Nahjul Balagha - An English Reading of Imam Ali’s sermons and sayings by Seyyed Aleem Naqvi

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By my life there will be no regard for anyone nor slackening from me in fighting against one who opposes right or gropes in misguidance. O' creatures of Allah, fear Allah and flee unto Allah from His wrath (seek protection in His Mercy). Tread on the path He has laid down for you and stand by what He has enjoined upon you. In that case `Ali would stand surety for your success (salvation) eventuall...

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Now then, verily Divine orders descend from heaven to earth like drops of rain, bringing to every one what is destined for him whether plenty or paucity. So if any one of you observes for his brother plenty of progeny or of wealth or of self, it should not be a worry for him. So long as a Muslim does not commit such an act that if it is disclosed he has to bend his eyes (in shame) and by which low...

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Beware! Satan has certainly started instigating his forces and has collected his army in order that oppression may reach its extreme ends and wrong may come back to its position. By Allah they have not put a correct blame on me, nor have they done justice between me and themselves. They are demanding of me a right which they have abandoned, and a blood that they have themselves shed.(1) If I were...

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Advice to keep light in this world Your aim (reward or punishment) is before you. Behind your back is the hour (of resurrection) which is driving you on. Keep (yourself) light and overtake (the forward ones). Your last ones are being awaited by the first ones (who have preceded). as-Sayyid ar-Radi says: If this utterance of `Ali (p.b.u.h.) is weighed with any other utterance except the word of All...

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If you could only see what those of you who have already died have seen, you would be terrified and overwhelmed, you would listen attentively and you would obey instantly. But that which they have seen remains veiled from you for now. Very soon the veil will be lifted from you as well. You have been shown (the truth) – if only you would truly see; you have been made to hear – if only you would tru...

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How do you know what is for me and what is against me? ! Curse of Allah and others be on you. You are a weaver and son of a weaver. You are the son of an unbeliever and yourself a hypocrite. You were arrested once by the Unbelievers and once by the Muslims, but your wealth and birth could not save you from either. The man who contrives for his own people to be put to sword and invites death and de...

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When a problem is put before any one of them he passes judgement on it from his imagination. When exactly the same problem is placed before another of them he passes an opposite verdict. Then these judges go to the chief who had appointed them and he confirms all the verdicts, although their Allah is One (and the same), their Prophet is one (and the same), their Book (the Qur'an) is one (and the s...

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Among(1) all the people the most detested before Allah are two persons. One is he who is devoted to his self. So he is deviated from the true path and loves speaking about (foul) innovations and inviting towards wrong path. He is therefore a nuisance for those who are enamoured of him, is himself misled from the guidance of those preceding him, misleads those who follow him in his life or after hi...

The responsibility for what I say is guaranteed, and I am answerable for it. Whoever has been shown clearly — through lived experience and historical examples — the punishments that Allah inflicted on past nations, piety will hold him back from falling into doubts and misgivings. Know that the very same tribulations and disorders that existed when Allah first sent the Prophet (in the Days of Ignor...

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“By Allah! Even if I found that by means of this money (taken unjustly from the public treasury) women have been married off or slave-girls have been purchased, I would still take it back and restore it (to the treasury). For indeed, there is vast room and latitude in (acting with) justice, and whoever finds justice too restrictive, oppression will be even more restrictive and unbearable for him.”

Sermon 14

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Condemning the people of Basrah You were the army of a woman and in the command of a quadruped. When it grumbled you responded, and when it was wounded (hamstrung) you fled away. Your character is low and your pledge is broken. Your faith is hypocrisy. Your water is brackish. He who stays with you is laden with sins and he who forsakes you secures Allah's mercy. As though I see your mosque promine...

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Sermon 12 Delivered on the afternoon of the Battle of Jamal