In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Benevolent

During the last two years of my secondary education, a new book was prescribed for studies in English Literature. It was the famous joyous comedy by Shakespeare, “As You Like it.” I distinctly remember how I went through pages with a mixture of amusement and apathy. While our tutor dwelt several pertinent aspects of the book, like its literary style, beautiful expressions, apt descriptions and profundity, I must admit that I remained quite unimpressed. All through those days I was obsessed with a single belief that the book was an added burden to plod and labour under.

Our tutor, himself a keen student of English Literature, tried his best to create and instill in us a new interest in Shakespeare. At times he seemed to be completely lost in the beautiful lines of “As You Like It.” Reading it over and over again, musing and meditating over its meaning, appreciating the style and expressions, he would suddenly try to convey to us what was impossible to comprehend without the feelings of abandon and ecstasy which himself had experienced.

Till one day when we were told that a visitor had arrived from India, and he would give a talk on Shakespeare. With practically no enthusiasm, I walked to the dreary lecture room. Here was an elderly gentleman who was introduced to us as a distinguished man of letters, with a special bent and bias for Shakespeare. Patiently we sat listening to him, and as he went on, methodically developing his theme, discussing each and every character in “As You Like It,” relating their relevance to life, turning the light of the comic spirit upon the follies of mankind, a new use of literature in its various colorful dimensions began to unfold before my eyes. For the first time I realised that Shakespeare was not meant for only passing examinations. There was something much deeper in his work. It was Shakespeare re-visited.

Take for instance the following line:

“O, how bitter it is to look into happiness

through another man’s eyes.”

or

“Do you know that I am a woman? When I think, I must speak.”

These were the lines, among many others of course, which explained the realities of life with subtlety and refinement peculiar to Shakespeare. They failed to give me a jolt at first; but as I began to understand them better and experienced some of the message later, the lines were ingrained in my mind and memory.

When the Indian visitor finally read the following lines and enlarged upon its application to life, the life which I had not yet experienced, but for which I was being meticulously prepared, I felt myself riding upon a new wave, rocking helplessly between the admiration for the speaker and for man’s mastery of his art of expression.

“All the world is a stage

And all the men and women merely players

They have their exits and their entrances

And one man in his time plays many parts

His acts being seven stages

Then a soldier

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon’s mouth.”

But today, nearly two decades later, I have passed from a state of recognition to the state of realization. Then I knew that fire burnt, today I am a victim of burns. There is now an unmistakable change in my mood and temper. Shakespeare is now viewed from a different angle and perspective; I appreciate more his homely wisdom, his narrative skill, his style, his familiar quotations, his homage to a common man’s traits, and above all his recognition to permanent qualities in human nature.

Such is the case with. every classic in every known language. Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati or Kiswahili literatures have their own history of development, their own outstanding features and characteristics. Literature is an integral part of every civilization and its legacy to posterity. To my mind, a community devoid of propensity for literature is never a normally constituted community.

All works of literature face the same tragedy. They must be read in their original languages; when translated they invariably lose their charm, beauty, and at times even the meaning.

This is not to discourage works in translation, but just a word of warning to an unwary reader. The Holy Qur’an viewed as a literary exponent par excellence, has been translated into many languages. So has been Nahjul Balagha. Both have suffered a similar fate. While translators have earnestly strived to convey the contents, they have all, without exception, failed to transmit the beauty, charm rapture and captivation contained in the original.

I heard about Nahjul Balagha when I was a child. There was hardly a Majlis in which this famous collection of Imam ‘Ali (‘a)’s sermons, letters and short sayings went unmentioned. Ulama spoke highly about it, and I decided to read it myself. Going through the text in English, Urdu, Gujarati and Persian, I am not ashamed to admit that I found nothing extraordinary in the book.

