Nahj al-Balāghah: The Wisdom and Eloquence of ʿAlī

Tahera Qutbuddin’s meticulously researched critical edition based on the earliest 5th/11th-century manuscripts, with a lucid, annotated facing-page translation, brings to the modern reader the power and beauty of this influential text, and confirms the aptness of Raḍī’s title, “The Way of Eloquence.”

Nahj al-Balāghah, the celebrated compendium of orations, letters, and sayings of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661) compiled by al-Sharīf al-Raḍī (d. 406/1015), is a masterpiece of Arabic literature and Islamic wisdom studied and memorized avidly and continually for over a thousand years. Showcasing ʿAlī’s life and travails in his own words, it also transcribes his profound reflections on piety and virtue, and on just and compassionate governance. Tahera Qutbuddin’s meticulously researched critical edition based on the earliest 5th/11th-century manuscripts, with a lucid, annotated facing-page translation, brings to the modern reader the power and beauty of this influential text, and confirms the aptness of Raḍī’s title, “The Way of Eloquence.”

About the Author

Tahera Qutbuddin, Ph.D. (1999), Harvard University, is AlBabtain Laudian Professor of Arabic at The University of Oxford. Author of the award-winning Arabic Oration: Art and Function (Brill, 2019), she has published widely on Islamic preaching, Muḥammad’s ḥadīth, ʿAlī’s sermons, Fatimid poetry, Tayyibi Bohra literature, and Arabic in India.

Bibliographic Information

Title: Nahj al-Balāghah: The Wisdom and Eloquence of ʿAlī: A Parallel English-Arabic Text

Author: al-Sharīf al-Raḍī

Editor / Translator: Tahera Qutbuddin

Publisher: Brill Academic Pub

 Language: English

Length: 1010 pages

ISBN: 978-9004682597

Pub. Date: April 17, 2024

Nahj Al-Balaghah The Wisdom and Eloquence of Ali