Nahjul Balaghah is one of the most significant works of literature in the entire Islamic heritage, an index of the concepts in the Quran and an exposition upon it in an eloquent manner unmatched by another. More on its details later, I would like to present a selection of all of the passages in it on the topic of the sacred scripture, the Quran.
You will get to see for yourself the incredible wisdom of the spiritual successor of the Prophet ﷺ, his brother in this world and the next.
علي أخي في الدنيا و الآخرة
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said "Ali is my brother in the world and in the afterlife." (Hadith)
The translation is cited below for the passages, Tahera Qutbuddin's meticulously potent rendition.
1.1.7
Muḥammad, too, left you your Lord’s Book, and he fully elucidated its contents: the licit versus the illicit, recommended virtues versus required mandates, abrogating verses versus abrogated ones, licenses versus decrees, specifics versus generalities, lessons versus parables, free verses versus restricted ones, and clear verses versus ambiguous ones.
He explained the Book’s subtleties and clarified what was obscure, including things whose knowledge is required for all God’s servants, versus others, ignorance of which is excused; things whose mandate is established in the Book while their abrogation is shown in the Sunnah, versus others whose practice is commanded in the Sunnah while vacating them is permitted in the Book; and things that were compulsory in their time, versus others whose directive subsequently ceased.
He differentiated among the Book’s prohibitions of grave sins which incur the punishment of the Fire, versus smaller transgressions which hold the prospect of God’s forgiveness; of acts acceptable in minimal form, versus those that earn maximum reward.
1.196.4
God revealed to him the Book—a light whose flame cannot be extinguished, a lamp whose glow cannot be hidden, a sea whose depths cannot be plumbed, a road whose course does not mislead, a ray whose brightness never darkens, a dawn whose proof is never extinguished, an edifice whose columns cannot be razed, a cure after which no disease is feared, might whose supporters are never vanquished, and truth whose proponents are never bested.
It forms the mine and home of belief, the founts and seas of wisdom, the meadows and pools of justice, the frame and edifice of Islam, and the valleys and orchards of truth. It holds a mighty river that water-seekers cannot exhaust, wellsprings that water-drawers cannot deplete, waterholes that drinkers cannot drain, waystations that travelers cannot miss, waymarks to which wayfarers cannot remain blind, and highlands that travelers cannot circumvent.
God has made it water to quench the thirst of the learned, springtime for the hearts of the wise, the high road for the pious to walk, a healing after which there is no illness, a light alongside which there is no darkness, a handle whose grip is strong, and a fortress whose ramparts are never stormed.
It gives might to those who are loyal, peace to those who enter, guidance to those who follow, defense for those who adhere, proof to those who articulate, witness to those who argue, victory to those who fight, support for those who carry, steeds for those who ride, signs for those who foretell, shields for those who seek armor, knowledge for those who heed, truth for those who narrate, and discernment for those who judge.
1.18
Did God send down an imperfect religion and seek their help to complete it? Or did he make them his partners such that he must accept their whims? Or, yet again, did he actually send a perfect religion, and it was the Messenger who fell short in conveying and delivering it?
God says, «We have omitted nothing from the Book.» (Qurʾan, Anʿām 6:38.)
It contains clarification of all things. He declares that one part of the Book supports the other without contradiction, saying,
«If it had come from someone other than God, they would have found it to have many inconsistencies.» (Qurʾan, Nisāʾ 4:82.)
The Qurʾan’s form is elegant, and its content is deep. Its marvels never fade, and its wonders never run out. Only through the Qurʾan can darkness be dispelled.
1.107
Learn the Qurʾan, for it is the heart’s springtime. Heal yourselves by its light, for it is a cure for souls. And recite it beautifully, for it is the most beneficial exhortation.
A learned man who acts contrary to his learning is as bad as the ignorant and perplexed man who never wakes from his stupor. In fact, the case against him is stronger, his anguish more binding, and his culpability greater before God.
1.123
But yes, this Qurʾan is a set of written lines enclosed by two covers; it does not speak with a tongue and thus has need of an interpreter, and those who speak on its behalf are men.
When the Syrians proposed to have the Qurʾan arbitrate between us, I did not turn away from God’s Book, for he has said
«If you disagree about something, refer it to God and his Messenger.» (Qurʾan, Nisāʾ 4:59.)
To refer it to God is to rule by his Book, and to refer it to the Messenger is to follow the Messenger’s Sunnah.
