--- title: "The Theology of Warfare" event: "The Lantern of the Path" session_number: 57 published_at: "2026-02-18" canonical_url: "https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-theology-of-warfare" event_url: "https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-lantern-of-the-path" type: "event-session" scripture_reference: "Sahifa Sajjadiyyah, Prayer 27: His Supplication for the People of the Frontiers, Verse 3" --- # The Theology of Warfare *Session 57 of [The Lantern of the Path](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-lantern-of-the-path) — 18 February 2026* Mahdawiyyah, Part 13 · The Shield, Part 3 Soldiers were dying under chemical attack, the means to answer in kind were available, and the order that came back was a single word: forbidden. This session asks why the Islamic Republic has never pursued weapons of mass destruction despite decades of sanctions and threats, and finds the answer is not political calculation but jurisprudence. The Qur'an states the purpose of military preparation as deterrence — striking awe into an enemy so that he abandons aggression before it starts — not killing for its own sake. Centuries before nuclear weapons existed, Shaykh al-Tusi and Shaheed al-Awwal had already ruled that poisoning an enemy's land is forbidden absolutely, a prohibition so firm that not even necessity overrides it, because poison cannot distinguish combatant from civilian and does not stop killing once the battle ends. The Prophet's own instructions to his commanders forbade killing the elderly, women and children, burning trees, or poisoning wells — limits that a single nuclear weapon breaks all at once. The session also draws a line the tradition insists on even in a war that is genuinely just: the population on the other side keeps its sanctity. And when chemical attacks were killing Iranian troops with the capability to retaliate sitting in Iranian hands, Imam Khomeini refused, asking what would then remain of the difference between the two sides. If deterrence, not destruction, is the entire point of preparing for war, what happens to a weapon that can only destroy? What the evening covers Deter, not kill. The Qur'anic purpose of military strength, and why a weapon built only to annihilate falls outside it. A thousand-year-old ruling on poison. What the classical jurists forbade, and why they refused to let even necessity override it. The Prophet's rules of engagement. The specific limits placed on seventh-century warfare — and what they rule out today. A principle tested in fire. Imam Khomeini's wartime refusal to answer chemical attacks with chemical weapons. ## Scripture > اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِهِ، وَكَثِّرْ عِدَّتَهُمْ، وَاشْحَذْ أَسْلِحَتَهُمْ، وَاحْرُسْ حَوْزَتَهُمْ، وَامْنَعْ حَوْمَتَهُمْ، وَأَلِّفْ جَمْعَهُمْ، وَدَبِّرْ أَمْرَهُمْ، وَوَاتِرْ بَيْنَ مِيَرِهِمْ، وَتَوَحَّدْ بِكِفَايَةِ مُؤَنِهِمْ، وَاعْضُدْهُمْ بِالنَّصْرِ، وَأَعِنْهُمْ بِالصَّبْرِ، وَالْطُفْ لَهُمْ فِي الْمَكْرِ > > O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, increase their number, hone their weapons, guard their territory, defend their midst, unite their throng, arrange their affair, send them supplies in a steady string, undertake Yourself to suffice them with provisions, support them with victory, help them with patience, and give them subtlety in guile! — *Sahifa Sajjadiyyah, Prayer 27: His Supplication for the People of the Frontiers, Verse 3* ## Programme - [Watch the full session](https://youtu.be/xnpqnfVXvms) - [Sermon: The Theology of Warfare](https://youtu.be/xnpqnfVXvms) - [Nohe: Baba Ali](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeAIWvBFUDc) - [Ziyarah: Ziyarat Aal-e-Yasin](https://youtu.be/uSJNHMq3oYs?si=PKBRrMLLZOtXX_Hq) ## Other sessions in this event - [Session 69 — Shaykh al-Ta'ifa](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/shaykh-al-taifa) — 12 August 2026 - [Session 26 — Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba: A Life of Strategic Sacrifice](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/imam-hasan-al-mujtaba-a-life-of-strategic-sacrifice) — 20 May 2026 - [Session 68 — The World That Surrounded Them](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-world-that-surrounded-them) — 13 May 2026 - [Session 67 — Sayyed al-Murtada and the Twenty-Three Years](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/sayyed-al-murtada-and-the-twenty-three-years) — 6 May 2026 - [Session 66 — The Pen and the Sword of the Intellect](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-pen-and-the-sword-of-the-intellect) — 29 April 2026 - [Session 65 — Two Sons, One Mother, One Teacher](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/two-sons-one-mother-one-teacher) — 22 April 2026 - [Session 64 — The Beneficial One: Shaykh al-Mufid](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-beneficial-one-shaykh-al-mufid) — 15 April 2026 - [Session 63 — When the Light Was Hidden: The Preservers](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/when-the-light-was-hidden-the-preservers) — 8 April 2026 - [Session 62 — The University of al-Sadiq: Four Thousand Students and a Living Imam](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-university-of-al-sadiq-four-thousand-students-and-a-living-imam) — 1 April 2026 - [Session 61 — Building Before the Builder Returns](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/building-before-the-builder-returns) — 25 March 2026 - [Session 60 — The Antidote Applied](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-antidote-applied) — 18 March 2026 - [Session 59 — The Poison Identified](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-poison-identified) — 11 March 2026 --- _Read this session on the web: https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-theology-of-warfare_