Lessons from the Nahjul Balaghah

Translator's Note

In the Name of God The Merciful, the Compassionate

The book Lessons from the Nahjul Balaghah by the great Islamic scholar, Sayyid ‘Ali Khamene’i, one of the leading theologians and politicians of Iran and presently its president and the Friday Ritual Prayer leader of Tehran, is a precious book presented to the world of Islam as a brief introduction to the vast phenomenon of prophethood as it appears in the Nahjul Balaghah of the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Ali, peace be upon him. '

The efforts made in translating this book were aimed at providing the Muslims, and even non-Muslims, outside the country, who communicate in the English language, with a valuable interpretation of ‘‘Ali’s sayings concerning the issue of prophethood. It is hoped that this aim has been achieved with this translation. Readers, however, are kindly asked to observe the following points;

1. The translator has adopted the method of „blank verse” in rendering the author's views into English. However, on many occasions, an exact, word-by-word translation has been employed.

2. In some rare cases, unnecessary or repeated parts of the original text have been omitted in translation.

3. The source for the translation of the Sermons of the Nahjul Balaghah has been Sayyid All Radis translation of it (1979, Tehran).

4. The Qur’anic verses have been taken from Marmaduke Pickthall's “The Glorious Koran”.

April 1983, H. Vahid Dastjerdi