The Shīʿah Institute Symposium 2017 ‘Nahj al-Balāghah: The Word of ʿAlī’ – Welcome Note

On 14th and 15th December 2017, the Shīʿah Institute hosted its third symposium on the subject of ‘Nahj al-Balāghah: The Word of ʿAlī’, at The Warburg Institute, University of London. The Dean of the Shīʿah Institute, Dr Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi inaugurates the Symposium with a welcome note.

“As the Paramount source for the word of the Prince of the Believers (amīr al-muʾminīn) ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, the Nahj al-Balāghah—compiled by al-Sharīf al-Raḍī in 400 AH/ 1010 CE—is a foundational text of Arabic literature and an enduring font of the spiritual and intellectual life of Islam. There is no doubt that the words of of Imām ʿAlī, have exercised as profound and formative impact on the development of the Arabic language, as Shakespeare, the King James’ Bible, and Milton, have had on English”.

The symposium, a first of its kind on this subject saw leading scholars from around the world explore key themes pertaining to the ‘Nahj al-Balāghah: The Word of ʿAlī’.