1.131.2
From the same oration: The Book of God is in front of you. It is a speaker whose tongue does not stutter, a house whose pillars do not collapse, and a force whose supporters are never crushed.
1.174.2
Know also that the Qurʾan is a counselor that never deceives, a guide that never leads astray, and a speaker that never lies. Whoever sits down with this Qurʾan gets up with either an increase or a decrease: an increase of guidance or a decrease of blindness.
Know, furthermore, that no person will remain poor after accepting the Qurʾan and that no person will be wealthy before accepting it. Seek its cure for your ailments and its support against your hardships, for it holds the cure for the greatest ailments of all—unbelief, hypocrisy, gross error, and miscreance. Beseech God through its sanctity and turn to him through your love for it.
Do not misuse it to seek favors from God’s creatures. Nothing equals the Qurʾan in helping you to turn to God. Know, too, that the Qurʾan is an intercessor that is heeded and a speaker that is believed. Those for whom it intercedes on judgment day will have their plea accepted, while those it accuses on judgment day will have the claim against them upheld. Indeed, a crier will cry out on judgment day:
“Hark! Every tiller’s crop and all the fruits of his labor have been destroyed, except that of the tillers of the Qurʾan!”
Be, therefore, among the Qurʾan’s tillers and followers! Secure it as the guide to your Lord, accept it as a counselor who restrains your appetites, and distrust any of your opinions that contradict its teachings. Learn from the Qurʾan and know that your passions deceive.
1.174.7
The Almighty’s best counsel is found in this Qurʾan. It is God’s strong rope, it is his firm cord, it is the heart’s springtime, it is the wellspring of wisdom. Nothing burnishes the heart like the Qurʾan.
But all who were mindful have disappeared, only those who have forgotten it, or pretend to have forgotten, remain. People, when you know something to be good, lend it support. When you know something to be evil, distance yourself. The Messenger used to say,
⟨Son of Adam, do good and avoid evil, and you will race ahead like a thoroughbred!⟩
1.145.2
After I am gone, you will see a time when there will be nothing more suppressed than right, nothing more dominant than wrong, and nothing more prevalent than false attributions to God and his Messenger. No commodity will be worth less than the Book’s proper recitation or valued more than its blatant corruption. Nothing anywhere will be less familiar than good or more prominent than evil.
Those who had upheld the Book will have cast it away, and those who had memorized it will pretend they remember nothing. On that day, the Book and its Companions will be banished into exile, two friends walking together whom no one is willing to shelter. In that age, the Book and its Companions will be among the people yet not among them, they will be with the people yet not with them, for error is not compatible with righteousness, even if they come together in one place.
People will unite in their dissension, they will splinter from the congregation, they will think themselves to be imams who rule the Book rather than realizing that the Book is the Imam who rules them. Nothing of the Book will remain with them except its name, they will know nothing of it but its script and scrolls.
In all this time, they will continue to inflict torture on the pious, mislabel their truths as lies against God, and requite their good with evil. You should know that those who lived before you perished because they harbored long hopes and neglected their diminishing lifespans. The end befell them as promised—a time when all excuses are rejected, all opportunity to repent removed, and calamity and punishment come home to roost.
1.181.2
The Qurʾan commands and forbids, it is silent and yet it speaks, it is God’s proof against his creatures. He required them to offer the Qurʾan their oaths and pledge their souls.
He perfected its light, honored his religion through it, and recalled his Prophet only after he had fully conveyed the guidance of its rulings.
1.131.5
By God’s Book you see and perceive, through it you speak with reason, and from it you hear the truth. One part of the Qurʾan supports the other—it contains no contradictions about God, and never leads its reader away from him.
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I enter into a state of meditation as I listen to passages from this text in particular. It is so profound and wise, and it speaks to a portion of my heart that is untouched by ordinary content in my daily life. It is important to remember that those that come from the righteous family, companions and descendants of the Prophet ﷺ are not independent in their spirituality.
Rather, no matter the extent of the tree's luminous branches, the source of life and its origin is in the roots. The miracles, eloquence, piety, generosity and various other godly features of those that follow him are all testification to The Prophet ﷺ's goodness, because he is the root.
Works Cited
Nahj al-Balāghah: The Wisdom and Eloquence of ʿAlī: A Parallel English-Arabic Text. Vol. 15. Brill, 2024.
