Authenticity of Nahj al-Balagha Attribution to Imam Ali (AS)

Nahj al-Balagha, the valuable work of al-Sharif al-Radi, is regarded by scholars and great figures as immensely noble and exalted, for it contains the words of Imam Ali (AS). Because of its honor and greatness, it has become known as the sibling of the Quran. Although the precious book Nahj al-Balagha is beyond the speech of human beings and below the Word of God, some have raised various doubts about Nahj al-Balagha attribution to Imam Ali (AS). In other words, they do not believe that these unparalleled sermons and sayings belong to Imam Ali (AS).

The History of Doubts About the Nahj al-Balagha Attribution

Suspicion about Nahj al-Balagha Attribution has existed since the time when Ibn Abi al-Hadid wrote his commentary on it, and groups driven by their desires engaged in this deception. Ibn Abi al-Hadid says: “Some followers of desire claim that many passages in Nahj al-Balagha are fabricated sayings, created by some eloquent Shia speakers, and perhaps some of them were attributed to Sharif al-Radi. These are people whose fanaticism has blinded them, and out of deviation and ignorance of speech and eloquence, they have turned away from the clear path and taken the wrong way”.[1]

The continuation of this deviation by misguided individuals in later eras further fueled this plot and brought this doubt to the forefront. Among Orientalists, such a view has been attributed to Monsieur de Mombein[2] and Carl Brockelmann, and among Arab writers, Jurji Zaydan cast such doubts and offered for himself several supposed reasons.[3]

The Alleged Reasons Behind the Doubts Concerning Nahj al-Balagha Attribution

Those who cast doubt on Nahj al-Balagha attribution have proposed, in their own view, several reasons for their claims, including:

1. Nahj al-Balagha contains remarks that appear as indirect criticism of some Companions of the Prophet (PBUHH), which they claim is inconsistent with the rank and character of Imam Ali (AS).
2. The words Wasiy (legatee) and Wasayah (legateship) appear in this book, whereas, according to them, these terms were not known among people in that era.
3. The length of some sermons and some letters does not match the familiar style of that time.
4. The presence of rhymed prose, rhythm, and other verbal embellishments that entered Arabic literature in later periods.
5. The presence of precise descriptions, such as those of the bat, the peacock, and the ant, which seem, in their view, closer to the translations of Greek and Persian scientific works.
6. The categorization of concepts and subjects, which they argue was not common at that time and supposedly became widespread later under the influence of translations.
7. The presence of phrases in Nahj al-Balagha that seem to imply knowledge of the unseen, whereas, in their view, Imam Ali (AS) would not have made such a claim.
8. The abundance of passages about asceticism and remembrance of death, which they claim could be the result of Muslim encounters with Christians, the influence of their ideas, or the later influence of Sufi thought, all of which, they argue, pertain to periods after Imam Ali (AS).
9. The Nahj al-Balagha attribution in some sentences and phrases found to other individuals in certain early books and sources.
10. The absence of citations from Nahj al-Balagha as literary evidence in a considerable number of lexicons and literary works. In this regard, the lack of hadith chains in Nahj al-Balagha may have led some, at first glance, to assume such a suspicion is not far from reality and thus fall into this error.

Another basis for doubt has been the fact that Sayyid Razi was both a Shia devoted to the Prophet’s Household (AS) and a capable man of letters and a skilled poet. According to Dr. Shafi al-Sayyid, who is one of those who cast doubt in this regard, Sharif al-Radi’s attachment to the Ali family (AS) makes it possible to question the accuracy of his statements and to suspect bias and partiality toward Ali (AS).[4]

Some who have written about Sharif al-Radi say: He was a poet for whom words flowed easily, he had an eloquent tongue, and in addition to his ability in poetry, he was eloquent and powerful in prose as well.

Reasons for the Authenticity of the Nahj al-Balagha Attribution

The weakness of such assumptions and ideas about the noble Nahj al-Balagha attribution, rightly known as the sibling of the Quran,becomes clear with a little reflection. It becomes evident that these words, beyond the speech of human beings and below the Word of the Lord of the Worlds, were spoken by the Master of the God-conscious, Imam Ali (AS).