It was only when I read it in Arabic, in the words spoken by Imam ‘Ali (‘a) himself that I felt enthralled. Suddenly there arose before me a billowing ocean of eloquence, wisdom and within me I felt unable to fathom its depth. I read a line over and over again to comprehend what my Imam meant, and as I probed, I came to realize that his words were truly inspired; for a mortal may speak, but not with so much of meaning squeezed into few words.

And then I came across a work by Shaheed Murtaza Mutahhari a great Islamic scholar, martyred during the initial days after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. This work entitled Saeri Dar Nahjul Balagha (A journey into Nahjul Balagha) proved to me how little I understood Nahjul Balagha despite my fascination.

For the first time, the words spoken by Imam ‘Ali (‘a) came to my mind with new meanings and messages. Mutahhari, in this introductory masterpiece, is completely at home with the language, style and contents of Nahjul Balagha; his translation of words is precise, his comments revealing and incisive. Added to this, he has given a detailed treatment to the literary aspects, exposing its beauty and splendor to a lay reader.

Interestingly enough, Mutahhari relates in the preface of this work an incident which awakened him to the worth and value of Nahjul Balagha. He says:

“As a child, I knew Nahjul Balagah by name, and I had seen a copy in my father’s collections, later, during my student days in Meshed and Qum, I often heard Nahjul Balagha being mentioned as an excellent and authentic book, second to Qur’an. Some sermons on self-denial and withdrawal from the worldly pleasures fell on my ears quite often, so often that most of them were on my tongue. But I must confess that I was a stranger to the world of Nahjul Balagha, till when I chanced to go to Isfhehan one summer and met a godly scholar who initiated me into the realm of the sacred Book. I have always wished for a similar encounter so that I could be introduced to the Holy Qur’an in the same manner ...

He was an expert jurist (Faqeeh), sagacious, well versed in literature and a competent student of traditional medicine. In these subjects he excelled, and his lectures were well attended. But when he spoke on Nahjul Balagha, one could sense a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, something inexpressible. He lived and breathed with Nahjul Balagha, his pulse and heartbeats were in rhyme with Nahjul Balagha He was the Great Aqae Haj Mirza ‘Ali Aqa Shirazi.”

Arabic has its own characteristic and singular features. It has a grammar and morphology, which is intricate and elaborate. But a student, who wishes to learn the Arabic grammar, lovingly and objectively, not grudgingly or for the sake of merely learning one more language, finds laws therein which surprisingly conform with common sense and are truly representative of human behavior in life.

This, in itself, is a vast subject, and falls outside my immediate concern. But suffice it to say that Arabic expressions, eloquence, rhetoric and even simple usage of words do not have suitable equivalence in English and for that matter in most of the spoken language today. Words like Adl, Abd, Taqwa, Aql, Iman, Islam, Qadar emanate from roots, which have diverse meanings and connotations, and by the time they are transformed into nouns, verbs or adjectives, they assume further meanings. When used in religious form and context, they acquire different meanings altogether.

Imam ‘Ali (‘a) has employed such words in their various meanings and as such a person proposing to translate his words ought to be conversant with Imam’s intent and style, besides being a scholar of Arabic language and literature. Nahjul Balagha has two distinctive features.

Eloquence And Rhetoric

Sentences are short but pregnant with meanings. Words used are appropriate, at times metaphoric, with a purpose to encompass the meanings and implications fully. At times they are cryptic to the uninitiated.

Arabs were known for their literary achievements and excellence before the advent of Islam. Therefore, when the Holy Qur’an was revealed or when Imam ‘Ali (‘a) spoke from the pulpit of Kufa (Iraq), there already existed a society conversant with the finery and finesse of literature.

They found, however, a striking difference between the literatures they knew and the one they now heard and read. This difference was in the substance and content. The Pre-Islamic Arabic literature was visionary and romantic. The Islamic literature, with all its excelling qualities, dealt with the abstract as well as the tangible.

The second distinctive feature of Nahjul Balagha is, therefore, its substance and matter. It tells us about Allah, His Attributes, His Oneness, about the Prophet, the Holy Qur’an, the Ahl ul-Bayt, the Resurrection, the Day of Judgement and, at the same time, deals with human life, its goal and attainments, its virtue, and qualities.

