Who Is Nahj al-Balagha’s Most Beautiful Sermon About
Imam Ali’s (AS) principles of life were, in all aspects, based on the Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). In his social life, he also acted based on the Divine orders and Nabawi Seerah, which can be considered as a perfect example for everyone.
Bakhshali Ghanbari, a Nahj al-Balagha researcher, discussed “social morality based on Nahj al-Balagha” in a series of lectures. Following are excerpts from the 15th session on “The Pious”:
I introduce two sermons to you and hope that, God-willing, you will read them because they certainly have positive effects on people. One is Sermon 193 and the other Sermon 194.
Sermon 193 has other names, such as the one given to it by Sayyid Radhi who called it the Sermon of Muttaqeen or The Pious. It is also known as Humam Sermon, as Humam asked Imam Ali (AS) to describe the characteristics of the pious.
Imam (AS) first tried to dissuade Humam but he insisted. Imam (AS) said a few sentences: “Now then, Allah the Glorified, the Sublime, created (the things of) creation. He created them without any need for their obedience or being safe from their sinning, because the sin of anyone who sins does not harm Him nor does the obedience of anyone who obeys Him benefit Him. He has distributed among them their livelihood, and has assigned them their positions in the world.”
Humam stresses that it is not enough for him. Then Imam Ali (AS) points out 106 characteristics of the pious in this sermon, that is very amazing and I can tell you, if you read this sermon ten or twenty times, you would think that it is still effective and even more effective than before. So those who want to work on their personal growth should certainly read this sermon.
There are different explicatory texts written about this sermon and a search in the Internet will lead you to many articles and books about it. I have also explained this sermon in 30 sessions.
It is the most beautiful sermon of Nahj al-Balagha. Another important point is that when you finish reading this sermon, you reach the next one, Sermon 194, which is the opposite in content and is about the hypocrites.
It is interesting that when you read Sermon 194, it talks about Ijabi (affirmative) characteristics while the next sermon elaborates on Salbi (privative) characteristics.