Considering the above-mentioned doubts, which all stem from denying the Nahj al-Balagha attribution and authenticity, the reasons confirming the authenticity of this valuable book can be summarized as follows:

A) Style and Manner of Speech

Anyone who has tasted even a little Arabic literature and has experience with it, upon reflecting on Nahj al-Balagha, realizes that these expressions cannot come from an ordinary poet or orator, nor from anyone other than the Commander of the Arabic rhetoricians. Ibn Abi al-Hadid says about him: “Ali is the leader of the eloquent and the master of the devotees of rhetoric. His speech is below the Word of the Creator and above the words of creatures. People learned speaking and writing from him”.[5]

When scholars and eloquent literary figures have approached this book, they have opened their tongues in praise, while admitting their inability to describe its depth or reach its full meaning. They have considered it an arena of eloquence and rhetoric, revealing that with every fresh reading they discover new insights and draw fresh benefits.

Abd al-Hamid ibn Yahya al-Katib, an Arab poet and man of letters who lived during the reign of Marwan ibn Muhammad, says about Nahj al-Balagha: “I memorized seventy sermons of Ali (AS), and springs of speech began to flow from my nature”.[6]

Ibn Nubata says: “I have stored a treasure of eloquence whose spending only increases and expands it. This productive treasure consists of a hundred sections of the admonitions of Ali ibn Abi Talib (AS)”.

Ibn Abi al-Hadid also quotes Ibn Khushab, who said: “When he was told that many people claim that the Sermon of al-Shiqshiqiyya is the work of Sharif al-Radi, he replied: Radi and anyone other than Radi, where are they, and where is this tone and this style of speech? We are well aware of Radi’s writings and familiar with his prose style and artistry, and we know that this prose bears no close or distant relationship to the speech of the Amir al-Muminin (AS)”.[7]

B) Internal Harmony and Consistency

Internal coherence within a collection is one of the greatest signs of its authenticity. The Holy Quran, when responding to the unbelievers’ allegation that the Prophet (PBUHH) authored it, states: “Had it been from other than God, they would have found in it much contradiction”.[8]

This is one of the most important reasons Ibn Abi al-Hadid discusses. He states: “There are only two possible assumptions: either all of Nahj al-Balagha is fabricated, or only part of it is”.

The first assumption is clearly invalid, because we know with Tawatur that parts of Nahj al-Balagha are authentically attributed to Imam Ali (AS), and most hadith scholars and historians have transmitted many sections of this book. One cannot accuse all of them of a coordinated intention.

But if one claims the second assumption, that part is genuine and part is fabricated, this itself becomes proof of the authenticity of the entire work. Anyone familiar with speech, rhetoric, and eloquence must inevitably be able to distinguish between eloquent and uneloquent speech, between eloquent and more eloquent, and between original and fabricated. If such a person encounters a collection containing the speech of several orators, or even two orators, he can distinguish between their styles.

For example, literary scholars who know Arabic poetry, if they flip through the Diwan of Abu Tammam and find one or more poems not written by him, can easily, relying on their literary intuition, detect the inconsistency with Abu Tammam’s style, school, rhythm, and rhyme.

In this exact way, scholars have removed many fabricated poems attributed to him, or removed verses attributed to Abu Nuwas and others, solely because they differed from the poetic school and style of those poets. Critics relied only on their refined literary sense.

With this background, if you reflect on Nahj al-Balagha, you will see that the entire book has a unified style and tone from a single source, like a simple and expansive body in which none of its parts differ in essence or nature from the others.

It is exactly like the Quran, whose beginning, middle, and end are harmonious, and every Surah and verse shares the same style. If part of Nahj al-Balagha were fabricated and part authentic, such uniformity would not exist. Thus, it becomes clear that those who claim that all or part of Nahj al-Balagha has been falsely attributed to Imam Ali (AS) are mistaken and misguided.

Moreover, by making such a claim, they open a door they themselves do not accept. For if we allow such pervasive doubts to dominate, we would never again be confident about the authenticity of sayings attributed to the Prophet (PBUHH). Anyone could then say: “This report is fabricated”, or, “This statement is false!”.

