A Lecture on Nahjul Balagha

A Lecture on Nahjul Balaghah

Nahjul Balaghah is a collection of the sermons, lectures, letters and sayings of Amirul-Mu'minin Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع). This collection was made by As-Sayyid Abul-Hassan Ali Ibn-al-Hussain Ar-Radi Al-Musawi, who is commonly referred to as Ash-Sharif Ar-Radi. He was born in 359 A.H. in Baghdad in a family which was well-known for its knowledge as well as worldly prestige and distinction. He died at the prime age of 47 years on 25 Jumada I, 406 A.H.

In his teen age he started a book which he named Khasaisal-Aimmah but could only write first chapter about Amirul-Mu'minin Ali (ع). This chapter which contains the lectures, letter and sayings of Amirul-Mu'minin Ali (ع) is divided in three parts: The first chapter contains his sermons and lectures, the second one, his letters and the third one his maxims and short sayings.

When he was compiling it, he had left blank spaces at the end of every section. It was done in order that if any piece of that lecture etc. was not available at that time and came to hand at a later date, it could be inserted therein. This book became a huge success from the day one, because the writings and lectures of Amirul-Mu'minin were held in high esteem from the beginning of the Islamic era; and people used to collect them, learn them and memorize them.

Even in Sayyid Radi's own time, a scholar, Ali Ibn An-Nasir, wrote a short commentary on it which he called A'lam Nahjul Balaghah. Its manuscript was preserved in the library of Mumtazul-ulama Sayyid Muhammad Taqi in Lucknow. Then a detailed Sharh was written by Sayyid Ibn Hibatullah Ibn Al-Hassan Ar-Rawandi. However the most well-known and popular Sharh was written by Izzuddin Abdu1-Hamid Ibn Abi1-Hadid Al-Mu’tazili Al-Madaini.

He started writing it on 1st Rajab, 644 and completed it in the month of Safar 649 A.H. and sent it as present it to Mu'ayyiduddin Al-Asadi Al-Alqami, who was the Minister of Al-Mustasim Billah, the last Abbasid caliph. Before Ibn Abi1-Hadid, many well-known Sunni scholars had written commentaries on Nahjul Balaghah, e.g. Abu1-Hassan Ali Ibn Abu1-Qasim Al-Bayhaqi (d. 565), Al-Imam Fakhruddin Ar-Radi (606), Sa'dud-Din Taftazani.

In this way we see that up to 150 years after the compilation of Nahjul Balaghah, no serious doubt was expressed about the authenticity of the material collected in that book. The first man who tried to create some doubt about it was Ibn Khallikan who died in 681 A.H., who was not in Iraq or Egypt nor in the center of Islamic learning, but in Qairawan and Cordova under the Umayyad kingdom of Spain. He wrote while writing about As-Sayyid Murtada, the elder brother of Sayyid Radi: "People are of different views about the book, Nahjul Balaghah which is a collection of the talks of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع), whether it was compiled by him, i.e. Sayyid Murtada or his brother, Sayyid Radi. It is said that this is not from the speeches of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, but it was compiled by the man who forged it; and Allah knows better."

This short remark shows that Ibn Khallikan was even unaware of who was the compiler of Nahjul Balaghah, and then he has used the word, "It is said'', but does not mention who had said it that it was not the speech of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع); and then he ends at the phrase, and Allah knows better. So in this way he for the first time sowed the seed of suspicion and doubt about this book. Also he does not say that the scholars or 'Ulama' have different views; he just says that "people" have different views.

Now one century after Ibn Khallikan came Adh-Dhahabi whose prejudice against the Shias is well-known and he went even further. He writes in the life-history of Sayyid Murtada: "Whoever would see this book, Nahjul Balaghah, will understand surely that it is spurious and forged in the name of Amirul-Mu'minin, because in this book is open denunciation of the two Sheikhs, Abu Bakr and Umar."

Is it not strange that for two hundred and fifty years there was no controversy about Nahjul Balaghah. Ibn Khallikan, sitting in Al-Maghhrib, said that the people had different views that whether it was compiled by Sayyid Murtada or Sayyid Radi, and then said that "it is said" that it was not the speeches and writings of Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Then one hundred years after that came Adh-Dhahabi who tried to cast doubt and suspicion on the ground that the book contained open denunciation of Abu Bakr and Umar.

