And these were not collected in any other work, nor found together in any other book ... Amir-al-Momeneen (as) was the fountain of eloquence and (his utterances) the source of rhetoric. Through him hidden delicacies of eloquence and rhetoric came to light, and from him were learnt its principles and rules. Every speaker and orator had to tread on his footprints, and every eloquent preacher availed of his utterances. Even then they could not equal him, for the credit for being the first and foremost remained with him, because his utterances were those that carried the reflection of Divine knowledge and savour of the Prophet's utterances. Accordingly I acceded to their request, as I knew that it meant great reward, handsome reputation and a treasure of recompense. The object of this compilation is that I should bring forth Amir-al-Momeneen’s greatness and superiority in the art of rhetoric which is in addition to his countless qualities and innumerable distinctions, and to show that he has risen to the highest pinnacle of this attainment, is singular among all those predecessors whose utterances are quoted here and there, whereas his own utterances are like an onrushing and irresistible stream, and such a treasure of subtleties in language is unmatched. Since I proudly trace my descent from him I feel pleasure in quoting a couplet of al-Farazdaq:

These are my forefathers O Jarir When we get together, can you cite any as their equals?

In my view Amir-al-Momeneen’s(as) utterances are divisible in three categories: firstly sermons and decrees, secondly letters and communications, and thirdly maxims and counsels. Allah willing I intend to compile first the sermons, then letters, and then maxims and counsels, and propose a separate chapter for each category, leaving blank pages in between each of them so that if anything has been left out and is found afterwards it may be inserted there in

Syed Radi did not furnish a bibliography of the sources from which he collected the words of Amir-al-Momeneen, but alternate sources can be found throughout the Islamic literature. The difference between those and Nahj-ul-Balagha would be that non of those collections are as complete.

An Indian Sunni scholar Imtiyaz ‘Ali’ Arshi, who died a little while ago, did the most painstaking research in this context. He succeeded in tracing back the early sources of 106 sermons, 37 letters and 79 stray sayings of Amir-al-Momeneen (as) in his book Istinad-e Nahj al-balaghah, originally written in Urdu, subsequently translated into Arabic in 1957, then into English and Persian. However, this work still stands as the most valuable research in this field.

Besides this work, some others deserve special mention such as:

We are in the process of listing alternate sources with each sermon, so if anyone has any doubts about the authenticity of this book they can look elsewhere to verify the contents. Please bear in mind that some of the other books were written 200 years before Syed Radi was born.

Wassalam