the enemy. While the major means of transportation for the past regional powers’ armies were horses, modern armies have various types of transportation that can deliver them to the battlefields within short times. They include heavy transport military planes that can carry all the required logistics that combine the soldiers themselves and military hardware such as helicopters and jet fighters, armored personnel carriers and tanks, Undoubtedly, the first person to use copper was Prophet Suleiman as stated by Chapter 34 that is Sabba, verse 12 below:

وَلِسُلَیۡمَـٰنَ ٱلرِّیحَ غُدُوُّهَا شَهۡرࣱ وَرَوَاحُهَا شَهۡرࣱۖ وَأَسَلۡنَا لَهُۥ عَیۡنَ ٱلۡقِطۡرِۖ وَمِنَ ٱلۡجِنِّ مَن یَعۡمَلُ بَیۡنَ یَدَیۡهِ بِإِذۡنِ رَبِّهِۦۖ وَمَن یَزِغۡ مِنۡهُمۡ عَنۡ أَمۡرِنَا نُذِقۡهُ مِنۡ عَذَابِ ٱلسَّعِیرِ ۝١

And to Solomon [We subjected] the wind–its morning [journey was that of] a month - and its afternoon [journey was that of] a month, and We made flow for him a spring of [liquid] copper. And among the jinn were those who worked for him by the permission of his Lord. And whoever deviated among them from Our command–We will make him taste of the punishment of the Blaze (Translation, Umm Muhammad, Saheeh International.) Some translators of the Qur’an mention brass instead of copper.

The 2005 archeological discovery of Khirbat en-Nahas that is Arabic and translates to “ruins of copper” found in Faynan District in Jordan, is a testament to Suleiman’s ownership of copper mines as stated by the above verse from the Qur’an. The new discovery contravenes previous claims by archeologist Nelson Glueck whose guesswork surveys in the 1930s asserted that he discovered the ruins of Faynan/Edom. It was in the 1980s when a consensus agreed that the Bible was edited in the 5^th century BCE.[11] It is now evident that seeking knowledge is not only exclusive to traveling through the earth but searching for past generations through archeological research. Archeologists convincingly point to the existence of the discovered copper mines to around 9-10 centuries BCE. Since not everyone is able to travel through the earth due to financial restraints, disabilities, and other factors, those with access to smartphones, computers, kindles and other modern gadgets that can access the internet have the chance to travel through the earth with ease.

World imperial system aside, the second form of imperial system was the feudal system or feudalism that evolved in Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire and it entailed political obligations to feudal lords. In the era of feudal Europe, intermarriage between different societies was a common factor. Even though there were feudal conflicts in the era of European feudalism, they were minor conflicts that could not be compared to modern territorial encounters for the aftermath of the repercussions were minor in context.

The third type of global conflict is the anarchic system of states. The absence of a stronger central government that would keep law and order and ensure states maintain peace and stability could be attributed to the presence of the anarchic system. A few examples of anarchism include the wars that transpired between the ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. Another form of anarchism among states epitomizes the fifteenth-century Italy of Machiavelli. Dynastic family rule at times created conflicts like those of China and India in the fifth century B.C.E. After the collapse of the Somali central government in the early 1990s, anarchy prevailed for decades after warlords took over the regional helms, at times creating what resembled anarchism and feudalism. The same applied to Lebanon in the 1970s.[12] Regarding the most recent New World Order, according to Thucydides and contemporary scholars, alacritous power transfers are the major causes of unanticipated preponderance influence and great power conflict.[13]

With fascism coming to fore in 1909–a form of brutal leadership that was coined by Benito Mussolini of Italy, it gained momentum during World War II, especially among some European countries. A formal style of self-emulation, self-aggrandizement and a form of superiority complex that elevated a select race over others, fascism was preceded by Italian trade unions that flourished between 1904 and 1914. While much has been written about fascism, in essence, it dominated Italy’s politics for only six years.[14]

Some Muslim commentators of the Qur’an assume Alexander the Great was Dhul al-Qarnayn mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, ayahs 83-101. Likewise, some are of the opinion that he was Cyrus the Great. However, Dhul Al-Qarnayn was a believer who built an iron wall that still remains undiscovered to date. As for Alexander the Great, his remains that have been preserved in a sarcophagus that resemble those of Ancient Egyptians, is at the Museum of Istanbul Archeology in Turkey. Taking over power in 326 B.C. at age 20 after the assassination of his father Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great created the largest empire that stretched from Greece to northwestern India.[15]

