Forthcoming Publication

The Way of Eloquence and the Path of Wisdom
A Companion to Nahj al-Balāghah: The Word of ʿAlī

by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi

As the paramount source for the word of the Commander of the Believers, ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 40/661), Nahj al-Balāghah has been revered for its wisdom, eloquence and lofty contents for fourteen centuries. Imām ʿAlī’s orations, sermons, supplications, epistles, and aphorisms are of the highest linguistic and literary complexity and have been the subject of more than 370 scholarly commentaries over the last millennium. In The Way of Eloquence and the Path of Wisdom, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi presents the first rigorous and exhaustive English-language companion to the Nahj al-Balāghah, complementing his Arabic critical edition and English literary translation: Nahj al-Balāghah: The Word of ʿAlī, resulting in a complete and authoritative multi-volume resource for the study of the Nahj al-Balāghah. The Way of Eloquence and the Path of Wisdom is the culmination of more than two decades of intense engagement with the manuscripts and the commentary tradition, as well as the many compilations of the Nahj al-Balāghah. Dr Shah Naqavi examines the key philological, literary, historical and theological issues, amongst others, involved in reading and interpreting the Nahj al-Balāghah, including: the supreme power and literary sophistication of Imām ʿAlī’s prosody, rhetoric and fusion of eloquentia and sapientia; the form, structure, and transmission of the manuscripts and later compilations; the extensive hermeneutical and commentary tradition; and the social, historical and political contexts in which the texts of the Nahj al-Balāghah were first composed; and many other pertinent topics. Dr Shah Naqavi’s text will be an essential companion to scholars, students and general readers navigating one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature.