Later I wished that I would also find someone who would...

Later I wished that I would also find someone who would introduce me into the world of the Quran. Since then, the countenance of the Nahj al-balaghah was transformed in my eyes. I became fond of it, and gradually my fondness grew into love. It was now a different book from the one I had known until that moment. I felt as if I had discovered an entirely new world.

Shaykh Muhammad 'Abduh, the former mufti of Egypt, who edited and published the Nahj al-balaghah with a brief commentary, and for the first time introduced this book to the Egyptians, says that he had no knowledge of this book until he undertook its study far from home in a distant land. He was struck with wonder and felt as if he had discovered a precious treasure trove. Thereupon, he immediately decided to publish it and introduce it to the Arab public.

The unfamiliarity of a Sunni scholar with the Nahj al-balaghah is not surprising; what is amazing is that the Nahj al-balaghah should be a stranger and alien in its own homeland and among the Shi'ah of 'Ali ('a) and that too in the Shi'i theological schools in the same way as 'Ali himself has remained isolated and a stranger.

Evidently, if the content and ideas of a book or the feelings and emotions of a person do not harmonize with the mentality of a people, that book or person practically remains isolated as a stranger in an alien world, even though the name of such a person or book may be mentioned with great respect and admiration. We, the theology students, must confess our estrangement from the Nahj al-balaghah. We have built a mental world of our own which is alien to the world of the Nahj al-balaghah.

As I write this preface, I cannot abstain from recalling with sorrow the memory of that great man who introduced me for the first time into the world of the Nahj al-balaghah, and whose acquaintance I treasure as one of the most precious experiences of my life, which I would not exchange for anything. No day or night passes without my remembering him or mentioning him with feelings of gratitude.

I dare say that he was a divine scholar ('alim-e rabbani) in the true sense of the word, though I dare not claim that I was "a learner of the path of deliverance" (muta'allim 'ala sabil al-najat). [^1] I remember that in my meetings with him, I was always reminded of the following verse of Sa'di: The devout, the ascetic, and the Subi, All are toddlers on the path; If there is any mature man, It is none other than the 'alim-e rabbani.