The most interesting and at the same time the weakest part...

The most interesting and at the same time the weakest part of the objections concerns the ascription of the authorship of Nahj al-balaghah to al-Murtadha. The objectors belonged to the Umayyad West and had deep prejudices against Shiii scholars, and perhaps under the impact of Umayyad propaganda, their prejudice was so deep-rooted that even their scholarship could not rise above it. Among the four contemporaries of al-Radi and al-Murtadha, three, that is, al-Tha’alibi, al-Najashi (d.

450/1058), and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463/1071) have given accounts of both the brothers. Al-Shaykh al-Tusi did not give any account of al-Radhi in al-Fihrist or al-Rijal, but he did not count Nahj al-Balagha among the works of al-Murtadha, which dispel any conjecture attributing its authorship to him, because al-Tusi was very close to him as his student. Al-Tha’alibi and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi did not mention Nahj al-balaghah either in the account of al-Murtadha or that of al-Radhi.

Al-Najashi in unambiguous terms attributed Nahj al-Balagha to al-Radi. Al-Tusi’s exclusion of Nahj al-balaghah from the works of al-Murtadha, and al-Najashi’s mention of it among the works of al-Radhi are sufficient to prove that it was without any doubt a work of al-Radhi. The objectors, who could not even determine the authorship of the book exactly, depended on nothing but their whim to raise doubts about its authenticity.

A more convincing proof of al-Radi’s authorship of Nahj al-balaghah can be found in his own other works in which he has mentioned it. Those books are the following: 1. Khasa’is al- ‘A’immah: A manuscript of this work of al-Radhi is in Ridha Library Rampur (India) which reveals that Fadl Allah ibn ‘Ali al- Husayn al-Rawandi (d. 555/1160) accepted Khasa’is as al-Radi’s work. In this book, as quoted above, al-Radhi has mentioned his intention of compiling Nahj al-balaghah. 2.

Haqa’iq al-tanzil: Only the fifth part of this book is accessible to us. Its authorship is unanimously attributed to al-Radhi. Al-Radhi makes this remark: Anybody who needs proof of our claim should refer to our book Nahj al-balaghah and think about its contents. We have compiled all forms and genres of the utterances of Amir al-Mu’minin (as) in this book, which comprises sermons, letters, aphorisms, and admonitions, and is divided into three independent parts, each containing a specific genre.

(1) 3. Majazat al-‘athar al-Nabawiyyah: Al-Najashi and others have included this book among al-Radi’s works.