â®
دÙÙ ÙÙا٠اÙخاÙÙ ÙÙÙÙ ÙÙا٠اÙÙ Ø®ÙÙÙÙÙ â¬â
âBelow the words of the creator and above the words of his creaturesâ
The eminent Sunni commentator Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d (d. ca. 656/1258) endorsing a common line of praise for Ê¿AlÄ«âs words.1
Over fourteen centuries, across five continents, and among many faith denominations, scholars and laypeople alike have drawn on the deep wisdom stored in the eloquent words of Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib (d. 40/661).2 Cousin, son-in-law, and ward of the Prophet Muḥammad, Ê¿AlÄ« was the first male to accept Islam, the first ShiÊ¿i Imam, and the fourth Sunni Caliph. Revered as a sage and religious authority, he is also lauded as Islamâs master orator. Ê¿AlÄ«âs wordsâincluding first and foremost his dazzling orations, as well as his pithy sayings and magisterial lettersâspan a wide spectrum of preaching, philosophy, and government. They offer profound reflections on the majesty of the creator, fervent warnings on the transience of this world, and urgent exhortations to prepare for the imminent hereafter. They encompass pious sermons counseling virtue, earnest directives to cultivate the intellect, and reverent praise for the Prophet Muḥammad. They animate rousing battle and political speeches, passionately maintaining righteousness. They instruct in strict dispatches to tax-collectors, urging compassion. They inscribe erudite letters to governors, demanding justice. And they contain a host of timeless maxims offering religious, pragmatic, and character-building wisdom. All these themes and more are articulated in pulsating oral rhythms and vibrant desert-and-camel images within the pages of the present volume of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words, Nahj al-BalÄghah: The Wisdom and Eloquence of Ê¿AlÄ«, compiled by the eminent Twelver ShiÊ¿i Baghdadi scholar, al-SharÄ«f al-Raá¸Ä« (d. 406/1015).
Accolades for Ê¿AlÄ«âs words and wisdom would fill volumes,3 but suffice it to say that friend and foe alike have paid them homage: Ê¿AlÄ«âs follower á¸irÄr ibn á¸amrah (fl. 1st/7th c.), for example, declared that âwisdom spoke upon his tongue.â4 The chancery head of the intensely anti-Ê¿Alid Umayyads, Ê¿Abd al-ḤamÄ«d al-KÄtib (d. 132/750), who is venerated as the father of Arabic prose, credited his training in the art of eloquence to âmemorizing the orations of Ê¿AlÄ«.â5 The ultimate tribute is paid in the lines I have cited in the epigraph above, in which Ê¿AlÄ«âs words are extolled as being âbelow the words of the creator and above the words of his creatures.â
Nahj al-BalÄghah is the most celebrated compilation of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words, and one of the most influential texts of the Arabic Islamic literary heritage. Widely acclaimed as a masterpiece of Arabic literature and font of Islamic wisdom, it has been avidly cited, studied, commented on, and memorized across the Islamic world continually for more than a thousand years. In this volume, I present a critical Arabic edition based on the earliest extant manuscripts, dating from the 5th/11th through the 7th/13th centuries, three of which were checked against a manuscript authorized by Raá¸Ä« himself, side-by-side with my carefully researched English translation. For the translation, I took a long, deep dive into the text, along with a careful reading of its major commentaries and a collation of the history and literature of the early Islamic period; all the while, I paid close attention to the graphic imagery that underpins the Arabic phrases and the parallelism of their pithy cadences. My hope is to have produced an accurate edition and a lucid translation that captures some of the depth and brilliance of the original.
1 Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib (d. 40/661)
An appreciation of Ê¿AlÄ«âs renown is essential for understanding the resounding reception of his compiled words, just as his biography is essential to contextualizing their doctrinal and political content.6 Since Ê¿AlÄ«âs words collected in the present volume directly speak to events in his life, a sketch of the main episodes and actors of his time will help the reader situate their consequence, and a summary of his legacy will help explain their dissemination.
Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib ibn Ê¿Abd al-Muá¹á¹alib ibn HÄshim was born around 600â¯AD in Mecca, according to some reports, inside the Holy Kaaba, to the HÄshimite chieftain AbÅ« ṬÄlib and the HÄshimite noblewoman FÄá¹imah bint Asad. When he was just an infant, his older cousin Muḥammad, an orphan whom Ê¿AlÄ«âs parents had raised, asked for his charge, and Ê¿AlÄ« grew up in the care of the future Prophet of Islam. Ê¿AlÄ« was approximately ten years old when Muḥammad began his call to the new religion, and he immediately accepted Islam. He prayed for two years alone with Muḥammad and Muḥammadâs wife KhadÄ«jah before others joined the fold. Around twenty-three at the time of Muḥammadâs migration to Medina, Ê¿AlÄ« played a vital role in establishing Islam in its nascent stage. His valor in the battles of Badr, Uḥud, Khaybar, and Khandaq against the Meccans and their allies would become legendary, as would his sagacity and erudition. Both Sunni and ShiÊ¿i Muslims recount numerous hadiths from the Prophet praising Ê¿AlÄ«, among the most famous of which are the following: âI am the city of knowledge and Ê¿AlÄ« is its gatewayâ; âÊ¿AlÄ« is to me as Aaron was to Mosesâ; and âYou, Ê¿AlÄ«, are my brother in this world and the next.â7 Soon after Muḥammad settled in Medina, Ê¿AlÄ« married Muḥammadâs youngest daughter, FÄá¹imah al-ZahrÄʾ, and had four children with her: Ḥasan, Ḥusayn, Zaynab, and Umm KulthÅ«m. Muḥammadâs line continued solely through them, and the line through Ḥusayn would become an important locus for the ShiÊ¿i doctrine of the imamate. According to the ShiÊ¿a, Muḥammad appointed Ê¿AlÄ« as his successor on 18th DhÅ« al-Ḥijjah in the year 10/632, at the caravan stop of GhadÄ«r Khumm, enroute from Mecca to Medina after his last pilgrimage, uttering the famous line, âWhoever takes me as his master, Ê¿AlÄ« is his master.â8 The Sunnis also narrate this hadith, and they interpret the declaration as praise for Ê¿AlÄ«âs high station, rather than a designation of succession.
Muḥammad died a few months later, in 11/632, and Ê¿AlÄ« led the burial preparations. Though upholding his right to the succession, he ceded command to the first three Sunni caliphs, AbÅ« Bakr, Ê¿Umar, and Ê¿UthmÄn. For the next twenty-five years, which saw the consolidation of the Muslim polity in the Arabian Peninsula and its expansion into Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran, Ê¿AlÄ« retreated from direct involvement in governing. The history books recount that he spent those years collecting and collating the texts of the Qurʾan and teaching Ḥasan and Ḥusayn.
In 35/656 in Medina, a group of irate Muslims assassinated Ê¿UthmÄn, accusing him of nepotism; in the turbulent aftermath and after repeated solicitations, Ê¿AlÄ« accepted the caliphal pledge of allegiance from the Muslim community in Medina and across most of the Islamic empire. He ruled until 40/661, when he, too, was assassinated. Most of Ê¿AlÄ«âs recorded sermons, letters, and sayings are woven into the political and military fabric of those four difficult years. They articulate morality and conviction and champion justice and charity.
As caliph, Ê¿AlÄ« was forced to fight three groups of Muslims who rebelled against his strict ideas of equity and equality: the first two were armies brought against him by prominent individuals, who, in furtherance of their political ambitions, falsely accused him of complicity in Ê¿UthmÄnâs murder; the third were rebels from his own army.
Ê¿AlÄ« fought the first pitched battle of his caliphate just outside Basra, in Iraq, in 36/656, four months after he was proclaimed caliph. His challengers were the Prophetâs widow Ê¿Äʾishah and the Quraysh Emigrants Ṭalḥah and Zubayr. Famed as the Battle of the Camel, it was named for the animal Ê¿Äʾishah rode onto the battlefield, serving as a metaphor for its rider. The so-called âassociates of the Camelâ were recruited mostly among the Basrans, while Ê¿AlÄ« was supported by many from neighboring Kufa, a few groups from Basra, and several distinguished Emigrants and Allies, close Companions of the Prophet who had accompanied Ê¿AlÄ« from Medina. The battle ended swiftly in a clear victory for Ê¿AlÄ«. Ṭalḥah and Zubayr were killed, Ê¿Äʾishah was sent back to Medina, and their erstwhile supporters pledged allegiance to Ê¿AlÄ«.
Ê¿AlÄ« stayed on in Iraq, with Kufa becoming his de facto capital, pressed to deal with the other grave challenger on the horizon, the Umayyad governor of Damascus, MuÊ¿Äwiyah. MuÊ¿Äwiyah was Ê¿UthmÄnâs cousin, and son of one of Muḥammadâs chief enemies, AbÅ« SufyÄn, many of whose pagan family members Ê¿AlÄ« had slain on the battlefield; he refused to accept Ê¿AlÄ« as caliph. Ê¿AlÄ« sent his associate JarÄ«râearlier Ê¿UthmÄnâs governor in HamadhÄnâto Damascus to convince MuÊ¿Äwiyah to pledge allegiance. MuÊ¿Äwiyah responded with a call to arms. In 37/657, the two clashed at the Battle of á¹¢iffÄ«n, on the banks of the Euphrates at the border of Iraq and Syria. MuÊ¿Äwiyah was supported by his Umayyad clan and many tribesmen from Syria. His main advisor was Ê¿Amr ibn al-Ê¿Äá¹£, commander of the Muslim army that had conquered Egypt three decades earlier, recalled by Ê¿Umar on charges of corruption. Ê¿AlÄ«âs army consisted of several Companions of the Prophet from Medina, and many tribesmen from Iraq. Ê¿AlÄ« challenged MuÊ¿Äwiyah to a duel, but MuÊ¿Äwiyah, aware of Ê¿AlÄ«âs reputation as an intrepid warrior, refused. Battle commenced and continued for ten days. Ê¿AlÄ« himselfâthen around sixty years of ageâtook up the sword. Tens of thousands were killed. Then, as the tide slowly turned in Ê¿AlÄ«âs favor, MuÊ¿Äwiyahâs army famously raised pages of the Qurʾan on spears as an appeal for arbitration. Ê¿AlÄ« initially rejected the suggestion as a ruse. Ironically, many of his own Iraqi commanders insisted he accept, and he gave in, stipulating that the arbitrators must rule according to the Qurʾan. Ê¿AlÄ« then attempted to appoint his cousin, the learned Ê¿AbdallÄh ibn al-Ê¿AbbÄs as arbitrator, but he was overruled, and, again ironically, his commanders insisted that he appoint the dismissed governor of Kufa, AbÅ« MÅ«sÄ al-AshÊ¿arÄ«, who, in the lead-up to the Battle of the Camel, had publicly directed them not to support Ê¿AlÄ«. MuÊ¿Äwiyah appointed Ê¿Amr. The two arbitrators met a few months later at DÅ«mat al-Jandal, in southern Syria. Their judgmentâwhich, given their back-stories, was to be expectedâhad cataclysmic consequences: AbÅ« MÅ«sÄ ruled against Ê¿AlÄ«. Ê¿Amr ruled for MuÊ¿Äwiyah. The Syrians rejoiced. The Iraqis were thrown into disarray.
