The Nahj al-balaghah is a collection of sermons, precepts, prayers, epistles and
aphorisms of 'Ali ('a) compiled by al-Sayyid al-Sharif al-Radi about one thousand years ago.
However, neither the recorded words of Mawla 'Ali are confined to those collected by al-Sayyid
al-Radi, nor was he the
only man to compile the sayings of Amir al-Muminin. Al-Masudi, who lived
a hundred years
before al-Sayyid al-Radi, in the second volume of his work Muruj al-dhahab , writes: "At present there
are over 480 sermons of 'Ali in the hands of the people," whereas the total number of sermons
included by al-Sayyid al-Radi
in his collection is 239 only.
The alienation from the Nahj al-balaghah was not confined to me or others like me,
but pervaded through the Islamic society. Those who understood this book, their knowledge did
not go beyond the translation of its words and explanatory notes on its sentences. The spirit
and the content of the book
were hidden from the eyes of all. Only lately, it may be said, the Islamic world has begun to
explore the Nahj al-balaghah , or in other words, the Nahj al-balaghah has started its conquest of
the Muslim world.
What is surprising is that a part of the contents of the Nahj al-balaghah , both in
Shi'ite Iran and Arab countries, was first discovered either by atheists or non-Muslim theists,
who revealed the greatness of the book to the Muslims. Of course, the purpose of most or all of
them was to utilize the
Nahj al-balaghah of 'Ali ('a) for justifying and confirming their own
social views;
but the outcome was exactly opposite of what they desired. Because, for the first time the
Muslims realized that the views expressed grandiloquently by others had nothing new to offer and that
they cannot surpass what is said in the Nahj al-balaghah of 'Ali ('a), or translated into action
through the character ( sirah ) of 'Ali and his disciples like Salman
al-Farsi, Abu Dharr, and 'Ammar. The result of it was that instead of supporting the
pretentious views of those
who wished to exploit the Nahj al-balaghah , 'Ali and his book defeated
their purpose.
Nevertheless, it must be accepted that before this occurred, most of us had little knowledge
of the Nahj al-balaghah and it hardly went beyond appreciation of few sermons about virtues
of piety and abstinence. Nobody had yet recognized the significance of the valuable epistle
of Mawla 'Ali to Malik al-'Ashtar
al-Nakh'i; nobody had paid attention to it.
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