Before commenting on this view, a few things should be mentioned beforehand. First: It is not that Sayyid Radi was the first man to compile the lectures, sermons and letters of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع). Al-Mas'udi (who died in 340 A.H. long before the birth of Sayyid Radi, and who was a contemporary of not only Shaikh Mufid, but even of Shaikh Saduq) writes: The people had memorized his (i.e. Ali's) lectures and sermons and different epistles, and their number reaches more than 480 lectures; they were delivered extempore, but people memorized them and continued to narrate them and teach them."[^1]

Now if these more than 480 lectures could be found, they would have made a bigger volume than Nahjul Balaghah. There was Abdul-Hamid Al-Katib Ibn Yahya, who died in 132 A.H., and Ibn Abi1-Hadid quotes him in his Commentary that he said: I memorized 70 lectures from the lectures of Ali, and its benefits continued to grow and grow. Ibn Al-Muqaffa, who died in 142 A.H., used to say: "I drank from the sermons and lectures of Ali and its pleasing benefits grew and grew." That is why Allama Hassan Al-Nadubi writes in his foot-notes of Al-Bayan Wat-Tabyin of Al-Jabi: Obviously he learned and acquired his rhetoric from the lectures of Imam Ali (ع).

Ibn Nubatah, who died in 374 A.H., said: I memorized 100 pieces of sermons of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع), and it was a treasure of rhetoric which the more it is spent the more it increases. Zayd Ibn Ali Ibn Al-Hussain (ع), the grandson of Imam Hussain (ع), known as Zayd Ash-Shaheed, (martyred in 120 A.H.) used to listen to the sermons of Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع). Abu Salah Al-Kinani has said: Zayd used to hear from the lectures of Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib (ع) [^2].

Even before him Zayn Ibn Wahb Al-Juhni who died in 90 A.H., who was one of the narrators of Amirul-Mu'minin (ع)'s traditions, had compiled Ali's lectures and sermons. There were other persons who had collected the lectures and sermons of Ali (ع), a short list of which is given here:

1. Hisham Ibn Muhammad Ibn Saib Al-Kalbi (d. 186 A.H.)[^3]
2. Ibrahim Ibn Zahir; He had compiled Kitabu Khutub Ali (ع) i.e. the Book of the Sermons of Ali (ع) [^4]
3. Abu Muhammad Mas'adah Ibn Sadaqah had also collected the sermons of Ali (ع) [^5]
4. Abu Al-Qasim Abdul Azim Ibn Abdullah Hassani, who was a companion of Imam Ali An- Naqi (ع) had compiled Kitabu Khutub Amirul-Mu'minin (ع)^6.
5. Abu1-Khayr Sad Ibn Abi Hammad Ar-Radi, a contemporary of the above-mentioned Abdu1-Azim. He had also collected a similar book^7.
6. Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Madaini (d. 335 A.H.) He had also compiled lectures and letters of Ali (ع)[^8].
7. Abu Muhammad Abdu1-Aziz Al-Jaludi (d. 330 A.H.). He had compiled several books separately on lectures of Ali, Letters of Ali, Sermons of Ali (ع) etc. [^9]
8. Abu Muhammad Hassan Ibn Ali Ibn Shu'bah Al-Halabi (d. 320 A.H.) He had narrated some sayings, maxims and lectures of Ali (ع) in his well-known book, Tuhaful-Uqal. He writes at the end: If we were to write here all the sermons and sayings of Ali which he spoke on only one subject, Tawheed, (leave aside all other subjects), it would be equal in volume to this book of ours.

Also there are many books written before Ash-Sharif Ar-Radi, in which many speeches and talks of Ali (ع) have been quoted on various occasions. For example, Al-Jabiz; (d. 255 A.H.); Al-Bayan Wat-Tabyin, Ibn Qutaybah Dinawari (d. 276 A.H.). Uyunul-Akhbar Wa Gharibul-Hadith; Ibn Wadih Yaqubi (d. 278): Tarikh Yaqubi, Kitab Al-Mubarrad of Abu1-Abbas Al-Mubarrad (d. 286): Kitabu Al-Kamil; the Historian, Ibn Jarir At-Tabari (d. 310): Tarikh Tabari; Ibn Durayd (d. 321): Kitab Al-Mujtana; Ibn Abd Rabbih, (d. 328): Al-Iqd Al-Farid; Al-Kulayni (d. 329): Al-Kafi ; Al-Masudi (d. 346): Marujudh-Dhahab; AbuI-Faraj Isfahani (d. 356): Kitab Al-Aghani, Abu Ali Al-Qari (d. 356): Kitab An-Nawadir; Ash-Shaykh As-Saduq (d. 381) Kitab At-Tawhid and his many other collections of traditions; As-Shaykh Al-Mufid (d. 416): Kitab Al­ Irshad and Kitab Al-Jamal.

