Nahjal Balagha

[ENIGMA]

Is there a sunni version of this book,online/pdf which one can refer to. I know the shia's refer to this book alot but need the sunni version. or are they both the same?

[bugmenot]

This books contains false sayings attributed to 'Ali (:anhu) and AFAIK there is only one book.

[ENIGMA]

Maybe our scholars could a commentary on the book and also weed out any false sayings?

surely, theres gotta be a sunni version of this book out there with all the false stuff taken out.

[bugmenot]

Here are some more posts about this:: http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11175

[Shuayb Ahmed]

Greetings,

While I don't believe Balagha to be a "false book" I do believe it reflects its long oral traditions far more than the canonical Sunni hadith. Be that as it may there are great spiritual treasures in Balagha for Sunnis if they put aside their partisanship and look at the essential. There is an excellent commentary on the essential Balagha in English by Reza Shah Kazemi (this author is featured in Hamza Yusuf's journal Seasons) entitled Justice and Remembrance, which conveys, in beautiful and erudite exposition, a spiritual discourse that revolves around Tawhid.

Wa 'Llahu a'lam

[ENIGMA]

So what are the parts which are deemed untrustworthy and should be left out. I think most people here agree that there are some treasures in the book, but its about trying to filter the truth from the falshood. If someone who has read the book can give chapters or page numbers or something of the stuff in the Balagha which has been verified as authentic by sunni scholars, then yes, it would be a good read. Is there an online pdf version about?

[Shuayb Ahmed]

Enigma,

All traditions reflect their oral transmissions, and this is true of Sunni sources just as it is of Shi'a sources. The differences is that Sunnis developed a form of empiricism that permitted them to compile much of the oral tradition in the 2nd Century Hijrah whereas the Shi'a didn't do this until the 3rd or 4th due to the continuing presence of the Wilayah of the Ahl Bayt in thier midsts. People only write things down when there is a fear they'll be lost, and this took place considerably later in Shi'ism than in Sunnism.

Perhaps some nuance is lost in the above explanation...

Wa 'Llahu a'lam

[ENIGMA]

see what you're saying but I have met some Shias who take whatever has been reported by the Ahlul bayt as truth without even verifying it.

[Shuayb Ahmed]

Dear Enigma,

Why shouldn't they?

--Shuayb

[ENIGMA]

Why shouldn't they what,brother?