Nahj al-Balagha


The Nahj al-Balagha is the most famous collection of sermons, letters, tafsirs and narrations attributed to Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. It was collected by Ash-Sharif Ar-Radhi,
a Shia scholar in the 10th century AD Known for its eloquent content, it is considered a masterpiece of literature in Shia Islam.

Content

Nahj al-Balagha is a collection of 241 sermons, 79 letters, and 489 utterances. As per each new publishing versus past volumes, the number of sermons, letters, and utterances has varied from 238 to 241, 77 to 79, and 463 to 489, respectively.
The book contains the ideology of Ali ibn Abi Talib to establish an Islamic government. Also, he nominated to the balance between rights and duties by a deep discussion and believed that "greater responsibilities result in greater rights". Equitable treatment with women in society has been discussed in Nahj al-Balagha.
Since the book is a literary work meant to demonstrate Ali ibn Abi Talib's eloquence, it does not gather all of Ali's sermons. Instead, only segments deemed to possess greater literary value are included. An alternative sourcing of the book's content by Muhammad Baqir al-Mahmudi represents all of Ali's extant speeches, sermons, decrees, epistles, prayers, and sayings that are found in Nahj al-Balagha. Thus, except for some aphorisms, the original source of all the content of Nahj al-Balaghah has been determined.

Authenticity

Nahj al-Balagha was compiled by tenth-century scholar Sharif Razi, over 300 years after Ali. In regards to the documents of Nahj al-Balagha, there are attempts/evidences which have been provided by a group of scholars and researchers as documents for it. Among the books which cite its documents, are:
According to Encyclopedia of Imam Ali, considering that Nahj al-Balagha is the selected of Ali's words and likewise the sources of this book have been famous/current, hence he has not felt the necessity of mentioning its sources. Until then the sermons had been transmitted orally, between the generations and the wording was therefore open to change and misinterpretation. There is no chain of narration. The last few pages were left empty, Sharif Razi says in case he came across new Sermons; highlighting that Sharif Razi wrote down anything he came across. Sharif Razi did not follow the same level of scrutiny as followed by Hadith collectors therefore Nahj al-Balagha was not regarded as Sahih to the level of the Hadiths collections.
Several scholars have sought to trace back the sources of different utterances and letters collected in Nahj al-Balaghah to the works compiled centuries before the birth of Sharif Razi. The most painstaking research in this context was done by an Indian Sunni scholar Imtiyaz Ali Arshi, who died in 1981. He succeeded in tracing back the early sources of 106 sermons, 37 letters and 79 dispersed sayings of Ali ibn Abi Talib in his book Istinad-e Nahj al-balaghah, originally written in Urdu, subsequently translated into Arabic in 1957, then into English and Persian. Besides this work, some others deserve special mention such as Abd al-Zahra al-Husayni al-Khatib's Masadir Nahj al-balaghah, Hibat al-Din al-Hussaini al-Shahristani's Ma huwa Nahj al-balaghah, Sayyid Ali al-Naqawi al-Nasirabadi's introduction to the Urdu translation of Nahj al-balaghah by Mufti Jafar Husayn, and al-Mujam al-mufahras li alfaz Nahj al-balaghah, a joint work of al-Sayyid Kazim al-Muhammadi and al-Shaykh Muhammad Dashti. Sayyid Mohammad Askari Jafery and Sayyid Ali Reza also dealt with the issue of basic sources of Nahj al-balaghah in their prefaces to their separate translations of the book into English.

Shia

The collection is regarded by the Shia as authentic.

Sunni

There can be found diverse views from Sunni perspective regarding the authenticity of Nahj al-Balagha. The mutazilite Sunni commentator of Nahj al-Balaghah, Ibn Abi al-Hahdid who is considered as a prominent scholar among Sunni Muslims, records in "My Teacher al-Wasiti", that he had the below dialogue with Ibn Khashab :
"When I asked him if the above sermon had been fabricated he replied, 'No, by Allah I know that it is from Imam Ali as clearly as I see you before me now'". Ibn Abi al-Hadid then said that many people claim that sermon to be Sharif al-Radhi’s. He answered by saying that neither Sharif al-Radhi nor anyone else was capable of producing such an eloquent sermon. He continued by saying, "We have studied Sharif al-Radhi’s writings and are familiar with his style. There is no similarity between the two works." He also said: "By Allah, I found this sermon in books written two hundred years before Sharif al-Radhi was born".
Moreover, Ibn Abi al-Hadid, in confirmation of Nahj al-balagha's documents also mentions in the book of "Sharh Nahj al-Balagha" that it is a wrong word which is claimed by someones who assume that the major sermons of Nahj al-Balagha are not Ali's words, whereas this is actually Ali's speeches; and he presents his arguments to prove that. Besides, Sheikh Muhammad Abdah confirms that Nahj al-Balagha is the words of Ali.
On the other hand, as with the majority of posthumous works of Shia theology that emerged centuries after the life of Prophet Muhammad, Sunni scholars do not regard the Nahj al-Balagha as authentic. According to one Shi‘i source, the first person to raise doubts about its attribution to Ali was Ibn Khallikan, a Sunni scholar. Izz al-Din ibn Hibatullah ibn Abi l-Hadid's commentary and collection, Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, is widely disseminated.
Muhammed Abduh, Mufti of Egypt, published a commentary on the book in Egypt.
Nahjul Balagha Sunni Commentators:
  1. Imam Ahmed Ibne Mohammed-ul-Wayree
  2. Abul Hassan Ali-ibne-Abul Qasim-ul-Ba'ehaquee His commentary is quoted by Moajum-ul-Adibba of Yaqooth-e¬Hamveenee- Vol. 13, page 225, printed in Egypt.
  3. Fakhruddin Razi His commentary is quoted by:
Akhbar-ul-Hukama of Ibn-ul-Quftee page 192 printed in Egypt.
Oyoonul-Ambia of Ibn-e-Abi-Sabee'a page 25, printed in Egypt.
  1. Abdul Hameed Hibathullah Mohammed-ibne-Mohammed ibne-Abil Hadeed-Moathazalee,. His commentary is a world-famous classic covering 17 volumes, printed half-a-dozen times in Cairo, Beirut, Tehran and Isfahan.
  2. Shaikh Kamal-ul-din Abdul Rehman Shaybenee
  3. Sad-ud-din Taftazani
  4. Quazi of Baghdad Shaikh Quewaam-ud-din.
  5. Muhammad Abduh His commentary has been printed very often and forms a part of the university course in Cairo and Beirut.
  6. Ostad Mohammed Hassan-ul-Nayer-ul-Mursafee of Egypt. His commentary is printed in Dar-ul-Kutub Press Cairo.
  7. Ostad Mohammed Mohiuddin Abdul Hameed, Professor of Lexicology of Alazhur University. His book was printed at Isthequamuth-e-Misr Press, Cairo.
  8. Ostad Shaikh Abdullah Allayelli-al-Bairoonee of Cairo.
3rd CENTURY: During the third century five famous men took up this work.
  1. Abu Oosman Omero-ibn-Bahr-ul-Jahiz, who died in 255 A.14., quoted many sermons in his book Al-bayan-wo-Tabyan.
  2. Ibne-Quateeba-e-Daynoori, who died in 276 A.H., in his books O' Yoon-ul-Akhbar and Ghareeb-ul-Hadees quoted many sermons and discussed meanings of many words and phrases purportedly used by Ali.
  3. Ibne Wazeh-e-Yaquoobee, who died in 278 A.H., cited many sermons and saying attributed to Ali.
  4. Abu Haneefa-e-Daynoori in his history Akhbar-e-Tawal quoted many sermons and sayings.
  5. Abul Abbas Almobard in his book Kitab-ul-Mobard collected many sermons and letters.

    Sermons

In total Nahj al Balagha has a collection of 245 sermons of Ali. The following is an incomplete list of summaries on each sermon in the collection.
Ali also describes four main types of people:
Then Ali mentions a fifth group of people:
"By Allah! The Lord will never grant victory to those whom you support ."
Nahj al Balagha also contains a collection of 79 letters, including letters to Muawiyah I. The following is a short summary to each letter, relevant quotes have been used out of the original letters.

Danish