The rumblings of Iraqi dissatisfaction crescendoed in the renegade movement of the so-called Kharijites, âSeceders.â Under the leadership of Ê¿AbdallÄh ibn Wahb, four thousand men âsecededâ from Kufa and Ê¿AlÄ«âs following. With the rallying cry, âNo rule but Godâs!â they took up arms against him. Ê¿AlÄ« fought them at the Battle of NahrawÄn in 38/658, on the banks of the Tigris River in Iraq. A thousand Kharijites were persuaded to leave the battlefield before the fighting began, a few took flight during the battle, four hundred wounded were pardoned, and the rest, including their leader, were killed.
Having dealt with the immediate danger, Ê¿AlÄ« attempted to resume the fight against MuÊ¿Äwiyah. But the Iraqi tribesmen were tired, and Ê¿AlÄ« spent his final months urging them to mobilize. Meanwhile, MuÊ¿Äwiyah was gaining ground. He took over Egypt, where his ally Ê¿Amr ibn al-Ê¿Äá¹£ tortured and killed Ê¿AlÄ«âs ward and governor, Muḥammad ibn AbÄ« Bakr. MuÊ¿Äwiyah also reportedly poisoned MÄlik al-Ashtar, one of Ê¿AlÄ«âs staunchest supporters, who had been enroute to Egypt to take over the governorship from Muḥammad. From Damascus, MuÊ¿Äwiyah sent raid after raid against the cities of Arabia and even to the heart of Iraq.
Ê¿AlÄ« was praying in the Grand Mosque in Kufa at dawn on 19th Ramaá¸Än 40/661, when the Kharijite agent Ibn Muljam (or Ibn Muljim) struck him a deathblow. He lived for two more days, during which he counselled his followers to piety and appointed his son Ḥasan as his successor. He died on 21st Ramaá¸Än, at sixty-one years of age.
Ê¿AlÄ« is a familiar figure in medieval Islamic histories. Chronicles refer to him frequently in their accounts of the Prophetâs mission, the reigns of AbÅ« Bakr, Ê¿Umar, and Ê¿UthmÄn, and his own caliphate. Biographical works usually include a long entry on Ê¿AlÄ«, with chapters on his acceptance of Islam, his excellent character, the praise for him expressed by the Prophet, his juridical decisions, physical appearance, garments, seal and armor, marriages and children, death, elegies composed in his memory, and his sermons and sayings. Several monographs recount his battles, notably The Battle of á¹¢iffÄ«n (WaqÊ¿at á¹¢iffÄ«n) by the early author Naá¹£r ibn MuzÄḥim al-MinqarÄ« (d. 202/818). Martyrologies of Ê¿AlÄ« are also many, second in number only to those written about his son Ḥusayn, the martyr of Karbala; fourteen are listed by the ShiÊ¿i bibliographer ÄghÄ Buzurg al-TihrÄnÄ« (d. 1970), including the lost martyrology of the early author AbÅ« Mikhnaf (d. 157/773). Numerous medieval works are devoted to cataloging Ê¿AlÄ«âs merits, including works by well-known Sunni hadith scholars: NasÄʾī (d. 303/915), Book of Virtues: The Excellence of Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib (KitÄb al-Khaá¹£Äʾiá¹£ fÄ« faá¸l Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib), Ibn al-MaghÄzilÄ« (d. 483/1090), Qualities of Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib (ManÄqib Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib), Sibá¹ Ibn al-JawzÄ« (d. 654/1256), Reminder for the Elite (Tadhkirat al-khawÄṣṣ), and numerous others. Ê¿AlÄ« also figures prominently in devotional poetry composed through the centuries by ShiÊ¿i as well as Sunni poets.
Although events of Ê¿AlÄ«âs life are portrayed in similar fashion by most historians, he is perceived differently by different denominations. For Sunnis, Ê¿AlÄ« is a pious and austere man, a close Companion of the Prophet, and the fourth Rightly Guided caliph of Islam. His knowledge of Islamic doctrine and law, his love for Islam and his closeness to the Prophet Muḥammad, his heroic role in the early battles of the Muslims, and his principled and pious rule are all applauded. Tafá¸Ä«lÄ« Sunnis (âUpholders of Ê¿AlÄ«âs Superiorityâ), who also revere the first three caliphs, believe that Ê¿AlÄ« was the most excellent individual after the Prophet. For Sufi mystics, many of whom are Tafá¸Ä«lÄ« Sunnis, Ê¿AlÄ« is the first link after the Prophet in the chain of mystic masters, and they regularly quote his ethical and doctrinal statements in manuals of spiritual guidance. For the ShiÊ¿a, Ê¿AlÄ« is the spiritual and temporal successor of the Prophet, the infallible Imam, divinely guided and able to perform miracles. His descendants are believed to inherit this role, and allegiance to them is considered necessary for salvation. The ShiÊ¿aâshort for ShÄ«Ê¿at Ê¿AlÄ«, or âfollowers of Ê¿AlÄ«ââhave branched out into several denominations, based on the line of succession they accept as legitimate. The majority in the present time are the Twelver ShiÊ¿aâto whom our compiler, Raá¸Ä«, belongedâand they form the bulk of the population in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. The Fatimid-IsmÄÊ¿Ä«lÄ« ShiÊ¿a ruled a large part of the Islamic empire from the 10th to the 12th centuries AD with their seat in Cairo and are now located primarily in South Asia, in the two main denominations, ṬayyibÄ«s and NizÄrÄ«s. The ZaydÄ« ShiÊ¿aâearlier also a large presence in the region of the Caspian Seaâare concentrated today in Yemen. Some smaller branches, such as the Nuá¹£ayrÄ« denomination, proclaim Ê¿AlÄ«âs divinity. Such groups are often termed Exaggerators (GhulÄt) in Islamic doctrinal works.
Muslims know Ê¿AlÄ« by several titles that signify his preeminent stature. He is hailed by ShiÊ¿a and Sunnis as âGodâs lionâ (Arabic: Asad AllÄh, Persian/Urdu: ShÄr-Ä KhudÄ), and âḤaydarâ or âḤaydarahâ a king among lions, stemming from his proverbial prowess in battle. He is petitioned as âDispeller of hardshipsâ (Persian/Urdu: Mushkil kushÄ). He is praised as âMurtaá¸Ä,â the one with whom God is pleased. He is lauded as the âWaṣī,â the Prophetâs legatee. And he is referenced as the âImÄm,â an authoritative religious leader. The ShiÊ¿a also revere him as âSÄqi-ye Kawtharâ (Cupbearer of the Pool of Kawthar in Paradise), âá¹¢iddÄ«qâ (Greatest Supporter of the Prophet), âMawlÄâ (Master, a reference to the aforementioned GhadÄ«r Khumm hadith, âWhoever takes me as his master, Ê¿AlÄ« is his masterâ), and âAmÄ«r al-muʾminÄ«nâ (Commander of the Faithful). This last is the most used of his titles in ShiÊ¿a circles; Sunnis apply the title to all Muslim caliphs, including Ê¿AlÄ«.
Ê¿AlÄ«âs shrine in the city of Najaf, in southern Iraq, is visited annually by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. His caliphate is upheld as a model for just rule, and his words and teachings are revered as repositories of inspired wisdom. Ê¿AlÄ« had declared to his associate Kumayl, âThose who hoard wealth are dead even as they live, whereas the learned remain as long as the world remainsâtheir persons may be lost, but their teachings live on in the hearts of menâ (§â¯3.133). Ê¿AlÄ«âs legacy lives on in the hearts of men.
2 Collection of Ê¿AlÄ«âs Words: Orality, Authenticity, Written Sources, and Influence on Litterateurs
Ê¿AlÄ« lived in a world where the principal mode of production, transmission, and collection of words was oral. In his time, written Arabic texts were rare. Although Ê¿AlÄ« himself served as one of the Prophetâs scribes in Medina and wrote down Qurʾanic passages as they were revealed, written transcription by him and his few lettered compatriots was carried out with rudimentary instruments and limited to important documents. Most verbal materials from the early period were initially related and preserved for a century or more chiefly by means of oral transmission, until, after paper was introduced from China in the early 2nd/8th century, writing burgeoned and they were systematically transcribed in books.
It is fair to ask the question: Are Ê¿AlÄ«âs words as transcribed in the present volume genuine? The short answer is that substantial portions could be authentic, some in gist, and someâespecially those with striking images and rhythmic linesâverbatim. Ê¿AlÄ« was one of the most revered personages of early Islam, his eloquence was proverbial, and during the four years of his caliphate, he preached long and frequently to large, public audiences, and so it is likely that many recorded materials attributed to him are genuine. Moreover, given the consistent attribution to Ê¿AlÄ« of certain Qurʾan-based themes and nature-oriented images, and given their compatibility with the historical and literary ambience of the time, it is likely that they represent a true picture of his teachings.
The longer, technical back-story to that assessmentâbased on detailed research grounded in empirical data and orality theory in my recent book, Arabic Oration: Art and Functionâis as follows:9 It is true that the extended period of oral transmission for early Arabic verbal materials meant that many inaccuracies entered the written corpus. It is also true that there were many drivers to false ascriptions, as well as instances of rhetorical âimprovements.â10 Nevertheless, there is clear evidence for the existence of a genuine core of texts. As scholars of orality theory have established, formal verbal productions of oral communities are rooted in âmnemonicsââi.e., memory aid techniques, such as intense rhythm and graphic imagery. In addition to producing beautiful language, these constitute a physiological aid to memorization. Neuroscientists explain memory formation through the propensity of the brain to organize information in patterns. The process is called âneuronal entrainment.â Children today learn the ABCâ¯s, for example, through a melody. Imagine trying to memorize a random list of letters without that jingle! Rhythm is present even in writing societies. In an oral society, it is a primary characteristic. Like the Qurʾan, like orations and sayings by other leaders from this period, Ê¿AlÄ«âs words were rhythmic and visual. These rhetorical featuresâcombined with the attested powerful memories of oral societiesâensured that many orations and sayings were captured. Ê¿AlÄ«âs family and close associates were the first narrators. Early transmitters narrated materials partly in substance and partly verbatim. This hybrid mode fell somewhere between the meaning-based transmission of historical reports and the near-literal transmission of the Qurʾan and poetry.11
Moreover, as Gregor Schoeler has convincingly demonstrated,12 oral circulation in this society was increasingly supplemented by scholarly notetaking. Over the century following Ê¿AlÄ«âs death of primarily oral transmission, we see a steady increase of concurrent written transcription. Like the Prophetâs hadith, a fraction of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words was probably transcribed during his lifetime or immediately afterward; we are told of a written collection titled Khuá¹ab AmÄ«r al-MuʾminÄ«n Ê¿alÄ l-manÄbir fÄ« l-jumaÊ¿ wa-l-aÊ¿yÄd wa-ghayrihÄ (Orations of the Commander of the Faithful upon the Pulpit on Fridays, Eids, and Other Occasions) by Zayd ibn Wahb al-JuhanÄ« (d. 96/715), who fought in Ê¿AlÄ«âs army at á¹¢iffÄ«n and NahrawÄn.13
Through the following centuries, Ê¿AlÄ«âs words were recorded in books by major historians, litterateurs, and compilers.14 From the late 2nd/8th and early 3rd/9th centuries, Kufan scholarsâincluding AbÅ« Mikhnaf LÅ«á¹ ibn YaḥyÄ (d. 157/773), IbrÄhÄ«m ibn Ḥakam al-FazÄrÄ« (d. 177/793), MasÊ¿adah ibn á¹¢adaqah al-Ê¿AbdÄ« (d. 183/799), and Ibn al-KalbÄ« (d. 206/820)âproduced dedicated compilations of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words; this is as one would expect, given the presence of Ê¿AlÄ« and his most loyal followers in Kufa. Scholars from Baghdadâincluding WÄqidÄ« (d. 207/823), MinqarÄ« (d. 212/827), and MadÄʾinÄ« (d. 224/829)âalso compiled Ê¿AlÄ«âs words. All these works have been lost. The last three scholars, however, include many of Ê¿AlÄ«âs texts in their extant histories, as do other 3rd/9th- and 4th/10th-century historians from far-flung parts of the Muslim empire with disparate denominational affiliations: Ibn HishÄm (d. 218/833, after Ibn IsḥÄq, d. 151/768), Ibn SaÊ¿d (d. 230/845), BalÄdhurÄ« (d. 279/892), AbÅ« IsḥÄq al-ThaqafÄ« of IsfahÄn (d. 283/896), YaÊ¿qÅ«bÄ« (d. 284/897), ṬabarÄ« (d. 310/923), Ibn AÊ¿tham (d. 314/926), al-QÄá¸Ä« al-NuÊ¿mÄn (d. 363/974), and many more. The above-mentioned JuhanÄ«, who served in Ê¿AlÄ«âs army, is the chief source for AbÅ« Mikhnafâs lost work on Ê¿AlÄ«âs battles, which is cited in turn by ṬabarÄ« in his celebrated History. Literary anthologists, including JÄḥiẠ(d. 255/868), Ibn Qutaybah (d. 276/889), Ibn Ê¿Abd Rabbih of Spain (d. 328/940), MasÊ¿Å«dÄ« (d. 345/956), and Ibn ShuÊ¿bah of ḤarrÄn (fl. 4th/10th c.), also include large numbers of Ê¿AlÄ«âs orations, and many praise them profusely. JÄḥiẠis saidâthough this attribution is uncertainâto have produced a concise compilation of Ê¿AlÄ«âs maxims titled Miʾat kalimah (Hundred Proverbs), that I have edited and translated.15 JÄḥiẠalso quoted Ê¿AlÄ« abundantly in his accepted works and praised him as the archetypal paradigm of eloquence. Early MuÊ¿tazilÄ« thinkers such as IskÄfÄ« (d. 240/854) record Ê¿AlÄ«âs orations on the unity of God. Chancery-manual authors such as the Egyptian NaḥḥÄs (d. 338/950) present whole chapters on Ê¿AlÄ«âs orations as part of the scribeâs curriculum. Twelver ShiÊ¿i jurists such as KulaynÄ« (d. 329/941) and Ibn BÄbawayh (d. 381/991) include numerous citations of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words in their works. The ShÄfiÊ¿Ä«-AshÊ¿arÄ« scholar MÄmaá¹Ä«rÄ« (d. ca. 360/971) compiled a large volume of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words and interactions.
In the 4th/10th, 5th/11th, and 6th/12th centuries, major independent collections of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words were compiled and are still extant. The earliest surviving compilation is the KitÄb al-Tawḥīd (The Book of Godâs Unity), compiled by the aforementioned Fatimid-IsmÄÊ¿Ä«lÄ« ShiÊ¿i scholar al-QÄá¸Ä« al-NuÊ¿mÄn (d. 363/974), which contains two long sermons on Godâs oneness, titled The Pearl (Durrah) and The Unique Sermon (Waḥīdah), with NuÊ¿mÄnâs commentary. Next is the present volume, compiled by Raá¸Ä« in 400/1010, Nahj al-BalÄghah (The Way of Eloquence). Then came DustÅ«r maÊ¿Älim al-ḥikam (A Compendium of Signposts of Wisdom) by al-QÄá¸Ä« al-Quá¸ÄÊ¿Ä« (d. 454/1062), which I have edited and translated;16 Quá¸ÄÊ¿Ä«âs main source appears to have been MÄmaá¹Ä«rÄ«âs Nuzhat al-abá¹£Är. Subsequent compilations were dedicated to Ê¿AlÄ«âs aphorisms: Nathr al-laʾÄlÄ« (Scattered Pearls) by ṬabrisÄ« (d. 548/1153), and Ghurar al-ḥikam (Radiant Maxims) by ÄmidÄ« (d. 550/1155). KaydarÄ« (d. after 576/1180), who also wrote a commentary on Nahj al-BalÄghah, collected Ê¿AlÄ«âs verse into a DÄ«wÄn titled AnwÄr al-Ê¿uqÅ«l (Lights for Intellects). Of less certain provenance, an anonymously compiled book of supplications titled al-á¹¢aḥīfah al-Ê¿Alawiyyah (Ê¿AlÄ«âs Parchments) is also attributed to Ê¿AlÄ«, as is a short compilation of Prophetic hadith titled á¹¢aḥīfat Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib (Scrolls of Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib). Additionally, Twelver ShiÊ¿is regularly recite a supplication Ê¿AlÄ« is said to have taught his devotee Kumayl, known by the latterâs name as DuÊ¿Äʾ Kumayl (The Kumayl Supplication). Finally, Fatimid ṬayyibÄ«s believe that Ê¿AlÄ« composed KitÄb al-Ê¿Ilm (The Book of Knowledge), which he bequeathed to his sons Ḥasan and Ḥusayn, and which is now with the Imam in seclusion.
In the emergent Islamic civilization, Ê¿AlÄ«âs words influenced major litterateurs and scholars of Islam across denominational boundaries. Among early orators, Ê¿AlÄ«âs words were favorite sourcesâmemorized, alluded to, or quoted in full. Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d compares Ê¿AlÄ«âs influence on orators to the influence of the preeminent pre-Islamic poet Imruʾ al-Qays on poets.17 The pro-Umayyad ascetic preacher of Basra al-Ḥasan al-Baá¹£rÄ« (d. 110/728) was guided by Ê¿AlÄ«âs pious themes and language, as was the Syrian preacher Ibn NubÄtah al-Khaá¹Ä«b (d. 374/985), who had memorized a large number of Ê¿AlÄ«âs orations.18 Among scribes, Ê¿AlÄ«âs words were equally effective. I have mentioned Ê¿Abd al-ḤamÄ«dâs acknowledgment that he had âlearned eloquence by memorizing the orations of Ê¿AlÄ«,â and NaḥḥÄsâs allocation of four chapters of the Eloquence section in his chancery-manual to Ê¿AlÄ«âs words.19 Tributes were also paid by early prose writers who recorded Ê¿AlÄ«âs words and praised them, and I have mentioned some of these litterateurs earlier. MasÊ¿Å«dÄ«, who recorded many of Ê¿AlÄ«âs texts, noted that scholars in his time had memorized more than 480 of Ê¿AlÄ«âs speeches, which they frequently quoted.20 Ê¿AlÄ«âs orations had special resonance among those who held to the theological school of the MuÊ¿tazilah, to whom Raá¸Ä« and several of his compilationâs commentators belonged, and among whom IskÄfÄ« was mentioned as having recorded Ê¿AlÄ«âs texts. These rationalist scholars acknowledged their debt to Ê¿AlÄ« on the fundamental subject of Godâs unity.21 And Ê¿AlÄ«âs influence was not limited to prose. Numerous wisdom-verses by the poet-prodigy MutanabbÄ« (d. 354/955)âwho, it should be noted, grew up, as did Ê¿Abd al-ḤamÄ«d al-KÄtib, in Ê¿AlÄ«âs capital, Kufaâare distilled from Ê¿AlÄ«âs words.22
3 Al-SharÄ«f al-Raá¸Ä« (d. 406/1015): Career and Works
Best known as compiler of Nahj al-BalÄghah, al-SharÄ«f AbÅ« al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-MÅ«sawÄ« al-Raá¸Ä«âin short, al-SharÄ«f al-Raá¸Ä«, or simply Raá¸Ä«âwas an eminent Twelver ShiÊ¿i MuÊ¿tazilÄ« thinker, a prominent political personage in the Abbasid-BÅ«yid realm, and one of the most notable scholars of his time. He was born in 359/970 in Baghdad and was a lifelong resident of this city. His family was descended from the Prophet Muḥammad and Ê¿AlÄ«, his grandfather being the great-grandson of Imam JaÊ¿far al-á¹¢Ädiq, and Raá¸Ä« was thus closely connected with the ShiÊ¿i imamate. His father had held the post of Chief of the Prophetâs Descendants (NaqÄ«b al-ashrÄf) in Baghdad; Raá¸Ä« was appointed aide to his father at the young age of twenty, and after him as NaqÄ«b for the entire Abbasid realm. His extraordinary standing is illustrated by the fact that he was given this high appointment ahead of his elder brother, al-SharÄ«f al-Murtaá¸Ä, also a distinguished scholar, who would occupy the post after Raá¸Ä«âs death. Additionally, Raá¸Ä« was put in charge of the annual Pilgrimage to Mecca and appointed Chief Judge over the Court of Petitions.
Raá¸Ä« studied various disciplines with famous scholars. His teachers included the grammarians SÄ«rÄfÄ« (d. 368/979), who died when Raá¸Ä« was nine, FÄrisÄ« (d. 377/987), and Ibn JinnÄ« (d. 392/1001), the aforementioned preacher Ibn NubÄtah al-FÄriqÄ« al-Khaá¹Ä«b (d. 374/984), the historian MarzubÄnÄ« (d. 384/994), the Twelver ShiÊ¿i hadith scholar MufÄ«d (d. 413/1022), and the MuÊ¿tazilÄ« theologian al-QÄá¸Ä« Ê¿Abd al-JabbÄr (d. 415/1024). His students included the poet MihyÄr al-DaylamÄ« (d. 428/1037).
Raá¸Ä« enjoyed the patronage of the Buyid sultan BahÄʾ al-Dawla (r. 379â403/989â1012), who ruled in the name of the Abbasid caliph al-QÄdir (r. 381â422/991â1031). Toward the end of his life, he had a showdown with QÄdir regarding the Prophetic lineage of the rival Fatimid dynasty. QÄdir was shown Raá¸Ä«âs verses expressing his wish to live in the Fatimid realm,23 and the caliph insisted he sign a manifesto denouncing the Fatimid lineage. Raá¸Ä« refused, and QÄdir stripped him of his official positions. Most sources report the incident thus from Raá¸Ä«âs colleague, the litterateur HilÄl al-á¹¢ÄbÄ« (d. 448/1056), but a later report states that Raá¸Ä« submitted and signed; likely, his name was inserted after his death to lend credence to the Abbasid claim of legitimacy.24 It is also reported that Raá¸Ä« believed himself worthier of the caliphate than the Abbasids and was poisoned by them.
Raá¸Ä« died in 406/1015 at the relatively young age of forty-seven. Attesting to his prominence and popularity, his funeral was attended by the grand vizier Fakhr al-Mulk, as well as judges, scholars, and other state dignitaries, and a large number of the people of Baghdad. Several elegies were composed in his memory.
Raá¸Ä« was an outstanding poet and scholar with sixteen substantial books to his name; high praise is recorded for his poetry and his prose from contemporaries as well as later scholars. His works include studies of the literary and grammatical features of the Qurʾan and hadith, works of history and biography, anthologies of poetry, and glosses on books of jurisprudence and grammar. Eight works are extant, listed here in chronological order of composition:
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DÄ«wÄn (Collected Poetry), 684 poems in about 10,000 verses, containing panegyric for Ê¿AlÄ« and the family of the Prophet, as well as rulers and viziers, laments for Ḥusayn ibn Ê¿AlÄ« and for the poetâs family and friends, censure of the age, love, vaunt, and miscellaneous other themes, composed over Raá¸Ä«âs lifetime, starting from 369/980, when he was ten years old.
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RasÄʾil (Letters), literary epistles exchanged with HilÄl al-á¹¢ÄbÄ«, in about a thousand folios, of which only a small portion composed between 380/990 and 384/994 is extant.
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Khaá¹£Äʾiá¹£ al-aʾimmah: Khaá¹£Äʾiá¹£ AmÄ«r al-muʾminÄ«n (Qualities of the Imams: Qualities of the Commander of the Faithful), a compendium of Ê¿AlÄ«âs biography, virtues, and pithy sayings composed in 383/994. In his introduction, Raá¸Ä« explains that he planned to record the virtues of the Twelve Imams to refute an Abbasid detractor,25 but was able to complete only the section on Ê¿AlÄ« (82 pages in the 1986 Beirut edition). Nahj al-BalÄghah is an expansion of the âsayingsâ section of this earlier work.
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Nahj al-BalÄghah (The Way of Eloquence), a compilation of orations, letters, and sayings attributed to Ê¿AlÄ«, composed in 400/1010 (the text of the present volumeâmore on this work below).
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MajÄzÄt al-Qurʾan or: MajÄz al-Qurʾan (Figurative language of the Qurʾan), also titled TalkhÄ«á¹£ al-bayÄn fÄ« majÄzÄt al-QurʾÄn (Summary Exposition of the Qurʾanâs Figurative Concepts), composed in 401/1011, extant almost in full, with chapters arranged in the order of the Surahs.
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MaÊ¿ÄnÄ« al-QurʾÄn (Themes of the Qurʾan), also titled ḤaqÄʾiq al-taʾwÄ«l fÄ« mutashÄbih al-tanzÄ«l (True Realities of Interpretation Regarding Ambiguous Verses of Revelation), a large multi-volume tafsÄ«r work composed in 402/1011, of which only volume 5 (itself 376 pages in the Cairo edition) is extant, also with chapters arranged according to the order of the Surahs.
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Al-MajÄzÄt al-nabawiyyah (Figurative Language of Prophecy), also titled MajÄzÄt al-ÄthÄr al-nabawiyyah (Figurative Language of Prophetic Hadith), composed between 400/1010 and 406/1015, containing literary and theological commentary on 360 hadiths.
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AmthÄl (Proverbial Verses), a compilation of unknown date, partially preserved in Ibn al-áºahÄ«r al-IrbilÄ«âs (d. 677/1278) abridgment, Mukhtaá¹£ar AmthÄl al-SharÄ«f al-Raá¸Ä«.
The following eight works are lost:26
4 Nahj al-BalÄghah: The Wisdom and Eloquence of Ê¿AlÄ«
The full Arabic title of the present volume is Nahj al-balÄghah min kalÄm AmÄ«r al-muʾminÄ«n Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib á¹£alawÄt AllÄh Ê¿alayhi, which translates literally as The Way (or: Well-Trodden Track, or: Clear Course) of Eloquence: Selections from the Words of the Commander of the Faithful Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib, Godâs blessings on him. As Raá¸Ä« tells us in his Introduction, his main criterion for the selection of texts was eloquence, which is why he chose this title for his compilation. Sure enough, it includes some of the most beautiful and powerful expressions in the Arabic language. Compiled in 400/1010, its fame almost immediately took wingâwithin a few short decades, Nahj al-BalÄghah had become one of the most celebrated texts of the Arabic Islamic heritage.
4.1 Form and Organization
Nahj al-BalÄghah is a collection of textsâmostly excerpts, ranging roughly from a few lines to a page or two in most standard editionsâdivided into three genre-based sections: 232 orations (sing., khuá¹bah), 78 letters (sing., risÄlah or kitÄb), and 429 sayings (sing., ḥikmah), the latter containing aphorisms as well as slightly longer sayings.27 Into these three sections are integrated texts from subsidiary genres, such as testaments (sing., waá¹£iyyah or Ê¿ahd), supplications (sing., duÊ¿Äʾ), questions and answers, responses to reports, and counsel to individuals. A subsection in the Sayings section contains nine lines with rare words (gharÄ«b), followed by Raá¸Ä«âs explications. The compilation is prefaced with Raá¸Ä«âs introduction explaining the stimulus for his undertaking, his method of compiling, and the broad compass and immense value of the contents.
Within each section, the compilationâs sequence is based on the order in which Raá¸Ä« happened to find his texts, rather than a methodical consideration of chronology or theme.28 A handful of texts are followed by Raá¸Ä«âs comments on their virtuosity. Most texts are prefaced by a phrase that goes something like âFrom an oration (or: letter, or: words) by him.â A few texts are preceded by a line or two of context, but the circumstances are not systematically noted, in conformity with the practice of most literary anthologists of Raá¸Ä«âs time.
4.2 Sources
Also consistent with the practice of other literary anthologistsâsuch as Ibn Ê¿Abd Rabbih (d. 328/940) and ThaÊ¿ÄlibÄ« (d. 429/1039), for exampleâRaá¸Ä« does not systematically note the provenance of his texts. However, in the past fifty years or so, scholars including al-Khaá¹Ä«b Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ and ImtiyÄz Ê¿ArshÄ« have meticulously listed extant early books in which the compilationâs texts appear, sometimes with full or partial transmission chains (isnÄd); an updated list is provided as an Appendix of Sources to the present volume. Some of the earlier books could be Raá¸Ä«âs actual sources,29 but more work is needed to determine concrete lines of textual transmission. It is likely that Raá¸Ä« also sourced from early books and documents that are now lost.
For a handful of texts in Nahj al-BalÄghah, Raá¸Ä« does furnish the name of a source. For orations, he notes Ê¿AlÄ«âs associates Nawf al-BikÄlÄ« (§â¯1.180) and DhiÊ¿lib al-YamÄnÄ« (the latter through Aḥmad ibn Qutaybah, through Ê¿AbdallÄh ibn MÄlik ibn Dajnah, §â¯1.231). For letters, Raá¸Ä« mentions WÄqidÄ«âs KitÄb al-Jamal (Book of the Camel, §â¯2.75), IskÄfÄ«âs KitÄb al-MaqÄmÄt (Book of Exhortations, §â¯2.54), SaÊ¿Ä«d ibn YaḥyÄ al-UmawÄ«âs (d. 249/863) MaghÄzÄ« (Expeditions, from the authorâs father, d. 184/809, after Ibn IsḥÄq, §â¯2.78), and a copy in the hand of Ibn al-KalbÄ« (§â¯2.74). For sayings, he cites Ê¿AlÄ«âs great-grandson Imam Muḥammad al-BÄqir (d. 117/735, §â¯3.79), ThaÊ¿lab (d. 291/904, §â¯3.405), AbÅ« Ê¿Ubaydâs (d. 224/838) GharÄ«b al-ḥadÄ«th (Rare Words from the Hadith, §â¯3.248), and Ê¿AlÄ«âs associates, Nawf again (§â¯3.95), and Kumayl ibn ZiyÄd al-NakhaÊ¿Ä« (§â¯3.133, §â¯3.242).
As a result of the early oral transmission of these materials, different sources offer assorted renderings of the same piece, and Raá¸Ä« sometimes includes more than one rendering in his compilation; aware of the phenomenon, he mentions it in his Introduction and flags texts that are repeated. Another consequence of the initial oral transmission is that a handful of texts attributed to Ê¿AlÄ« in one source are attributed elsewhere to others, and Raá¸Ä« identifies some of these ascriptions as well.