If the lectures and sermons of Ali (ع) quoted in the above-mentioned books are compared with those collected in Nahjul Balaghah, they appear to be the same or almost the same, with minor verbal differences.

Not only those who preceded Ash-Sharif Ar-Radi, but even his contemporaries or those who came soon after him, had collected and committed many sermons and speeches of Ali (ع) to memory, and some of them have mentioned them in their books. For example, Ibn Miskawayh (d. 421): Tajaribul-Umam; Hafiz: Abu Nuaym Isfahani (d. 430): Hilyatul-Awliya; Ash-Shaykh At-Tusi (d. 460) At-Tahdhib and Al-Amali; Abdu1-Wahid Ibn Mubammad Ibn AbduI-Wahid Al-Amidi (who was a contemporary of Ash-Shaykh At-Tusi) collected short maxims and sayings of Ali (ع), in a book which he named Ghurarul-Hikam Wa Durarul-Kilam printed in Egypt, Lebanon and India, and which has also been translated in Urdu; Abu Saeed Mansur Ibn Hussain Al-Abi Al-Wazir, (d. 422): Nuzhatul-Adab Aa Nathrud-Durar; and Qadi Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Salamah Ash-Shafii (d. 453): his well-known book on this very subject, Dasturu Ma’alimil-Hikam, has been printed in Egypt.

All these authors were almost contemporary to Sayyid Radi, and except the book of Abu Saeed, all other books are printed and well-known in the Muslim word. Whatever is collected in those books, is the same or has the same style as found in Nahjul Balaghah.

After that period, we come to those who appeared centuries later, like Ibn Abi1-Hadid (d. 655), Sibt Ibn Jauzi (d. 606) and many others who tried to collect the sayings and sermons of Ali (ع) for completing what was left out by Ash-Sharif Ar-Radi in Nahjul Balaghah. Ash-Sharif Ar-Radi's main emphasis was on rhetorics, and therefore he named the book "The Path of Eloquence". That is why he had not given whole sermons and lectures, but only those pieces which he considered of the top standard in rhetorics and eloquence.

There was another factor which compelled Ash-Sharif Ar-Radi to leave out many sermons and saying: It was either because of unavailability of reference books, or because the copies in his hand were damaged or illegible. That is why he could not write completely even many of those sermons which are included in his book. That is why we see in many places that he gives a part of a sermon and then adds - "Wa Minha" (and the following also is a part of that sermon). This prompted the later scholars to write Al-Mustadrak and Al-Mustadrak Ala Al-Mustadrak of Nahjul Balaghah, to complete what was omitted or left out by Ash-Sharif Ar-Radi. That is why we find in the Sharh of Nahjul Balaghah (by Ibn Abil-Hadid) that wherever possible he writes complete sermons and lectures, and gives also the occasion and background of that lecture.

These attempts to complete the collection had continued up to the last century, when Allamah Shaykh Hadi Kashifu1-Ghita wrote Mustadraku Nahjul Balaghah, which was printed in Najaf.

We also find that the contemporaries of As-Sayyid Ar-Radi had paid attention to Nahjul Balaghah, and the late-comers, most of them Sunnis like Imam Fakhrud-Din Ar-Radi, Ibn Abi1-Hadid and others, wrote its Commentaries. We know how the scholars usually attempt to attack or belittle the books of their contemporaries; yet none of them ever said that those lectures, sermons or sayings of Ali (ع) were forged by As-Sayyid Ar-Radi which he had wrongly attributed to Ali (ع). Also no one ever said that, because the lectures and writings attributed to Ali (ع) in Nahjul Balaghah were spurious, therefore we are collecting his genuine and authentic lectures, sermons, and letters in order to remove the misunderstandings created by As-Sayyid Ar-Radi.

Also ninety percent of the sermons etc. of Nahjul Balaghah are found in earlier books which are extant. Allamah Shaykh Hadi Kashifu1-Ghita wrote Madariku Nahjul Balaghah, i.e. Sources of Nahjul Balaghah. Then Allamah Sayyid Sibtu1-Hassan Hanswi of India wrote Minhaj Nahjul Balaghah in Urdu. In this book the learned scholar also dealt with all the objections levelled against Nahjul Balaghah by Khalusi.

Then Mr. Imtiaz Ali Arshi, the librarian of the Raza Library, Rampur, (India), a reputed Sunni scholar, wrote Istinadu Nahjul Balaghah, in which he quoted most of the material of Nahjul Balaghah and their references from earlier books. Latest attempt in this field was made by Allamah Abduz-Zahra Al-Ka'bi, who wrote Masadiru Nahjul Balaghah in three volumes. All these books are printed and are easily available. In this way, we find that the objections of some misguided people against this noble book have no leg to stand upon.

The fact remains that the main reason of this attempt to discredit Nahjul Balaghah lies in the third sermon, known as Ash-Shiqshiqiyah in which Ali (ع) has scathingly criticized his three predecessors and showed defects of them and their methods. Just to show what is involved in this lecture, I quote here a few lines from it. He begins: "Well, by Allah! the son of Abu Qahafah (i.e. Abu Bakr) dressed himself with it (i.e. the caliphate) and he certainly knew that my position in relation to it was the same as the position of the axis in relation to the hand-mill."

Then after commenting on the first caliphate, he turns to the second. He says: "It is strange that during his lifetime he [i.e. Abu Bakr] wished to be released from the caliphate but he confirmed it for the other one after his death. No doubt these two shared its udders strictly among themselves. This one put the caliphate in a tough enclosure where the utterance was haughty and the touch was rough. Mistakes were in plenty and so also the excuses therefore."

Thus commenting on that era, he comes to the third caliphate. He says: "Nevertheless, I remained patient despite length of period and stiffness of trial, till when he went his way (of death) he put the matter (of caliphate) in a group and regarded me to be one of them. But good Heavens! What had I to do with this "consultation"? Where was any doubt about me with regard to the first of them that I was now considered akin to these ones? But I remained low when they were low and flew high when they flew high.

One of them turned against me because of his hatred and the other got inclined the other way due to his in-law relationship and this thing and that thing, till the third man of these people stood up with heaving breasts between his dung and fodder. With him the children of his grand-father, (Umayyah) also stood up swallowing up Allah's wealth like a camel devouring the foliage of spring, till his rope broke down, his actions finished him and his gluttony brought him down prostrate."

So actually this is the reason of all these attacks against the book, as Adh-Dhahabi has let the cat out of the bag. He thinks that Nahjul Balaghah is spurious because there are in it scathing remarks against Abu Bakr and 'Umar.

However, let us see whether this sermon was really forged by Ash-Sharif Ar-Radi. I think I can do no better than to quote here the views of some Sunni scholars of old days:

Shah Waliyullah Dehlawi comments on this tendency of the Sunnis in his famous book, At-Tafhimat Al­ Ilahiyah: He says: "There are many people who claim that there was no difference among the Sahabah and that all of them were friends to each other. This thinking is against the historical facts and against the reality. Of course, they had quarreled with each other, fought with each other and disparaged each other. But we should not say anything against them, because what they did was not based on bad intentions; it was rather in good faith."

Ibn Abi1-Hadid Al-Mu’tazili has written at length about this sermon in his Sharh. He writes that his Master, Abu1-Khayr Musaddiq Ibn Shabib Al-Wasiti (d. 605) stated that he heard this sermon from his Shaykh Abu Muhammad Abdullah Ibn Ahmad Al­ Baghdadi (d. 567), known as Ibn Al-Khashshab; and when he reached the place where Ibn Abbas expresses his sorrow on this sermon remaining incomplete, Ibn Al-Khashshab said to him: If l had heard this expression of sorrow from Ibn Abbas, I would have certainly asked him, if there had remained with his cousin any further unsatisfied desire at all, because excepting the Prophet he had spared neither predecessors nor the followers and had uttered all that he wished to utter.

Why should therefore be any sorrow that he could not say what he wished. Musaddiq says that Ibn Al-Khashshab was a man of jolly nature and decent taste. I enquired from him whether he too regarded this sermon to be a fabrication. He replied: "By Allah! I believe it to be Amirul-Mu'minin's words, as I believe you to be Musaddiq Ibn Shabib. I said. Some people regard it as a fabrication of As-Sayyid Ar-Radi. He replied: How can Ar-Radi have such touch and such style of writing? I have seen As-Sayyid Ar-Radi's writing and know his style of composition. Nowhere is his writing like this one; and I have seen it in the books written 200 years before the birth of As-Sayyid Ar-Radi; and I have seen it in familiar hand writings about which I know by which scholar or which man of letter they were compiled; at that time not only Ar-Radi, but even his father, Abu Ahmad An-Naqib was not born."

Thereafter, Ibn Abi1-Hadid writes: I saw this sermon in the compilation of my Master, Abu1-Qasim Abdullah Ibn Ahmad Al-Balkhi (d. 317); he was the Imam of the Mu’tazilites in the reign of Al-Muqtadir Billah [295-320 A.H.], which was much earlier than the birth of As-Sayyid Ar-Radi.

He further writes: I saw this sermon in Abu Ja'far Muhammad Ibn Abdur-Rahman Ibn Qibah's book, Al-Insaf. He was a student of Abul Qasim Al-Balkhi and a theologian of Imamiah sect[^10].

Ibn Maytham Al-Bahrani (d. 679) writes in his Sharh that he had seen one copy of this sermon which bore the handwriting of Al-Muqtadir Billah's minister, Abu1-Hassan Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Al-Furat (d. 312)[^11].

Ash-Shaykh Qutbud-Din Ar-Rawandi (whose Commentary of Nahjul Balaghah, named Minhajul-Bara'ah, is earlier than that of Ibn Abi1-Hadid), gives his chain of narrators of this sermon. He narrates it from Ash-Shaykh Abu Nasr Al-Hassan Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim, from Al-Hafiz Abu1-Wafa Muhammad Ibn Al-Badi, Al-Hussain Ibn Ahmad Ibn Al-Badi and Al-Hussain Ibn Ahmad Ibn Abdur-Rahman, and also from Al-Haj Abu Bakr Ahmad Ibn Musa Ibn Marduwayh Al-Isfahani (d. 416), from Al-Hafiz Abu1-Qasim Sulayman Ibn Ahmad At-Tabarani (d. 360), from Ahmad Ibn Ali Al-Abbas, from Al-Hafiz Saeed Abu Salamah Ad-Dimashqi, from Junayd Ibn Thalab, from Ata Ibn Abi Rabab, from Ibn Abbas. This chain of narrators has been quoted by Al-Majlisi in Biharul-Anwar vol. 8, pp. 160-161. Allamah Majlisi also writes that this sermon is also found in the compilations of Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Abdu1-Wahhab Al-Jubbai (d. 303).

Also he says: Al-Qadi Abdu1-Jabbar Ibn Ahmad Asadabadi (d. 415), a staunch Mu’tazilite, has tried to re-interpret some expressions of this sermon in his book, Al-Mughni, but he does not deny its being of Ali's composition (Ibid, p.161). Ash-Shaykh As-Saduq gives his own chain of narrators of this sermon: Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Ishaq At-Taliqani, from Abdu1-Aziz Ibn Yahya Al-Jaludi (d. 332), from Abu Abdullah Ahmad Ibn Ammar Ibn Khalid, from Yahya Ibn Al-Hamid Al-Himmani (d. 228), from Isa Ibn Rashid, from Ali Ibn Hudhayfah, from Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas[^12].

As-Sayyid Nimatullah Al-Jazairi writes: The author of Kitab Al-Gharat, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Ibn Muhammad Ath-Thaqafi Al-Kuti (d. 283) has related this sermon through his own chain of narrators. The date of completion of writing this book is Tuesday, 13th Shawwal, 255 A.H., and it is the same year when As-Sayyid Murtada Al-Musawi (the elder brother of As-Sayyid Ar-Radi) was born[^13].

Likewise, Abu Uthman Amr Ibn Bahr Al-Jahiz has recorded the following words of Ali (ع) in his book, which are no less witty than the criticism of the sermon of Ash-Shiqshiqiyah. He quotes: "Those two basterdized and the third one rose like a crow whose courage is confined to the bit. It would have been better if his wings had been cut and his head severed."

Leaving aside many other authorities and scholars of the Sunni faith, we come to our own times and meet Ash-Shaykh Muhammad Abduh, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, recognizing it as Ali's composition and writing its Commentary. Professor Muhammad Muhyid-Din Abdu1-Hamid of Al-Azhar University (Cairo) has added notations on the Explanations of Nahjul Balaghah written by Muhammad Abduh; adding a Foreword in the beginning, where he recognizes all such sermons which contain disparaging remarks against the previous caliphs and companions, as being the composition of Ali (ع).

In the light of all these references, is it not absurd to claim that this Sermon was forged by As-Sayyid Radi, when it is found in the books written centuries before the birth of As-Sayyid Radi?

Now we come to a new objection levelled against Nahjul Balaghah by Al-Khalusi. His main objection is that the Sermons and talks contain Saj, i.e. rhymed prose. He thinks that the ancient Arabs did not speak in hymed prose; it was a style developed in later days. This claim is really astonishing; and one has a right to ask whether Mr. Khalusi had ever read the Qur'an!! Did not he know that all the chapters revealed at Mecca are in rhymed prose? In fact, even the Medinite chapters end on rhymed prose, although they seem less pronounced because the Medinite verses are lengthier.

In fact, in the words of Rodwel, Arabic is a language in which it is difficult not to speak in rhym. And Ali (ع) was brought up in the lap of the Prophet from his early childhood, and he drank from the springhead of the Qur'an from before his teen age; because the Qur'an was revealed in his presence and he went on memorizing it.

Would it be very surprising if his way of speech were so saturated with Saj; and is it really surprising that we find Saj, rhymed prose, in his sermons, when everyone who was in contact with him -whether friend or foe- knew that it was his style of talking. When Ali's daughter, Zaynab (ع), was brought into the court of Ubaydullah Ibn Ziyad in Kufa, and she replied to some disparaging remarks of Ibn Ziyad against Imam Husayn and his family, she refuted his comments in such a forceful way that Ibn Ziyad had to say: “She speaks in rhymed prose and her father too spoke in rhymed prose.”

Then Mr. Khalusi says: There are some words used in the sermons of Nahjul Balaghah which were not used in ancient Arabic; and he has given a list of such words, which according to him prove late origin of these sermon. Sayyid Sibtul Hasan Hanswi has clearly shown in his book, Minhaj Nahjul Balaghah, from the quotations of Islamic literature that those words were in common use in old Arabic language.

Mr. Khalusi's third objection: Some of these sermons contain terminologies of philosophy; while the philosophical terms did not enter Arabia before the Umayyad period. But why should we look at those words as philosophical terms? Why could not we take them in their literal sense? If we find the word 'atom' in a writing of the nineteenth century, can we say that the word, 'atom bomb', was not known before the Second World War, therefore that writing must be a forgery?

If Mr. Khalusi had taken the trouble to treat those words as common Arabic ones, and then he had found himself unable to interpret them in normal way, then his objection could have been sustained. Even if those words are taken to mean what the dictionaries say, the sermons would be as meaningful and as forceful as before.

This much was necessary to mention about Nahjul Balaghah, because we find nowadays some people laboring under the impression that it was a spurious book. However, the facts speak for themselves.

[^1]: Marujudh-Dhahab, vol. 2 p. 33, Egypt ed.

[^2]: Rijal Al-Kashshi.

[^3]: Ibn An-Nadim, Al-Firhrist, vol. 7, p. 251.

[^4]: At-Tusi, Al-Fihrist ; An-Nijashi, Rijal.

[^5]: An-Nijashi, Al-Rijal.

[^8]: Mu Jamul-Udaba, of Yaqub Al-Hamawi, vol. 5; p. 313.

[^9]: At-Tusi, Al-Fihrist; An-Nijashi, Rijal.

[^10]: Sharh Nahjul Balaghah of Ibn Abil-Hadid, vol. 1, pp. 205-206.

[^11]: Sharh Nahjul Balaghah of Ibn Maytham, vol. 1, pp. 252-253.

[^12]: Ilalush-Sharaye, vol. l, ch. 122 p. 144; Ma’anil-Akhbar, ch. 22, pp. 330-361. He also gives another chain of narrators in the same book on p. 146 & 361, respectively.

[^13]: Al-Anwar An-Nu 'maniyah, p. 37