Faith, strategy and tactics, and the circulation of sovereignty (Lessons from the story of Saul and Goliath V)

Standing up to the enemy in all one's recklessness, without any calculation, tactic or strategy…

Taking on undertakings far larger than one's stature and beyond one's strength, relying solely on the power of one's faith, either because one does not know tactics and strategy, or because one cannot face the intelligence or effort they demand, or because one lacks the patience and endurance to see this path through to the end…

If it does not sound too orientalist, this is something regarded as peculiar to Easterners, and for several centuries it has been, perhaps, one of the most important causes of all defeats.

According to the accounts, Talut set out with an army of at least 80 thousand men, and after severe trials he faced a vast army of Calut with the 310-odd men who remained with him. What this should teach us, of course, is not to enter asymmetric struggles heedlessly, trusting in faith alone.

What was lacking, in terms of faith, in the people who were defeated at Uhud? At Badr, a small community prevailed over a community several times larger in number, through the power of their faith, but also through the sound tactics they applied. Yet whatever tactics one has, if one inflates the other side in one's own eyes with regard to numerical superiority, one has belittled oneself as well and has taken the first step toward defeat.

At both Badr and Uhud, the Muslims won the first round of the battle in the eyes of the enemy. The enemy, several times their own number, had been shown to them as small. It was just as when Talut and his soldiers, having gone out against Calut in a disproportion that by objective measures made it impossible, showed a reaction close to theirs at first.

When (Talut and his soldiers) came face to face with Calut and his soldiers, they said: "Our Lord! Pour out upon us patience, make our steps firm, and help us against this disbelieving people." (Baqara, 250).

This prayer, this outlook, this trust in God was the first and most fundamental condition of their victories. They secured it, but they were not content with that; they took their precautions. By God's permission, they believed they could defeat the enemy however few they were. For this they knew that a tactic suited to the situation surely existed and that they had to find it, and they searched for it. They studied the enemy, and Talut saw that the greatest weakness of the enemy soldiers was their excessive attachment to Calut. He saw that if they brought Calut down, the enemy army would crack (be routed), and he worked toward that. Rather than confronting this army in a direct struggle, this was a far more reasonable way. He looked within his army for the talent that could directly target Calut, the commander of the enemy army, and bring him down. He promised to leave his own realm and his daughter as a reward to the talent who could do this.

That talent was David. David's ability to strike with a sling, with great force and dead center on the target, was well known. At the very beginning of the battle, before Talut and his soldiers had suffered any serious loss, David killed Calut, who was as huge as could be and covered in armor all over, by striking him at the one exposed spot, right in the middle of his forehead. Calut's fall caused a crack in his army, and this crack led to a dispersal (the etymological meaning of the word "rout - fehezemûhum", which describes the situation, allows us to depict it in exactly this way).

"So they routed them by God's permission; David slew Calut, and God gave David kingship and wisdom and taught him of what He willed." (Baqara: 251).

It appears that as a result of this deed, David received the realm that Talut had promised him, but does he receive it immediately, or does he become Talut's successor, or serve for a while beforehand as crown prince? This is not very clear, and in any case it is not very important. What matters is the way by which David was raised to this leadership, David who would later leave it to Solomon, one of the rare examples of just and powerful world leadership the world would see, and who would extend and sustain this leadership still further.

Real leadership comes after a success that people will approve and receive with appreciation and gratitude. Moreover, it comes after he struck down with a sling stone Calut, who had repeatedly reinforced his title of invincibility even against the most powerful armies of that day, and who was ravaging the world with his oppression and his rule.

There are miracles even in the most ordinary thing, we grant that, but in this event there is no miracle beyond that ordinariness in the sense we know. Everything took place within the circle of precaution. However strong and however well protected Calut was, he had a weak side, and David found that side and struck him from there.

Today, however, those who attribute themselves to David have taken on the role of Calut, clad in armor like Calut's with the strongest defense systems ever, and are again oppressing the downtrodden. They oppress not only the Palestinians but the whole world through the global hegemony they have built or lean upon. This time the sling stone that David carried is in the hands of Palestinian children, and for years these slings have left the state of Israel helpless despite its enormous armed might.

Just as in the real great lesson given at the end of this very story:

"Thus, had God not repelled people by means of one another, the earth would have been corrupted and spoiled. But God is bountiful to the worlds." (Baqara, 251).

This is a historical dialectical principle. The movements that pursue right and justice in one era can turn societies into the oppressors of the next era, and hence into their inevitable losers. For the movements that come to power generally freeze and reify (reification) the virtues of the struggle they waged in their early periods; they turn even the virtues and symbolism of their struggle into a possession for themselves and convert them into a weapon against the oppressed produced by their own power. Thus the corruption of societies becomes inevitable.

Ibn Khaldun says that this period can of course be prolonged by just and rightly guided rulers who keep themselves in check and take as their model the prophet's humility, compassion and selflessness toward others.

Otherwise God brings others in place of the people who fall into this state. At the very moment when the centers that think themselves very powerful feel strongest, this time He gives the sling into the hands of Palestinian children against the descendants of David, repels them, and intervenes with His grace against the still greater corruption of the earth.

Let us keep our faith, but let us not let go of our precaution (our strategy and tactics) either.