4.3 Contents: Contemporary History and Islamic Teachings
The contents of Nahj al-BalÄghah straddle two broad overlapping areas: contemporary history and Islamic teachings. Given the multipurpose function of oration, themes from each of these two areas intermingle and recur. Historical material in the volume is grounded in the final four-year period of Ê¿AlÄ«âs life, when he ruled as caliph of the Muslim empire. The texts depict the ethos of Ê¿AlÄ«âs time. They contain subtleties of event trajectories, particularly Ê¿AlÄ«âs accession to the caliphate and his battles. They offer nuanced portraits of historical personalities, above all, of Ê¿AlÄ« himself, but also of influential individuals from his caliphate.30 They portray his sons, Ḥasan, Ḥusayn, and Muḥammad (ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah), his brother Ê¿AqÄ«l ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib, his ward Muḥammad ibn AbÄ« Bakr, and his cousin Ê¿AbdallÄh ibn al-Ê¿AbbÄs. They praise staunch followers including AbÅ« Dharr al-GhifÄrÄ«, Ê¿AmmÄr ibn YÄsir, MÄlik al-Ashtar, and al-ḤÄrith al-HamdÄnÄ«, and refer to various governors, commanders, judges, and tribal chieftains, some of whom he chastised, as he did al-AshÊ¿ath ibn Qays. They describe adversaries, chiefly MuÊ¿Äwiyah and Ê¿Amr ibn al-Ê¿Äá¹£, but also Ṭalḥah and Zubayr, as well as MuÊ¿Äwiyahâs principal supporters and commanders. They present contextual shades in political and doctrinal positions, including proto-ShiÊ¿i and proto-Sunni stances, as well as the evolution of the Kharijites. As mentioned above, most of the compilationâs texts are from Ê¿AlÄ«âs caliphate, but several also refer to events and individuals earlier in his life, and they include copious praise for the Prophet Muḥammad and tribute to Muḥammadâs first supporters. A few texts date from Ê¿AlÄ«âs pre-caliphate years, and these include a eulogy to his wife FÄá¹imah, a letter to his close associate SalmÄn al-FÄrisÄ«, and interactions with and about the Sunni caliphs Ê¿Umar and Ê¿UthmÄn. In addition to actual data, the historical texts portray the personal struggle, bringing into relief the human aspect of Ê¿AlÄ«âs history and his impression of the events and persons therein.
Ê¿AlÄ«âs teachings, the second large content area of Nahj al-BalÄghah, comprise facets of doctrine, philosophy, ethics, counsel, and practical wisdom. Growing up under Muḥammadâs care, Ê¿AlÄ« was continuously exposed to the Qurʾanic revelation. Permeated by its vocabulary and themes, his words urge worship of the creator, promote awareness of the transience of human life, and highlight the urgent need to prepare for the imminent hereafter.31 Combining piety with virtue, they exhort truth, gratitude, and patience, and extol the benefits of living a modest and temperate life.32 Taking the middle ground between secular humanism and insular faith, they advocate an inseparable blend of individual devotion and dynamic social engagement. Consistently, they highlight the eminence of reason and learning. Numerous texts feature a detailed parsing of Godâs transcendent oneness. Many describe the marvels of Godâs creation, mostly the heavens, the earth, and the human being, but also, in a couple of texts, the peacock, the bat, and the ant. Several texts laud the stature of the Prophetâs family. Some contain down-to-earth instructions and acute observations of human behavior. Many portray the art of just leadership, predicating true justice on compassion, wisdom, integrity, pluralism, and accountability to God.33 They advocate strongly for the socially disadvantaged. They preach kindness to animals. A few contain legal rulings, judgments pronounced by Ê¿AlÄ« for actual cases. Yet others are supplications: some implore Godâs forgiveness and aid, one prays for rain, one at the start of battle beseeches Godâs protection and victory, and one, a daily morning prayer, contains thanks and entreaties.34 Three texts of counsel are grounded in specific Qurʾanic verses.35 In sum, the teachings of Ê¿AlÄ«âa learned philosopher, a pious ascetic, a just leader, a governing caliph, a brave warrior, and an astute commanderâbring together disparate elements of the human experience.
Some longer, thematically focused texts have special names. Five named orations are Ethereal Forms (AshbÄḥ), on the creation of the universe; The Crusher (QÄá¹£iÊ¿ah), which castigates Lucifer and factionalism; The Radiant (GharrÄʾ), which contemplates human mortality and counsels preparation for the imminent hereafter; The Roar of the Camel Stallion (Shiqshiqiyyah), on Ê¿AlÄ«âs right to the caliphate; and The Oration to HammÄm: Description of the Pious (Khuá¹bat HammÄm fÄ« á¹£ifat al-muttaqÄ«n), which lists the myriad virtues of those who truly deserve the epithet pious. In the Letters section, two long texts are the Testament of Counsel for Ḥasan (Waá¹£iyyat al-Ḥasan), in which Ê¿AlÄ« cataloged ethical and practical advice for his son, and the Letter of Appointment for MÄlik al-Ashtar (Ê¿Ahd al-Ashtar), in which he laid out for Ashtar, whom he was sending to govern Egypt, the moral backbone required for righteous rule. In the Sayings section, two are particularly lengthy and distinct: The Four Pillars of Faith (DaÊ¿Äʾim al-Ä«mÄn) are parsed as forbearance, conviction, justice, and struggle against evil; Knowledge is Better than Wealth (al-Ê¿Ilmu khayrun mina l-mÄl) is a text of advice to Kumayl al-NakhaÊ¿Ä«.36
4.4 Style: Oral Aesthetics of Rhythm and Imagery
Rhythmically cadenced and stunningly visual, Nahj al-BalÄghah reflects Ê¿AlÄ«âs oral milieu.37 Ê¿AlÄ«âs orations and sayings, even his written letters, breathe the aesthetic of orality, articulated in mnemonics and metonymy. Mnemonicsâmemory aid techniquesâmanifest in intensely rhythmic prose with condensed sentences and balanced parallelisms, and graphic and often startling natural and lifeworld imagery, with extended verbal metaphors and gripping dramatization. Language is grounded in the features and movements of the camel and of other desert animals, lifeworld objects, and cosmic phenomena. Abstract concepts are made immediate and relevant through concrete physical images. Metonymyâevocation by associationâmanifests in skillful allusion to historical and literary context. Alongside emphatic grammar structures and rhetorical questions, these stylistic devices also served as audience-engagement techniques that invited the audience to participate in the speech act with internal response, and sometimes overt answers, comments, and actions. The texts are further characterized by fine-grained, condensed vocabulary and a high, dignified linguistic register.
Eloquence is a crucial component of preaching, and as scholars of literature have argued, it âtacitly persuades.â38 A brilliant exposition is more effective than a clumsy harangue, and beautiful language more likely to evoke a positive response than a plodding lecture. In combination with Qurʾanic validation and rational argumentation, Ê¿AlÄ« attempted to stir the hearts and minds of his audience with verbal artistry. Moreover, there is a religious flavor, a focus on piety, in all modes of Ê¿AlÄ«âs speech, undergirding even the material produced in a political or military context. At the same time, his words also have a distinctly local flavor, a cultural texture grounded in desert topography, tribal society, nomadic lifestyle, and the rich poetic tradition of the Arabian Peninsula.
4.5 Commentaries and Response Works
Nahj al-BalÄghah has generated an extraordinary number of response-works, including commentaries, translations, supplements, and abridgments by ShiÊ¿i, Sunni, and Arab Christian scholars in medieval and modern times, as well as glosses, concordances, works on sources, and thematic essays by present-day scholars. In my rough estimate, the number of serious extant works in this category ranges around 500, many in multiple volumes.
Depending on the catalogerâs range, the number of known commentaries on Nahj al-BalÄghah lies somewhere between 81 and 210.39 After the Qurʾan, this is perhaps the largest number of commentaries generated by any Arabic workâcompared with approximately 40 on MutanabbÄ«âs DÄ«wÄn, 70 on BukhÄrÄ«âs á¹¢aḥīḥ, and 20 on ḤarÄ«rÄ«âs MaqÄmÄt, three of the best-known Arabic Islamic works. Most Nahj al-BalÄghah commentaries are in Arabic; some are in Persian and other Islamic languages. Most comment on the full compilation; some comment on a specific longer text, and a few of these latter commentaries are in verse.
Some of the best-known full commentaries on Nahj al-BalÄghah are the following (all in Arabic, except the three noted as Persian):
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Early Twelver ShiÊ¿i commentators include Ê¿AlÄ« ibn NÄá¹£ir al-SarakhsÄ« (fl. 6th/12th c.), Quá¹b al-DÄ«n al-RÄwandÄ« (d. 573/1177), Quá¹b al-DÄ«n al-KaydarÄ« (d. after 576/1180), and Ibn Maytham al-BaḥrÄnÄ« (d. 679/1280).
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Early Sunni commentators include Ibn Funduq al-BayhaqÄ« (d. 565/1170) from Khurasan, who wrote one of the earliest commentaries, and relied on the lost, and possibly the first, Nahj al-BalÄghah commentary of Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-WabrÄ« (fl. early 6th/12th c.), from KhwÄrazm. (SarakhsÄ« also quotes WabrÄ«). Prominent Sunni authors whose commentaries are lost include Fakhr al-DÄ«n al-RÄzÄ« (d. 606/1209) and SaÊ¿d al-DÄ«n al-TaftÄzÄnÄ« (d. 793/1390).
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Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d al-MuÊ¿tazilÄ« (d. ca. 656/1258) is the best-known (early Sunni) commentator of all, whose celebrated commentary in 20 volumes itself generated numerous response works. Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«dâwho also composed Seven Odes in Praise of Ê¿AlÄ«âwrites in his introduction that âthe noblest branch of learning is knowledge of God ⦠ʿAlÄ«âs words kindled that fire ⦠the MuÊ¿tazilah ⦠masters of theology, from whom all others learned this skill, are Ê¿AlÄ«âs students and emulators.â40 He adds that Ê¿AlÄ« is âleader of the eloquent and lord of the articulate ⦠oratory and epistle-writing began with him.â41
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The Yemeni ZaydÄ« ShiÊ¿i Imam al-Muʾayyad bi-llÄh YaḥyÄ ibn Ḥamzah (d. 749/1348) wrote a commentary in six volumes. He traced his license to teach the compilation back to Raá¸Ä« himself, by way of a sequence of licenses granted by ZaydÄ« scholars.42 Other ZaydÄ« commentators are Fakhr al-DÄ«n Ê¿AbdallÄh ibn al-HÄdÄ« (d. at the end of the 8th/14th c.) and YaḥyÄ ibn IbrÄhÄ«m al-JaḥḥÄf (d. 1102/1690).43
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Safavid-era Twelver ShiÊ¿i Sufi scholars who wrote commentaries include IlÄhÄ«-ArdabÄ«lÄ« (fl. ca. 9th/15th c., Persian), Ê¿Abd al-BÄqÄ« DÄnishmand (d. after 1039/1630), and NiáºÄm al-DÄ«n al-JÄ«lÄnÄ« (d. 1053/1643).
