The first man who tried to create some doubt about it was...

The first man who tried to create some doubt about it was Ibn Khallikan who died in 681 A.H., who was not in Iraq or Egypt nor in the center of Islamic learning, but in Qairawan and Cordova under the Umayyad kingdom of Spain. He wrote while writing about As-Sayyid Murtada, the elder brother of Sayyid Radi: "People are of different views about the book, Nahjul Balaghah which is a collection of the talks of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع), whether it was compiled by him, i.e.

Sayyid Murtada or his brother, Sayyid Radi. It is said that this is not from the speeches of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, but it was compiled by the man who forged it; and Allah knows better." This short remark shows that Ibn Khallikan was even unaware of who was the compiler of Nahjul Balaghah, and then he has used the word, "It is said'', but does not mention who had said it that it was not the speech of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع); and then he ends at the phrase, and Allah knows better.

So in this way he for the first time sowed the seed of suspicion and doubt about this book. Also he does not say that the scholars or 'Ulama' have different views; he just says that "people" have different views. Now one century after Ibn Khallikan came Adh-Dhahabi whose prejudice against the Shias is well-known and he went even further.

He writes in the life-history of Sayyid Murtada: "Whoever would see this book, Nahjul Balaghah, will understand surely that it is spurious and forged in the name of Amirul-Mu'minin, because in this book is open denunciation of the two Sheikhs, Abu Bakr and Umar." Is it not strange that for two hundred and fifty years there was no controversy about Nahjul Balaghah.

Ibn Khallikan, sitting in Al-Maghhrib, said that the people had different views that whether it was compiled by Sayyid Murtada or Sayyid Radi, and then said that "it is said" that it was not the speeches and writings of Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Then one hundred years after that came Adh-Dhahabi who tried to cast doubt and suspicion on the ground that the book contained open denunciation of Abu Bakr and Umar. Before commenting on this view, a few things should be mentioned beforehand.

First: It is not that Sayyid Radi was the first man to compile the lectures, sermons and letters of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع). Al-Mas'udi (who died in 340 A.H. long before the birth of Sayyid Radi, and who was a contemporary of not only Shaikh Mufid, but even of Shaikh Saduq) writes: The people had memorized his (i.e.