Then there are chapters on fear of God, self-denial in its positive sense and admonition. Nahjul Balagha requires us not only to engage in the admiration of its style, but also to understand and apply its lessons.

Nahjul Balagha was compiled by Shareef Radhi, one of our renowned ulama of the fourth century. Besides being a Faqeeh of high repute, he was a fine scholar of Arabic literature, with a noteworthy contribution of his own. Sheikh Muhammad Abduh a great scholar of Egypt, quotes Tha’alabi in his preface to Nahjul Balagha as follows:

“He (Shareef Radhi) is a man of wonderful attainments and the noblest among Sadat of Iraq. Besides, he stands unequalled in his erudition. Among all the famous poets and literary giants of his time, he towers high. In fact, none has been able to reach his height.”

Tha’alabi was a contemporary of Shareef Radhi. The words from Shareef Radhi’s own preface give us an insight into how the sermons of Imam ‘Ali (‘a) influenced him to undertake the compilation. He says:

“My friends requested me to compile a book containing selected sayings of our Lord Amir Al-Mu’minin, related to various subjects and their branches, from his sermons, letters, admonitions and literature. They knew that those sayings were examples of exquisite skill in human expressions. They were jewels of Arabic literature, radiant words of religious as well as secular wisdom, not to be found in any single work.

Amir Al-Mu’minin (‘a) is the fountainhead of eloquence and source of Arabic rhetoric. From him was found the hidden treasure of wisdom and he enunciated the laws of correct speech. The famous lecturers followed his style, and the renowned preachers quoted his sayings. And yet he is far above those who tried to emulate him. Because words of ‘Ali, peace be upon him, have a divine touch and an unmistakable aroma of the Prophet’s utterances.”

It must be noted, however, that Nahjul Balagha is not the only book containing the sayings of Imam ‘Ali (‘a). A hundred years before Shareef Radhi lived, Masoodi had referred in Murooj-u-dhahab (Vol. 11) to a collection of the Imam’s sayings. In fact, there are many sermons and short sayings of Imam ‘Ali (‘a), which were not included by Shareef Radhi in his selection.

‘Ali Al-Jundi, head of Cairo University, in his introduction to ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib, Shiruhu wa Hikamuh (‘Ali lbn Abi Talib, his verses and maxims) mentions the following three unpublished works which contain a wealth of quotations from Imam ‘Ali (‘a).

i. Dastoor Ma’alim el Hikam by Qadhai, the author of El Khutat.

ii. Nathru Llua’li. This has been translated by a Russian orientalist and published in one volume.

iii. Hikamu Seyyidina ‘Ali. A manuscript in Darul Kutub, Egypt.

As mentioned earlier, several versions of English translations of Nahjul Balagha have appeared, and there is no further need for repeating the exercise. To translate Nahjul Balagha is to undertake a mammoth task, and the scholars who devoted their time to this invaluable endeavour deserve our admiration.

What is needed, however, is a concise introduction to Nahjul Balagha, to prepare a student before he plunges into the depths of the great Book itself. In so doing, it was necessary to select a few passages as beacons, so that the way is well-Iit and the veil is lifted.

I have translated, in my own way and style, some of the paramount features of Nahjul Balagha. The passages, deal with the fundamentals, and with other ancillary subjects. Needless to mention the inspiration I have received from the works of Marhum Allama Sayyid Mohammad Husayn Tabatabai, Marhum Sheikh Murtaza Mutahhari and Allama Mohammed Taqi Ja’ffery

for with their aid and guidance, I feel better acquainted with the fringes of Nahjul Balagha. It is Nahjul Balagha re-visited.

Peace be upon Muhammad and his progeny, and all those who follow Divine Guidance.

Asgharali M. M. Jaffer

Nairobi, Kenya 1982.