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Commentaries by modern Egyptian-Sunni-AzharÄ« scholars include the famed introduction-cum-wordlist by the Grand Mufti of Egypt Shaykh Muḥammad Ê¿Abduh (d. 1905), which was later expanded by Shaykh Ḥusayn al-Mará¹£afÄ« (d. 1935) and then by Muḥammad MuḥyÄ« al-DÄ«n Ê¿Abd al-ḤamÄ«d (d. 1972). In the introduction, Ê¿Abduh speaks of his first encounter with Nahj al-BalÄghah, saying, âI felt I was witnessing a radiant intellect ⦠which had detached itself from the divine procession and connected itself to the human soul.â He goes on to declare that memorizing and studying the compilation âare essential to those who seek the precious gems of Arabic and wish to rise in its ranks.â44
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Modern Iranian Twelver ShiÊ¿i commentators include Muḥammad TaqÄ« NaqavÄ«, Muḥammad TaqÄ« al-TustarÄ«, NawwÄb LÄhÄ«jÄnÄ« (d. ca. 1824), and the Grand Ayatollah MaḥmÅ«d ṬÄliqÄnÄ«, the last two writing in Persian. A modern Lebanese Twelver ShiÊ¿i commentator is Muḥammad JawÄd Mughniyyah.
The commentaries discuss lexical, grammatical, and rhetorical matters, and sometimes provide historical context and transmission history. The longer commentaries include extensive historical, doctrinal, thematic, and literary annotation, as well as further texts attributed to Ê¿AlÄ« and other historical figures. As we should expect, each commentator interprets Ê¿AlÄ«âs statements, both historical and doctrinal, according to his own denominational approach.
Numerous abridgments of selections from Nahj al-BalÄghah have been compiled:
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3 medieval abridgments: AbÅ« al-SaÊ¿ÄdÄt al-IsfahÄnÄ«âs (d. 634/1237) published work, Maá¹laÊ¿ al-á¹£abÄḥatayn (Two Suns Rising), transcribes the Sayings section from Nahj al-BalÄghah alongside the ethical hadith of the Prophet Muḥammad compiled by Quá¸ÄÊ¿Ä« (d. 454/1062) in KitÄb al-ShihÄb (Light in the Heavens, which I have edited and translated).45 Two further selection volumes are extant in manuscript form: al-NafÄʾis (Precious Words) by NiáºÄm al-DÄ«n al-Muá¹ahhar (fl. 8th/14th c., Sunni), and al-ṬarÄʾif (Marvelous Words) by an anonymous author.46
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More than 34 modern selections (called mukhtÄrÄt or muntakhabÄt).47
Nahj al-BalÄghah has been translated into more than 15 languages:
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A medieval Persian translation by FatḥallÄh KÄshÄnÄ« (d. 988/1580) titled TanbÄ«h al-ghÄfilÄ«n (Waking the Heedless) is possibly the oldest translation.
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Numerous modern translations have been published in Persian, many in Urdu and Turkish, and several in other Asian languages, including Kazakh, Armenian, Chinese, and Thai, as well as a number of European languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Romanian, Polish, and Croat. Many translations, including perhaps all the English translations published to-date, have been rendered indirectly, via Persian.48
Also, many modern compilations style themselves as supplements (mustadrakÄt) to Nahj al-BalÄghah, notably the 8-volume compilation by Muḥammad BÄqir MaḥmÅ«dÄ«.
4.6 Dissemination: Manuscripts, Study, Admiration, and Controversy
In addition to the vast number of response works generated in the medieval Middle East by Nahj al-BalÄghah, its immediate and wide circulation is evident in the hundreds of manuscripts produced in different parts of the Muslim world dating from as early as the 5th/11th centuryâmany in Iraq and Iran, but also across the Islamic lands, from India (in later medieval times) in the East, through Khurasan in Central Asia, through Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula, toward the West to Turkey, Syria, and Egypt.49 Of these, many manuscripts were produced in markedly Sunni communities, particularly in Khurasanâsuch as the manuscript of YaÊ¿qÅ«b al-NaysÄbÅ«rÄ« (d. 474/1081), from which our manuscript Y was transcribedâfrom an early time.50 And in the 9th/15thâ10th/16th-century (ḤanafÄ« Sunni) Ottoman caliphate, compilations of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words were the centerpiece of the Topkapi Palace libraryâs oration collection, used, among other things, to teach palace scribes.51 Another example of the esteem with which Sunni scholars viewed the work is evidenced by the Ottoman scholar and head of the chancery (Raʾīs al-kuttÄb) Ahmad Efendi TaÅköprüzÄde (d. 968/1561), who systematically cites Ê¿AlÄ«âs texts from Nahj al-BalÄghah, alongside Qurʾan and hadith, in his commentary on ĪjÄ«âs Åerhuâl-Ahlakiâl-Adudiyye (Book of Good Character);52 he does not mention the Nahj al-BalÄghah by name, though we know that he knew the text wellâthe Sulaymaniye library in Istanbul holds several manuscripts in its âRaʾīs al-kuttÄbâ collection, with ownership marks, including one with his name inscribed on the flyleaf in his own hand (MS âSâ in the present volume; see also MS âKâ). Nahj al-BalÄghah entered China in the 19th and 20th centuries, when Chinese Muslims went to the Middle East and brought back religious texts, as well as Indonesia and Malaysia, where Muḥammad Ê¿Abduhâs ideas were influential during that period.53 Perhaps with some minor exceptions,54 the two regions in the premodern Islamic world where Nahj al-BalÄghah does not appear to have made inroads are Umayyad Spain and Umayyad-influenced (post-Fatimid) North Africa, which were both, for the most part, intensely anti-ShiÊ¿i.55 The dissemination questionâwhich awaits more thorough explorationâis an important one and speaks to many aspects of religious, scholarly, literary, and political life in the premodern and modern Islamic world.
Study of Nahj al-BalÄghah and admiration for the compilation are pronounced among all branches of the ShiÊ¿a, as well as among Sunnis and Arab Christians, in medieval and modern times. A few quotations by the compilationâs commentators have been cited earlier. The following snapshot of other authors who expressed high regard for the collection, with a few soundbites from their laudations, further underscores the esteem in which Nahj al-BalÄghah was, and continues to be, held:
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Twelver ShiÊ¿i reverence for Nahj al-BalÄghah is well documented through the ages. In recent times, ÄghÄ Buzurg al-TihrÄnÄ« (d. 1970) writes: âAfter divine revelation, no book has come into existence more bonded to Godâs word than Nahj al-BalÄghah.â56 Among the ṬayyibÄ« IsmÄÊ¿Ä«lÄ« ShiÊ¿a, the compilation is an integral part of the religious curriculum. It is quoted abundantly in sermons and works of history and doctrine, including the works of the Yemeni DÄÊ¿Ä«s SayyidnÄ á¸¤Ätim MuḥyÄ« al-DÄ«n (d. 596/1199) and SayyidnÄ IdrÄ«s Ê¿ImÄd al-DÄ«n (d. 872/1468), and the Indian DÄÊ¿Ä« SayyidnÄ á¹¬Ähir Sayf al-DÄ«n (d. 1965); these authors also pronounce benedictions on Raá¸Ä«.57 The latter quotes from Nahj al-BalÄghah in a full 65 instances in his annual RasÄʾil Ramaá¸Äniyyah (Ramaá¸Än Treatises); in one instance, he prefaces the quotation with explicit reference to the compilationâs title, saying: âWisdom spoke on Ê¿AlÄ«âs tongue, and the *way of eloquence* (nahj al-balÄghah) became clear through his exposition. Belief and conviction increase whenever a believer hears his words.â58 Among the NizÄrÄ« IsmÄÊ¿Ä«lÄ« ShiÊ¿a, quotations are found in early works of KhwÄjah QÄsim TushtarÄ« (died after 533/1139) and Naṣīr al-DÄ«n al-ṬūsÄ« (d. 672/1274).59 ZaydÄ« ShiÊ¿i channels of transmissions to and within Yemen from the 7th/13th century onward have also been described recently in some detail.60
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In the past two centuries, distinguished Sunni Arab writers have continued to pay tribute.61 The Iraqi Salafi al-ÄlÅ«sÄ« (d. 1924) called Nahj al-BalÄghah âan ember from the fire of Godâs speech, and a sun that radiates the Prophetâs eloquence.â The Egyptian ZakÄ« MubÄrak (d. 1952) wrote that it âbequeaths manliness, nobility, and loftiness of the soul, hailing from an indomitable spirit who faced danger with a lionâs resolve.â His fellow Egyptian scholar Ê¿AbbÄs MaḥmÅ«d al-Ê¿AqqÄd (d. 1964) wrote a book on Ê¿AlÄ« titled Ê¿Abqariyyat al-ImÄm (The Genius of the ImÄm)âassuming everyone would recognize that the quintessential Imam is Ê¿AlÄ«âin which he declared that Ê¿AlÄ«âs words in Nahj al-BalÄghah encompass âdivine wisdom.â
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Nahj al-BalÄghah is also extolled broadly by Arab Christian scholars.62 They include the Jordanian RÅ«kus ibn ZÄʾid Ê¿UzayzÄ« (b. 1903), the Syrian Ê¿Abd al-Masīḥ Aná¹ÄkÄ« (d. 1923), and numerous Lebanese scholars, including LuwÄ«s MaÊ¿lÅ«f (d. 1946), BÅ«lus SalÄmah (d. 1979), AmÄ«n Nakhlah (d. 1976), FuʾÄd AfrÄm al-BustÄnÄ« (d. 1994), and ḤannÄ al-FÄkhÅ«rÄ« (d. 2011). The Lebanese scholar NÄṣīf al-YÄzijÄ« (d. 1871) declared that anyone who wished to excel in eloquence âshould memorize the Qurʾan and Nahj al-BalÄghah.â63 Another Lebanese scholar, Jurj JurdÄq (d. 2014), memorized the collection by the age of thirteen, and engaged with it deeply in a five-volume work on Ê¿AlÄ« that he titled al-ImÄm Ê¿AlÄ«: á¹¢awt al-Ê¿adÄlah al-insÄniyyah (Imam Ê¿AlÄ«: The Voice of Human Justice).
