Political Negotiation in Amir al-Mu'minin’s Seerah; Principles and Objectives

Political negotiation is a reasonable procedure to resolve disputes peacefully through verbal or written dialogue between the parties involved in a particular issue. Reviewing Amir al-Mu'minin’s seerah (biography) regarding his confrontation with his opponents indicates that he has considered political negotiations one of the most important ways to resolve disputes between parties. The difference between contemporary political and intellectual currents in the origin of negotiation subject, its limits and roots, is rooted in the perceptions of these currents from contexts and historical-narrative sources related to the political seerah of infallible Imams (AS). Among considerable negotiations in seerah of Imam Ali (AS) are negotiations from the beginning of his caliphate with Mu'awiyah and negotiations for the battle of Siffin and the story of Hakamiyat (arbitration). In this study, using a descriptive-analytical procedure, historical-narrative sources related to the political seerah of Amir al-Mu'minin (AS) have been examined, and by reviewing his political negotiations, his most essential principles of political negotiations, determined as three types, i.e. "psychological-conceptual", "conductive-behavioral" and "speech-expressive" ones.  Also, the most important goals of the Imam (AS) for conducting these negotiations identified as "declaring adherence to the principles on the right front", "clarifying the accusations", "preventing the war", "increasing the insight of the opposing allies" and "reaching an agreement on Hakamiyat's rules".