After his death, his expansive empire was divided in to four regions. His four generals were Ptolemy, Cassander, Antigonus, and Seleucus. Perhaps, the most famous of the four were Ptolemy who took over Egypt and Seleucus who was famous for the Seleucid Empire. The most significant strategy applied by Alexander the Great was the mythological Greek concept of “Homonoia” which implied unity and since his teacher was Aristotle, one major ideology he instilled in the young Alexander was “treat Greeks as friends but non-Greeks as animals.”[16] With Homonoia being the Greek goddess of order and unity, treating non-Greeks as animals is in reference to the Barbarians. Before the death of Alexander, in Babylon that was the capital of Mesopotamia–death that is attributed to either malaria or typhoid in 323 B.C., he had already defeated Darius III of Persia (320-323 BC).[17] Knowing that he would be a victim of retribution for instilling knowledge that contravened the philosophical thoughts of the other societies that were mistreated by the Macedonians and Greeks, Aristotle had no other option but to abandon the collapsing Alexandrian empire and flee to Greece.

The destruction caused by the Mongols cannot be compared even to the man known as Dajjal–a disbeliever mentioned in the Qur’an who will appear at the end of time, because Dajjal will not harm his followers, however, as for the Mongols, they did not even spare those who submitted to them. It was the era of the Islamic Caliphate of Abbasid when the Mongols started their onslaught. By then, the Abbasids composed of fragments of Muslim cantons because, by that time, a formidable expansive empire known as the Khwarizmi ruled all over the current nations that end with ‘stan’ such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkistan, Pakistan, plus Iran and others.[18] In the past, the Tatars and Mongols were two different clans that were at war with each other. The merciless Genghis Khan once received 70 delegates but instead of hosting them, ordered his aides to cook them alive in massive water boilers. The remorseless Genghis Khan once murdered his half-brother Bekhter over hunting spoils. His mom taught Genghis Khan many tactics related to survival in the harsh climatical landscape and how to make alliances with others.

In Russia, almost a decade ago, Imperial, Soviet and post-Soviet historiography depicted Islam as one-sided and chauvinistic because of the Orthodox Church’s attempts to elevate its doctrines as superior to Islam, however, that ideology has been misleading and the tides are now turning towards Islamic morals and values that are being considered far more outstanding. In modern history, it seems Russia is more inclined to elevating Islamic history in schools due to the schisms it has with the Western Powers over Ukraine.

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[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war. Retrieved September 6, 2022.

[2] The Landmark Thucydides, ed. Robert B. Strassler (NY: Touchstone, 1996) 3.

[3] Nye & Welch. (2011). Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation: An Introduction to Theory and History. Longman, ISBN-13: 978-0-205-77874-4.

[4] Roos, D. (September 9, 2019).  How Alexander the Great Conquered the Persian Empire.  https://www.history.com/news/alexander-the-great-defeat-persian-empire. Retrieved June 4, 2022. the Persian superpower.

[5] Nguyen, A., Ho, L., & Wan, Y. (2014). Chemotherapy and oncolytic virotherapy: advanced tactics in the war against cancer. Frontiers in oncology, 4, 145.

[6] Ibid, Nye & Welch, P. 2

[7] Ibid, Nye & Welch, P. 3

[8] Compiled by Hereward Holland. Reuters (August 30, 2023). Recent coups in West and Central Africa. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/recent-coups-west-central-africa-2023-08-30/

[9] Angstrom, Jan and, Widen, J.J. (2015). Contemporary Military Theory: The Dynamics of War. New York: Routledge. pp. 4–9. ISBN 9780203080726.

[10] Lider, Julian (1980). "Introduction to Military Theory". Cooperation and Conflict. XV: 151–168 – via JSTOR.

[11] King Solomon's Copper Mines? Source: the University of California–San Diego. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081027174545.html

[12] Ibid, Nye & Welch, P. 3

[13] Ibid, Nye & Welch, P. 317

[14] Rocco, A. (1926). The political doctrine of fascism. Int'l Conciliation, 11, 393.

[15] Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila S. (2009) The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture: Mosul to Zirid, Volume 3. (Oxford University Press Incorporated, 2009), 385; "[Khojand, Tajikistan]; As the easternmost outpost of the empire of Alexander the Great, the city was renamed Alexandria Eschate ("furthest Alexandria") in 329 BCE."

[16] Mauriac, Henry M. de (January 1949). "Alexander the Great and the Politics of "Homonoia"". Journal of the History of Ideas. University of Pennsylvania Press. 10 (1): 104–114. doi:10.2307/2707202.

[17] Burger, Michael (2008). The Shaping of Western Civilization: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment. University of Toronto Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-55111-432-3.

[18] Sheekh Mustafe Xaaji Ismaaciil (September 7, 2021). Taariikhdii Tartaarka oo Dhammesytiran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JagrWUhVi_U. Retrieved August 9, 2022.