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Nahj al-BalÄghah also continues to be admired in present-day India, where it forms a regular part of the curriculum in ShiÊ¿i as well as many Sunni madrasas.64
I am not sure why, compared to other compilations of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words, Nahj al-BalÄghah has become the target of a certain amount of sectarian controversy.65 It is true that the volume includes the Shiqshiqiyyah oration (§â¯1.3), in which Ê¿AlÄ« claims his right to Muḥammadâs succession. But JÄḥiáº, ṬabarÄ«, Ibn HishÄm, and Ibn Ê¿Abd Rabbih, for exampleâfour famous and respected early Sunni scholarsâcite sermons, conversations, and letters by Ê¿AlÄ« that contain similar themes.66 And large parts of the Shiqshiqiyyah itself are recorded much before Raá¸Ä« by the early Sunni-MuÊ¿tazilite author AbÅ« al-QÄsim al-BalkhÄ« (d. 319/931), and the Sunni-ShÄfiÊ¿Ä«-AshÊ¿arÄ« scholar Ê¿AlÄ« ibn MahdÄ« al-ṬabarÄ« al-MÄmaá¹Ä«rÄ« (d. ca. 360/971).67 The Testament of Ashtar (§â¯2.53 in the present volume), too, another unfairly maligned text (by, for example, WadÄd al-QÄá¸Ä«, âAn early FÄá¹imid political documentâ), is recorded not only in the Twelver ShiÊ¿i Iraqi narrative tradition by Ibn ShuÊ¿bah al-ḤarrÄnÄ« (fl. 4th/10th c.) and Raá¸Ä« (d. 406/1015), but also in a distinct Fatimid IsmÄÊ¿Ä«lÄ« ShiÊ¿i Egyptian narrative tradition by al-QÄá¸Ä« al-NuÊ¿mÄn (d. 363/974), and in a yet further and distinct Zaydi ShiÊ¿i Yemeni narrative tradition in an unpublished manuscript in the Ambrosiana library in Milan.68 It appears that it was almost three centuries after Raá¸Ä«, when the Damascene historian Ibn KhallikÄn (d. 681/1282) first raised doubts about the compilationâs authenticity, that it began to be viewed in some quarters as a âShiÊ¿iââcode for âseditiousââtext. Several pro-Umayyad Damascus authorsâincluding, notably, Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328)âfollowed Ibn KhallikÄnâs lead.69 This limited group of detractors notwithstanding, Nahj al-BalÄghah continues to be memorized, studied, and cited avidly across wide reaches of the Islamic world. This brilliant ecumenical text rightly belongs to the collective heritage of Islam, the communal legacy of Arabic, and the shared inheritance of humanity.
5 Concluding Remarks
Of the numerous compilations of Ê¿AlÄ«âs words, Nahj al-BalÄghah towers above the rest in its fame. With a winning combination of brilliant prose and deep wisdom, it has enjoyed unprecedented currency through the centuries, being widely read and highly acclaimed throughout the Islamic world. On the one hand, the collection has become a benchmark for high style, the exemplar par excellence for those who would follow the Arabic âway of eloquence.â On the other hand, Ê¿AlÄ«âs wise teachings have resonated with Muslims throughout the past fourteen centuries, and they continue to hold immense consequence today. As a system of values, they promote a just and compassionate vision of Islam. In strife-torn Muslim-majority lands, they could unify ShiÊ¿is and Sunnis in their common faith. The divide between ShiÊ¿ism and Sunnism, to put the issue in simplistic terms, is largely based on the perception of Ê¿AlÄ«âs role as first Imam versus fourth Caliph. His own words and his example can and should be used not to create divisions between groups but to bring people together, to heal. As universal teachings of ethics, moreover, Ê¿AlÄ«âs words transcend time, place, and affiliation. They embody the best values we all possess. They teach harmonious relations with all humansâfor, as Ê¿AlÄ« reminds us, people are âare either our brothers in faith or our peers in creation.â
Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d, Sharḥ Nahj al-balÄghah, 1:24; the same laudation, with some variation in language, is offered by RÄwandÄ« (d. 573/1177, ShiÊ¿i), MinhÄj al-barÄÊ¿ah, 1:4: âbelow the words of God and his Messenger, and above the words of humansâ (â®
The attribution to Ê¿AlÄ«, here and throughout, is to be understood in light of complexities discussed in the next section, âCollection of Ê¿AlÄ«âs Words: Orality, Authenticity, Written Sources, and Influence on Litterateursâ: viz., many of the texts attributed to Ê¿AlÄ« are probably genuine remnants, some with modifications, some even verbatim, but interpolations, modifications, and texts of later provenance are also likely to be in the mix. To determine probable authenticity, we must assess individual textsârather than the compilation as a wholeâbased on early and wide provenance and compatibility with the literary and historical milieu of Ê¿AlÄ«âs time.
See collected accolades by ṬabÄá¹abÄʾī, âFÄ« RiḥÄb Nahj al-balÄgha,â part 4, passim; Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ, Maá¹£Ädir Nahj al-balÄghah, 1:87â99; Ê¿Uá¹ÄridÄ«, âIntroductionâ to his edition of KaydarÄ«âs commentary, 1:5â10, 52â53; Keizoghani and Nafchi, âThe Greatness of Nahj Al-Balagha.â Some laudatory statements are quoted later in the present Introduction.
(â®
Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d, Sharḥ Nahj al-balÄghah, 1:24. The same reportâwith âwordsâ instead of âorationsââis also cited by JahshiyÄrÄ«, WuzarÄʾ, 82; ThaÊ¿ÄlibÄ«, ThimÄr al-qulÅ«b, 165; ZamakhsharÄ«, RabÄ«Ê¿ al-abrÄr, 4:50; and á¹¢afadÄ«, WÄfÄ«, 18:23.
Western studies on Ê¿AlÄ«âs biography include Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad, 141â310; Gleave, âÊ¿AlÄ« b. AbÄ« ṬÄlib,â EI3; Manouchehri et al., âÊ¿AlÄ« b. AbÄ« ṬÄlib,â Encyclopaedia Islamica; Abbas, The Prophetâs Heir: The Life of Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib; Qutbuddin, âÊ¿Ali ibn Abi Talib,â Dictionary of Literary Biography.
(â®
(â®
Qutbuddin, âThe Preservation of Orations: Mnemonics-Based Oral Transmission, Supplementary Writing, and the Question of Authenticity,â in Arabic Oration, 21â63.
For example, the earliest manuscripts M, Sh, N, and H render the last sentence of oration §â¯1.201 as (â®
Four reservations expressed by modern authorsâe.g. Aḥmad AmÄ«n, Fajr al-IslÄm, 1:148â149; and á¹¢afÄʾ Khulūṣī, The Authenticity of Nahj al-Balagha, 31â35âapply to a handful of Nahj al-balÄghah texts, which, they say: contain (1) later philosophical terms such as âthe whereâ (al-ayn) and âeternal-nessâ (al-azaliyyah); (2) detailed descriptions, unusual for the period, of animals like the ant and the peacock; and (3) prophecies about future events, such as the Zanj rebellion. Also, (4) some sermons are long and would be difficult to memorize on the fly. The possibility of later provenance for some of these texts, or at least of modifications, remains high. As a caveat to the caveats, though, it is also possible that technical terms were inserted into original texts, and shorter pieces were later stitched together into lengthier scripts. And it could be argued that the prophecies are cryptically worded and plausible, and that copious descriptions of animals are also found in pre- and early Islamic poetry. As in all compilations of early Islamic materials, some parts are likely genuine, while others may be later additions or modifications. As mentioned earlier, we must examine individual pieces, rather than the compilation as a whole, to determine probable authenticity.
Schoeler (Genesis of Literature, 71â72, 77â78) discusses the composition of Ibn IsḥÄqâs MaghÄzÄ« as a teaching collection of notes. He also discusses an earlier work with the same name by Ê¿Urwah ibn Zubayr as a hypomnema notebook, collected by his students and used as a teaching aid (ibid., 17).
Ṭūsī, Fihrist, 130, after Minqarī (d. 212/827), on the authority of Abū Mikhnaf (d. 157/773).
See detailed list in Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ, Maá¹£Ädir, 1:454â486.
JÄḥiáº, Miʾat kalimah, ed. and trans. Qutbuddin, in Quá¸ÄÊ¿Ä«, A Treasury of Virtues: Sayings, Sermons, and Teachings of Ê¿AlÄ« with the One Hundred Proverbs Attributed to al-JÄḥiáº, 219â233.
Quá¸ÄÊ¿Ä«, DustÅ«r maÊ¿Älim al-ḥikam, ed. and trans. Qutbuddin, A Treasury of Virtues: Sayings, Sermons, and Teachings of Ê¿AlÄ«.
Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d, Sharḥ Nahj al-balÄghah, 2:83.
For al-Ḥasan al-Baá¹£rÄ«, see Mourad, Early Islam between Myth and History, 85. For Ibn NubÄtah, see Ibn TaghrÄ«birdÄ«, al-NujÅ«m al-zÄhirah, 4:150.
NaḥḥÄs, Ê¿Umdat al-kÄtib, 304â310, 316â321.
Masʿūdī, Murūj al-dhahab, 3:172.
Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d, Sharḥ Nahj al-balÄghah, 1:17, cited later in the present Introduction. See more references and discussion in Qutbuddin, âAdditional Categories: (2) Theology,â in Arabic Oration, 372â377.
Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ, Miʾat shÄhid wa-shÄhid min maÊ¿ÄnÄ« kalÄm al-ImÄm Ê¿AlÄ« Ê¿alayhi l-salÄm fÄ« shiÊ¿r AbÄ« al-Ṭayyib al-MutanabbÄ«.
Raá¸Ä«, DÄ«wÄn, 2:120.
Jiwa, âThe Baghdad Manifesto,â 42â43. Raá¸Ä«âs brother Murtaá¸Ä is also reported to have signed the document.
Raá¸Ä«, Khaá¹£Äʾiá¹£ al-aʾimmah, 36â38.
NajÄshÄ«, RijÄl, 398; á¹¢afadÄ«, WÄfÄ«, 2:277.
Numbers vary slightly in different editions, depending on how an editor separates or amalgamates certain pieces. In a few cases, there is a difference of opinion as to the genre of the textsâRaá¸Ä«, for example, lists §â¯30, §â¯1.212, §â¯1.215 as orations, whereas some other scholars list them as epistles (for details, see my notes for these texts). Raá¸Ä« also sometimes lists parts of a single text in different chapters: for example, he places §â¯1.147, a text he identifies as Ê¿AlÄ«âs deathbed testament, under Orations, and what he says is another part of the same text, §â¯2.23, under Letters. In what is probably a counterintuitive proposition for modern readers, a text could in some cases fall into both categories, oral and written. It could have been first delivered as an oration, then transcribed and disseminated as an epistle. It could also be that historians are unsure about the genre because excerpts from orations and epistles from the early period are stylistically quite similar. See discussion of this similarity in Qutbuddin, Arabic Oration, 416â419.
Themes may be located using the present volumeâs Detailed Contents and Indexes, and through published concordances, including Muḥammad, al-MuÊ¿jam al-mawá¸Å«Ê¿Ä« li-Nahj al-balÄghah; MuḥammadÄ« and DashtÄ«, al-MuÊ¿jam al-mufahras li-alfÄẠNahj al-balÄghah; and Bayá¸Å«n, Taá¹£nÄ«f Nahj al-balÄghah. Chronologyâfor the texts I was able to situateâis noted in the footnotes to the present volumeâs translation.
See a brief list of tentative sources in the introduction to the Appendix of Sources.
To locate names and themes within the volume, see Detailed Contents and Indexes.
