Jihadi Book Club: Thirty-Six Stratagems

Firdaws forum member Sawt al-Firdaws (“Voice of Paradise”) has posted a series of audio commentaries on the Chinese book Thirty-Six Stratagems (or as he calls it, “Thirty-Six Chinese Strategies”). Sawt writes:

Strategy is considered one of the important military arts. It is the art of organizing armies, coordinating forces, and devising military plans in a comprehensive battle. As for tactics, it is the art of devising war plans, methods, and organization as a part of a comprehensive strategy.

More than a thousand years ago, the Chinese developed and formulated many of the strategies that are still used today. This is because they did not connect them to specific techniques, but rather to martial principles that are appropriate in every age. The strategies are beneficial for understanding reality and analyzing it; thus, they are used in wars, spying, politics, economics, and so forth. Even better, they are beneficial for understanding the strategies that the West studies and uses to fight. A major portion of these strategies fit the words of the poet:

“I know no evil that is not preventable./One who does not know good from evil will commit evil.”

Your brothers on the Firdaws Jihadi forums are pleased to present to you:

A series of audio lessons in explanation of the thirty-six Chinese strategies, along with operational examples from the land of reality, historical studies, lessons, and beneficial examples. The series is divided into six sections: 1) attack, 2) defense, 3) confrontation, 4) misinformation and distortion, 5) deception, and 6) fleeing. These sections focus on phrases that combine ideas and make them easier to understand, such as:

• “Hide your dagger behind a wide smile.” (Example: Rejectionists [Shia] and their dissimulation among other Muslims.)
• “Sacrifice silver to win the gold.” (Example: martyrdom operations.)
• “To seize the enemy, you first have to release him.”
• “Replace the pillars of a roof with rotten wood.” (deception)

Document (Arabic): 4-26-2008-firdaws-commentary-on-thirty-six-stratagems