Forthcoming Publication – 2025
Nahj al-Balāghah
The Word of ʿAlī
An English literary translation and Arabic critical edition by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi
Revered for his wisdom, eloquence, piety, and courage for fourteen centuries, the Commander of the Believers, ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib’s (d. 40/661) word is considered second only to the Word of God and His Prophet as the apotheosis of Arabic language and literature. Nahj al-Balāghah, the famous Twelver Shia collection by the renowned scholar al-Sharīf al-Raḍī (d. 406/1016), is the paramount compilation of Imām ʿAlī’s orations, sermons, supplications, epistles, and aphorisms. The poetic beauty, rhetorical force, and theological and philosophical profundity of the Nahj al-Balāghah, as well as its historical importance as a text composed during a momentous period in Islamic and world history, make this collection of Imām ʿAlī’s word and wisdom an essential work of enduring value. Demonstrating a mastery of a broad range of fields including Qurʾānic and Prophetic wisdom, religion and spirituality, ethics and morality, leadership and governance, and social justice and equality, Imām ʿAlī has been a source of guidance and inspiration for over fourteen hundred years, and continues to serve as an outstanding example for both individuals and communities today.
In Nahj al-Balāghah: The Word of ʿAlī, the Dean of The Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi, draws upon more than two decades of meticulous full-time study and scholarship to present an Arabic critical edition and the first direct English literary translation, based upon manuscripts composed from the fifth/tenth century to the present day. The fruit of a lifetime of immersion in the Nahj al-Balāghah, classical Arabic philology, and the Shīʿah tradition, Dr Shah Naqavi’s translation presents the poetic beauty, profound power, and ineffable mystery of Imām ʿAlī’s magisterial word with exceptional lucidity and lyricism. Nahj al-Balāghah: The Word of ʿAlī, an authoritative English translation, will be cherished by any reader with an interest in one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature.