A Lecture on Nahjul Balagha

Notes on Miracolous Sermons of Imam Ali (as)

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Now we propose to adorn this booklet with two miraculous sermons of Ali (ع) not found in Nahjul Balaghah. First is his sermon which is free from diacritical point - the whole sermon does not contain a single letter with dot. It is narrated in Al-Manaqib from Ibn Shahr Ashub, Al-Kalbi and Ibn Babuwayh, through his chains from Imam Ali Ar-Rida (ع) that he narrated this eternal miracle of his forefather, Amirul-Mu'minin (ع), i.e. the blessed sermon, free from dot.

It has been narrated by Abu Hashim Al-Jubbai from his father Abu Ali, from Abu Yaqub Ash-Shahham, from Abu1-Hudhayl Al-Allaf, from Abu Uthman At-Tawil, from Wasil Ibn Ata, from Abu Hashim Abdullah Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ali, from his father, Muhammad Ibn Al-Hanafiyah, from Ali (ع)

It is also given by Ash-Shaykh Muhammad Rida Al-Hakimi in his book, Salooni Qabla An Tafqidooni, vol. 2, pp. 442-443.

The second is his sermon which is free from the letter Alif. Some people had gathered around him, and were discussing writing method. They all agreed that no letter is more prevalent in speech than Alif, and that it is very difficult to speak without using it. At this juncture Ali (ع) delivered this sermon extempore, without any preparation, and it is totally free of Alif.

It is given by Al-Kafami, Ash-Shaykh Taqiyud-Din Ibrahim Al-Amili in his Al-Misbah, vol. 2, p, 849- 852 (which was written in 895 A.H.)

Also it is narrated from other sources by Al-Majlisi (d. 1110 A.H.) in Biharul-Anwar (new ed.) vol. 74 p. 242.

We have copied it from Bihar; there are minor variations in wordings in Al-Misbah which have been given here in brackets.

It should be recorded here that my teacher, Ayatollah Sayyid Zafru1-Hassan Rizvi (Jawadia, Benaras) had translated it in Urdu, in the same style, i.e. without Alif.