The Imaginary Context in Nahj al-Balāghah: Theory and Practice

Abstract

Poetic language can make an epistemological contribution. It is the purpose of this thesis to argue that the poetic language employed by Nahj al-Balāghah makes such a contribution, through its uses of the “imaginary context”. While poetic imagery is described by some schools of thought as mere ornamentation within a text, it has been recognised by philosophers of language, such as Al-Fārābī (d.339/950) and his followers, as having an effect on the soul. This idea is part of Al-Fārābī’s logical system in which demonstration – intended to bring about assent – is the highest practice for the tools of logical thought, such as syllogism. Yet, takhyīl [the imaginary] which affects the soul is a result of the poetic syllogism; a syllogism appearing at the lowest level of logic. Al-Sharīf al-Raḍī (d.406/1016) was a well-known poet and Shīʿī exegete in tenth-century Baghdad. He compiled Nahj al-Balāghah, which consists of sermons, letters and aphorisms of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (d.40/661), the first imam and fourth caliph. The time of Al-Sharīf al-Raḍī was one in which intellectual contributions in different fields reached their peak. Social gatherings, disputation and the emergence and development of different sects contributed to the enrichment of cultural and intellectual life in the Islamic world. The Muʿtazilite school was known for its rational approach, rather than reliance on the interpretation of revelation transmitted through generations; as such, the Muʿtazilī approach has had a profound and long-lasting impact on some major schools of Islamic thought. Al-Sharīf al-Raḍī was a scholar who followed this approach and utilised his own forms of interpretation based upon his linguistic and poetic knowledge. Through understanding Al-Sharīf al-Raḍī’s poetic approach, and via a reading of Al-Fārābī’s linguistic philosophy and thoughts on logic, I argue that Nahj al-Balāghah utilises the rational tools that were considered valid, not only to influence the soul by the power of language, but also to educate people through poetic language. This can only be proved through a recognition of the “imaginary context” present within the texts I discuss, a term I develop from Al-Fārābī’s takhyīl. This context, as this thesis attempts to show, has its own logic, constructed by building images upon each other, and by establishing poetic relationships between elements, which depend on predicative propositions that are also, in their essence, poetic.