page_title: Nahj al-Balagha
section_title: Authenticity
hierarchical_section_title: Nahj al-Balagha / Authenticity
caption_attribution_description: English: Folio from a Nahj al-Balagha العربية: نهج البلاغة لسيد الرضي، كاتب: محمد بن أحمد النقيب، تحرير في 544هـ فارسی: نهج‌البلاغه، گردآورنده سید رضی رضوان الله علیه، کاتب: محمد بن احمد النقیب، تاریخ تحریر: ۵۴۴ه.ق.
context_page_description: The Nahj al-Balagha is the most famous collection of sermons, letters, tafsirs and narrations attributed to Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad. It was collected by Ash-Sharif Ar-Radhi,
  a Shia scholar in the 10th century AD Known for its eloquent content, it is considered a masterpiece of literature in Shia Islam.
context_section_description: Nahj al-Balagha was compiled by tenth-century scholar Sharif Razi, over 300 years after Ali. In regards to the documents of Nahj al-Balagha, there are attempts/evidences which have been provided by a group of scholars and researchers as documents for it. Among the books which cite its documents, are:
  "Masader Nahj-al-Balaghah Fi Madarek Nahj-al-Balagha" (The sources of Nahj-al-balagha in Nahj-al-Balagha documents) by Hebah-al-Din shahrestani
  "Masader Nahj-al-Balagha" (Nahj-al-Balagha's sources) by Abdullah Ne'meh
  "Asnad wa Madarek Nahj-al-Balagha" (Evidences and documents of Nahj-al-Balagha) by Mohammad Dashti
  "Rowaat wa Mohadethin Nahj-al-Balagha" (The narrators and hadith relaters of Nahj-al-Balagha) by Mohammad Dashti
  "Bahsi Kootah piramun Madarek Nahj-al-Balaghah" (A short discussion regarding the documents of Nahj-al-Balagha) by Reza Ostadi
  "Masader Nahj-al-Balagha wa asatidah" (The sources of Nahj-al-Balagha and its teachers) by Seyyed Abd-al-Zahra Hosseini-Khatib
  "Takmalah Menhaj al-Bara' Fi Sharh Nahj-al-Balagha" (The completion of the methods of Al-Beraa'a in the statement of Nahj-al-Balagha) by Hassanzadeh Amoli
  "Madarek Nahj-al-Balaghah" (The documents of Nahj-al-Balagha) by Hadi Ale-Kashif al-Ghita'
  According to Encyclopedia of Imam Ali, considering that Nahj al-Balagha is the selected of Ali's words and likewise the sources of this book have been famous/current, hence he has not felt the necessity of mentioning its sources. Until then the sermons had been transmitted orally, between the generations and the wording was therefore open to change and misinterpretation. There is no chain of narration. The last few pages were left empty, Sharif Razi says in case he came across new Sermons; highlighting that Sharif Razi wrote down anything he came across. Sharif Razi did not follow the same level of scrutiny as followed by Hadith collectors therefore Nahj al-Balagha was not regarded as Sahih (authentic or correct) to the level of the Hadiths collections.
  Several scholars have sought to trace back the sources of different utterances and letters collected in Nahj al-Balaghah to the works compiled centuries before the birth of Sharif Razi. The most painstaking research in this context was done by an Indian Sunni scholar Imtiyaz Ali Arshi, who died in 1981. He succeeded in tracing back the early sources of 106 sermons, 37 letters and 79 dispersed sayings of Ali ibn Abi Talib in his book Istinad-e Nahj al-balaghah, originally written in Urdu, subsequently translated into Arabic in 1957, then into English and Persian. Besides this work, some others deserve special mention such as Abd al-Zahra al-Husayni al-Khatib's Masadir Nahj al-balaghah, Hibat al-Din al-Hussaini al-Shahristani's Ma huwa Nahj al-balaghah, Sayyid Ali al-Naqawi al-Nasirabadi's introduction to the Urdu translation of Nahj al-balaghah by Mufti Jafar Husayn, and al-Mujam al-mufahras li alfaz Nahj al-balaghah, a joint work of al-Sayyid Kazim al-Muhammadi and al-Shaykh Muhammad Dashti. Sayyid Mohammad Askari Jafery and Sayyid Ali Reza also dealt with the issue of basic sources of Nahj al-balaghah in their prefaces to their separate translations of the book into English.
caption: Folio from an old Nahj al-Balagha