Qutbuddin, âÊ¿AlÄ«âs Contemplations on this World and the Hereafter in the Context of His Life and Timesâ; Qutbuddin, âThe Sermons of Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib: At the Confluence of the Core Islamic Teachings of the Qurʾan and the Oral, Nature-Based Cultural Ethos of Seventh Century Arabia.â
Qutbuddin, âPiety and Virtue in Early Islam: Two Sermons by Imam Aliâ; Qutbuddin, âClassical Islamic Orationâs Art, Function, and Life-Altering Power of Persuasion: The Ultimate Response by Hammam to Aliâs Sermon on Piety, and by Hurr to Husaynâs Battle Oration in Karbala.â
Qutbuddin, âJust Leadership in Early Islam: The Teachings and Practice of Imam Aliâ; Shah-Kazemi, Justice and Remembrance, 73â133.
Supplications: general (§â¯1.222, §â¯1.224), for rain (§â¯1.141), at the start of battle (§â¯2.15), daily morning prayer (§â¯1.213).
§â¯1.218, §â¯1.219, §â¯1.220.
AshbÄḥ, §â¯1.88; QÄá¹£iÊ¿ah, §â¯1.190; GharrÄʾ, §â¯1.80; Shiqshiqiyyah, §â¯1.3; Khuá¹bat HammÄm, §â¯1.191; Waá¹£iyyat al-Ḥasan, §â¯2.31; Ê¿Ahd al-Ashtar, §â¯2.53; DaÊ¿Äʾim al-Ä«mÄn, §â¯3.26; al-Ê¿Ilmu khayrun mina l-mÄl, §â¯3.133.
For more detail, see Qutbuddin, âStyle of the Oration,â in Arabic Oration, 91â164; Qutbuddin, âA Sermon on Piety by Imam Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib: How the Rhythm of the Classical Arabic Oration Tacitly Persuadedâ; Qutbuddin, âThe Sermons of Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib: At the Confluence of the Core Islamic Teachings of the Qurʾan and the Oral, Nature-Based Cultural Ethos of Seventh Century Arabia.â
See Lanham, Analyzing Prose, passim.
AmÄ«nÄ«, Al-GhadÄ«r, 4:257â272, lists 81; Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ, Maá¹£Ädir Nahj al-balÄghah, 1:202â254, lists 101; LakhnawÄ«, introduction to RÄwandÄ«âs commentary, 1:36â49, lists 112; and Ê¿ÄmilÄ«, Shurūḥ Nahj al-balÄghah, lists 210.
Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d, Sharḥ Nahj al-balÄghah, 1:17.
Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d, Sharḥ Nahj al-balÄghah, 1:24.
Muʾayyad YaḥyÄ, al-DÄ«bÄj al-waá¸Ä«, 1:104â105.
Details of the latter two may be found in Ansari and Schmidtke, âThe Literary-Religious Tradition among Seventh/Thirteenth-Century Yemeni ZaydÄ«s (II): Appendix II,â 220.
Ê¿Abduh, Sharḥ Nahj al-balÄghah, 1:4.
Quá¸ÄÊ¿Ä«, KitÄb al-ShihÄb, ed. and trans. Qutbuddin, Light in the Heavens: Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.
ṬabÄá¹abÄʾī, âFÄ« RiḥÄb,â part 3, 49â50.
ṬabÄá¹abÄʾī, âFÄ« RiḥÄb,â part 3, 50â62.
ṬabÄá¹abÄʾī, âFÄ« RiḥÄb,â part 3, 63â89; EsḥÄqÄ«, âManbaÊ¿-shinÄsÄ«-yi tarjamah-hÄ-yi Nahj al-balÄghah.â Select list in present volumeâs Bibliography, under Raá¸Ä«, Nahj al-balÄghah.
ṬabÄá¹abÄʾī lists 172 early manuscripts dating from the 5th/11th through the 12th/18th centuries in worldwide collections. MuttaqÄ« lists 458 manuscripts through the early 14th/20th century. Details in Note on the Edition.
Ansari, âTÄzah-hÄ-yi darbÄra-yi riwÄyat Nahj al-balÄghah.â For details of our Y manuscript, see Note on the Edition in the present volume.
Qutbuddin, âBooks on Arabic Philology and Literature,â in Treasures of Knowledge, 607â623.
TaÅköprüzÄde, Åerhuâl-Ahlak, 37, 43, 49, 67, 69, 73, 75, 81, 83, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95, 97. I thank Sarah Aziz for this reference.
I thank Sachiko Murata and Wang Xi (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing) for the information on China, and Karim Crow and Asna Husin for the information on Malaysia and Indonesia.
John Morrow notes two citations of Ê¿AlÄ«âs wordsâthat do not, however, mention Nahj al-balÄghah specificallyâin Aljamiado traditions among Spanish Moriscos (Muslims who were forcibly converted to Christianity) in the 16th century: §â¯38 in Morrowâs âSourcesâ volume on divine decree, and §â¯41 on knowledge (Morrow, ShiÊ¿ism in the Maghrib and al-Andalus, 2:131â132 and 2:137) are the same as Nahj al-balÄghah, §â¯3.273 and §â¯3.349. I thank Linda Jones for this reference.
There seem to be no manuscripts of Nahj al-balÄghah from these two regions, no mention in scholarly curricula or biographies, and no citations in books. See the textâs absence from Fierroâs 8thâ15th c. AD bio-bibliographical database, History of the Authors and Transmitters of al-Andalus (HATA-
TihrÄnÄ«, DharÄ«Ê¿ah, 4:144.
ḤÄtim, al-MajÄlis al-ḤÄtimiyyah, Majlis §â¯110â130; IdrÄ«s, Ê¿UyÅ«n al-akhbÄr, 3:367; ṬÄhir Sayf al-DÄ«n, á¸awʾ nÅ«r al-ḥaqq, 98, MasarrÄt al-fatḥ, 192.
Sayf al-DÄ«n, Zubdat al-burhÄn, 31. Elsewhere, Sayf al-DÄ«n says: âOrations and sayings of the Commander of the Faithful Ê¿AlÄ« ibn AbÄ« ṬÄlib are stairways to the True Realities. Their way is the heart-healing âWay of Eloquence,â and their lines are lines of divine lightâ (Dalw ghadÄ«r ḥaqq, 134).
TushtarÄ«, MaÊ¿rifat, 253/260; Naṣīr al-DÄ«n al-ṬūsÄ«, Rawá¸ah, 41/44, 74/86, 79/93, 128/160; idem, Maá¹lÅ«b, 20/36; idem, ÄghÄz, 55/64â65.
Ansari and Schmidtke, âThe Literary-Religious Tradition among Seventh/Thirteenth-Century Yemeni ZaydÄ«s (II): Appendix II,â 220â230.
Quotes and references in Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ, Maá¹£Ädir, 1:87â99; ṬabÄá¹abÄʾī, âFÄ« RiḥÄb,â part 4, passim.
Quotes and references in Keizoghani and Nafchi, âThe Greatness of Nahj Al-Balagha and the Words of Imam Ali from the Perspective of Modern Christian Figures.â
Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ, Maá¹£Ädir, 1:91.
Kaur, Madrasa Education in India, 387.
See detailed analysis in Qutbuddin, âIs Nahj al-balÄghah a ShiÊ¿i Book? Insidious Labels and Academiaâs Myth of Objectivity.â
E.g., Ibn HishÄm, SÄ«rah, 2:489â490; Jahiz, BayÄn, 2:50â52; ṬabarÄ«, TÄrÄ«kh, 4:231â233, 5:7â8; Ibn Ê¿Abd Rabbih, Ê¿Iqd, 4:63, 68; more in Madelung, Succession to Muhammad, 28â33, 141, and passim.
Quotation of Shiqshiqiyyah oration in BalkhÄ«âs now lost books cited by Ibn AbÄ« al-ḤadÄ«d (Ḥ 1:205/206); MÄmaá¹Ä«rÄ«, Nuzhat al-Abá¹£Är, 255 (several biographers say MÄmaá¹Ä«rÄ« was a Sunni ShÄfiÊ¿Ä« AshÊ¿arÄ«, a few say he was a ShiÊ¿i Zaydi; details in editorâs introduction, ibid., 15â23).
NuÊ¿mÄn, DaÊ¿Äʾim, 1:353â367; see details of Zaydi Ambrosiana manuscript (catalog no. H 129, fol. 167v ff.) in Aná¹£ÄrÄ«, âMajmÅ«Ê¿ah-ye dÄ«gar az nuskhah-hÄ-ye khaá¹á¹Ä« Ambrosiana.â See also Aná¹£ÄrÄ«, âRiwÄyat wa-nuskha-Ä« jadÄ«d az Ê¿ahdnÄmah-ye MÄlik-e Ashtar.â
Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328), MinhÄj al-sunnah, 8:55â56; DhahabÄ« (d. 748/1347), MÄ«zÄn al-iÊ¿tidÄl, 3:124; Ibn Ḥajar al-Ê¿AsqalÄnÄ« (d. 852/1448), LisÄn al-mÄ«zÄn, 5:529. The following are their three main critiques: (1) Nahj al-balÄghahâs materials are not found in earlier sourcesâwhich is simply incorrect; see, for example, Appendix of Sources in the present volume, and the list of earlier sources in which Nahj al-balÄghah texts are found in Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ, Maá¹£Ädir Nahj al-balÄghah, passim; Ê¿ArshÄ«, IstinÄd Nahj al-balÄghah, passim; DashtÄ«, Ravish-i taḥqÄ«q, passim. (2) Raá¸Ä« does not cite his sourcesâmostly correct, but, as mentioned earlier, he followed the norm for literary compilations of his time, and modern scholars have filled the breach. (3) The book contains insults (sabb) directed at the first three Sunni caliphsâa more complicated issue, but in essence, the charge is false. Only a handful of texts reference AbÅ« Bakr and Ê¿Umar at all, and they say nothing directly critical. Even regarding Ê¿UthmÄn, whose administration many Muslims censured, Nahj al-balÄghah texts contain no overt reproach. Abundant castigations, however, are directed at MuÊ¿Äwiyah and Ê¿Amr ibn al-Ê¿Äá¹£, and, to a lesser extent, Ṭalḥah and Zubayrâindividuals who brought armies to fight Ê¿AlÄ«. Ê¿Äʾishah, another lead player in the Battle of the Camel, is not referenced directly, presumably for reasons of decorum. See further details of critiques and responses in Sultan, Ãtude sur Nahj al-Balâgha, passim; Hassan, A Critical Study of Nahj al-balÄgha, 25â58; Djebli, Encore à propos de lâauthenticité du Nahj al-Balagha, passim; Ê¿Abd al-ZahrÄʾ, Maá¹£Ädir, 1:100â199; JalÄlÄ«, DirÄsah ḥawl Nahj al-balÄghah, 52â75; summarized in Qutbuddin, âNahj al-balÄgha,â EI3; and Qutbuddin, âIs Nahj al-balÄghah a ShiÊ¿i Book?â