On this basis, whatever these critics rely upon to prove the authenticity of hadith from the Prophet, the Rightly Guided Caliphs, or the Companions, can just as easily be used by those who transmit Nahj al-Balagha.

C) Consistency of Content With Other Hadiths

Much of what appears in Nahj al-Balagha on theological, ethical, social, and other topics corresponds clearly with what has been narrated from the Prophet (PBUHH) and from the other Imams (AS).

This harmony itself is further evidence that what appears in Nahj al-Balagha comes from the same source as the other narrations of the Infallibles (AS). The final sentence from Ibn Abi al-Hadid cited earlier may also hint at this reason.

D) Historical Authenticity of the Narrations in Nahj al-Balagha

The material found in Nahj al-Balagha appears in both earlier and later Shia and Sunni sources. Sharif al-Radi’s effort to compile the sayings of Ali (AS) is only one example in a long chain of scholars and great figures who attempted this important task before him.

Muhammad Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim, translator and scholar of Nahj al-Balagha, states in the introduction to his edition of Ibn Abi al-Hadid’s commentary: “Many scholars and literary figures, across the years and centuries, attempted to compile dedicated books and collections preserving the sayings of the Amir al-Muminin (AS). Some of these collections survive, while many others have been lost to time”.

Ibn Abi al-Hadid also reports, under the Sermon of al-Shiqshiqiyya (the third sermon), that Ibn Khushab said: “By God, I have seen this sermon in a book written two hundred years before the birth of Sharif al-Radi. I have seen it in scripts I recognize, and among them are the handwriting of scholars and literary figures who lived before the birth of al-Radi’s father”.

Given this, how can some so-called scholars and researchers claim that the noble Nahj al-Balagha was written or fabricated by Sharif al-Radi or other scholars? How can one imagine that words which captivate and overwhelm every reader could be produced by ordinary human beings?

Conclusion

Because of its greatness and lofty status, reminding us of the Quran and its noble concepts under the title: the sibling of the Quran, Nahj al-Balagha has always been targeted by baseless doubts from biased individuals and superficial scholars of various groups.

Some, by repeating old claims, have sought to undermine Nahj al-Balagha attribution to Imam Ali (AS). The reasons of these skeptics are easily refuted with a brief reflection on Nahj al-Balagha. In this article, we found that such expressions could never come from an ordinary poet or speaker; they could only come from the Commander of the masters of Arabic eloquence.

Notes

[1] . Ibn Abi al-Hadid, Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, vol.10, pp. 127–129.

[2] . Mubarak, Artistic Prose in the Fourth Hijri Century, vol.1, p.69.

[3] . Zaydan, History of Arabic Literature, vol.2, p.288.

[4] . Hilal Magazine, Issue 12, Year 83, p.95.

[5] . Ibn Abi al-Hadid, Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, vol.1, p.24.

[6] . Motahhari, A Survey of Nahj al-Balagha, p.11.

[7] . Motahhari, A Survey of Nahj al-Balagha, p.11.

[8] . Al-Nisa:82.

References

1. The Holy Quran.
2. Hilal Magazine, Issue 12, 1383 SH.
3. Ibn Abi al-Hadid, Abd al-Hamid ibn Hibat Allah, Sharh Nahj al-Balagha, Qom, Library of Grand Ayatollah al-Marashi al-Najafi, 1363 SH.
4. Motahhari, Murtaza, A Survey of Nahj al-Balagha, Qom, Sadra Publications, 1393 SH.
5. Mubrak, Zaki, Artistic Prose in the Fourth Hijri Century (al-Nathr al-Fanni fi al-Qarn al-Rabi), Cairo, Egyptian National Library, 1352 SH.
6. Zaydan, Jurji, History of Arabic Literature, Beirut, Dar Maktabat al-Hayat, 1992.

Source of the article | Adapted from:

1. Al Yasin, Mohammad Hasan, A Response to the Doubts Surrounding Nahj al-Balagha, Nahj al-Balaghah Quarterly, Issues 11–12, pp. 116–139.
2. Article: “The Similarity Between the Babakān Advice Book and Nahj al-Balagha,” Wiki-Pasokh, the virtual encyclopedia for answering questions and doubts, affiliated with the Center for Studies and Response to Doubts (Hawzah Seminaries).