Nahj al-Balaghah (the Peak of Eloquence) is a collection of sayings and writings of Imam ‘Ali (a.s) which have been compiled by al-Sayyid al-Radi in the late 4th/10th century. It is pertinent to mention that the criterion for selecting these sayings has been the eloquence of speech. This article is aimed at examining the spiritual teachings of the great masterpiece.
Inimitable Moral Teaching
Moral and spiritual teachings constitute the greater part of the Nahj al-balaghah making up almost half of the book. More than anything else, the fame of the Nahj al-balaghah is due to the sermons, exhortations, and aphorisms on ethical and moral subjects. Aside from the moral teachings of the Quran and a number of the sermons and sayings of the Holy Prophet (‘s), which are to be considered the source and antecedent of the Nahj al-balaghah, the teachings of the Nahj al-balaghah are without a match in the Arabic and Persian languages.
For more than a thousand years these sermons have played an influential role serving as a matchless source of inspiration, and yet retained their original power to quicken the heart, sublimate emotions, and bring tears to the eyes. It seems that as long as there remains any trace of humanity in the world, these sermons shall continue to exercise their original power and influence.
A Comparison
The literature of Arabic and Persian is replete with works containing spiritual and moral teachings of the highest sublimity and elegance though mainly in the form of poetry. There is, for example, the famous qasidah by Abu al-Fath al-Busti (360-400/971-1010), which begins with the verse: Worldly profit and achievement is loss, And the gain unmarked by the seal of pure goodness.
There is also the elegiacal qasidah of Abu al-Hasan al-Tihami, which he wrote on the early death of his youthful son. It begins with these lines: The law of fate governs the destiny of creation, And this world is not a place to settle in.
Every one of these works is an everlasting masterpiece of its kind and shines like a star on the horizons of the Arabic literature of the Islamic era, never to lose its freshness and charm. In Persian, the Gulistan and Bustan of Saadi, and his poetries serve as an unusually attractive and effective means of moral advice and are masterpieces of their own kind. To give some examples, there are those famous verses of the Gulistan which start with the verse: “Every breath is a fraction of life gone, And when I see, not much has remained of it”.
Or in his qasa’id where he says: “O people, the world is not a place for leisure and repose; To the wise man, the world is not worth the effort of acquiring it”.
Or at another place where he says: “The world on water and life on wind do rest; Salutes to the brave who do not tie their hearts to them”.
And where he says: “Time and fortune are subject to endless change; The wise man doesn’t attach his heart to the world”.
Saadi’s Bustan is full of profound and glowing spiritual advice, and, perhaps, is at its best in the ninth chapter on “Penitence and the Right Way”. The same is true of some portions of the Mathnawi of Rumi and works of all other Persian poets, from whom we shall not further quote any examples. In Islamic literature, including Arabic and Persian, there exist excellent examples of spiritual counsels and aphorisms. This Islamic literary genre is not confined to these two languages but is also found in Turkish, Urdu, and other languages, and a characteristic spirit pervades all of them.
Anyone familiar with the Holy Quran, the sayings of the Holy Prophet (‘s), Amir al-Mu’minin Imam Ali (a), the other Imams (‘a), and Muslim saints of the first rank can observe a characteristic spirit pervading all Persian literature containing spiritual counsel, which represents the spirit of Islam embodied in the Persian language and embellished with its charm and sweetness. If an expert or a group of experts in Arabic and Persian literature acquainted with the works in all other languages that reflect the spirit of Islam, were to collect the masterpieces in the field of spiritual counsel, the extraordinary richness and maturity of the Islamic culture in his field will be revealed.
It is strange that so far as the works on spiritual counsel are concerned the Persian genius has mostly expressed itself in poetry; there is no such work of eminence in prose. All that exists of it in prose is in the form of short sayings, like the prose writings of the Gulistan-a part of which consists of spiritual counsels and is in itself a masterpiece-or the sayings ascribed to Khwajah ‘Abd Allah al-‘Ansari. Of course, my own knowledge is inadequate, but as far as I know, there does not exist in Persian prose any remarkable work, except for short sayings-not even a passage which is long enough to be counted as a short discourse, especially a discourse which was originally delivered extempore and later collected and recorded in writing.
There are discourses that have been related from Rumi or Sa’di, meant as oral moral advice to their followers; they also by no means possess the brilliance and charm of the poetic works of those masters and definitely are not worth considering for a comparison with the discourses of the Nahj al-balaghah. The same can be said about the writings which have reached us in the form of a treatise or letter, such as the Nasihat al-muluk by Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, the Taziyaneh-ye suluk by Ahmad al-Ghazali, the latter being an elaborate epistle addressed to his follower and pupil ‘Ayn al-Qudat al-Hamadan
Spiritual Counsel and Wisdom
Moral counsel, according to the Quran, is one of the three ways of invitation towards God (hikmah, maw’izah, al jidal al-hasan, i.e. wisdom, good admonition, and honourable debate). (1) The difference between hikmah (wisdom, philosophy) and maw’izah (spiritual and moral advice and admonition) lies in this hikmah is for instruction and imparting knowledge, while maw’izah is meant for reminding. Hikmah is the struggle against ignorance and maw’izah is a struggle against negligence and indifference. Hikmah deals with the intellect and maw’izah appeal to the heart.
Hikmah educates, while maw’izah prepares the intellect for employment in its reserves. Hikmah is a lamp and maw’izah is an eye-opener. Hikmah is for ratiocination, while maw’izah is for self-awakening. Hikmah is the language of the intellect, while maw’izah is the message for the spirit. Accordingly, the personality of the speaker plays an essential role in maw’izah, which is not the case with hikmah. In hikmah, two minds communicate in an impersonal manner but in maw’izah the situation is like the passage of an electric charge that flows from the speaker, who is at a higher potential, to the listener. For this reason, it has been said of maw’izah that: If it comes forth from the soul, then it necessarily alights upon the heart.
Otherwise, it does not go beyond the listener’s ears. It is about the quality of maw’izah that it is said: The speech which originates from the heart enters another heart, and the words which originate from the tongue do not go beyond the ears. It is true that the words that come from the heart, being the message of the soul, invade other hearts; but if they do not convey the message of the soul, are no more than empty literary devices, which do not go beyond the listener’s eardrum.
Continue in the next article: ( Nahj al-Balaghah and Its Spiritual Teachings (2) )
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1. As mentioned in The Glorius Quran 16: 125.
