ভূমিকা

What Book is The Nahjul Balagha? - Al-Shia The Scientific and Cultural Website of Shia belief What Book is The Nahjul Balagha? 2023-03-17 1267 Views Books of Hadith , Nahj al-Balagha , Imam Ali's Speeches It is necessary, in the beginning, to provide our brothers and sisters with a brief introduction to the Nahjul Balagha.

As you know, the Nahj-ul-Balagha is a collection of Sermons, Letters and miscellaneous sayings left as a memorial from the Master of the Pious, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, peace be upon him. This book is divided into three sections; Sermons, Letters and short Sayings or’ wise Sayings’ (hikam), as they are usually called, some of which have been selected from among the Sermons and Letters.

Contents Fundamental Beliefs Social and Political Matters Morality The Nahj-ul-Balagha dates back to about one thousand years ago when the late Sayyid Radhi compiled these Letters and Sermons at the end of the third and the outset of the fifth century (400A.H). It is, thus, one thousand-year-old book. It is to be noted, however, that before Sayyid Radhi made efforts in compiling Imam Ali’s sermons and sayings that were scattered in the books of the Traditions and history.

Other scholars had also begun to perform this task in one way or another, but no one succeeded in accomplishing what Sayyid Radhi did. Therefore, we are indebted to the endeavours and initiatives of this great scholar who left the Nahj-ul-Balagha for us.

Another point to be noted here is that, in addition to the contents of the Nahj-ul-Balagha, a number of sermons, letters and short sayings of Imam Ali, peace be upon him, can be found in different books which the recent scholars have tried to compile and introduce as appendices to the Nahj-ul-Balagha.

Therefore, in addition to the Nahj-ul-Balagha which is, in itself, a rich and invaluable treasure, here are some other books of Imam Ali’s Sayings which shall later be introduced to the readers in detail so that they may obtain a general acquaintance with the bibliography of the Nahj-ul-Balagha and its related books. Another point to note about the Nahj-ul-Balagha concerns the invalidity of this book, a claim made by some people over the years.

The motive behind such a claim can easily be surmised, that is, the subject matter of the Nahj-ul-Balagha threatened the interests of some groups or classes of people who therefore found the best device, to be discrediting the book itself.