Nahj al-Balaghah
The sermons, letters and sayings attributed to Imam Ali, read from the published Shia library edition with the Arabic and the published English translation side by side.
Topical chapters
Numbers below are this edition's record sequence. Short sayings and long sermons are both split into records, so a sequence number is not the printed sermon, letter or saying number.
4 passages
١٠٤. وَعَنْ نَوْفٍ الْبَكَالِيِّ قَالَ: رَأَيْتُ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (عليه السلام) ذَاتَ لَيْلَةٍ وَقَدْ خَرَجَ مِنْ فِرَاشِهِ فَنَظَرَ فِي النُّجُومِ، فَقَالَ لِي: يَا نَوْفُ أَ رَاقِدٌ أَنْتَ أَمْ رَامِقٌ، فَقُلْتُ بَلْ رَامِقٌ، قَالَ:
104. It is related by Nawf al-Bikālī that: I saw that one night Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, came out from his bed and looked at the stars, then he said to me: “O Nawf, are you awake or sleeping?” I said: “I am awake, O Amīr al-mu’minīn.” Then he said:
Open record →يَا نَوْفُ طُوبَى لِلزَّاهِدِينَ فِى الدُّنْيَا الرَّاغِبِينَ فِى الْآخِرَةِ أُولَئِكَ قَوْمٌ اتَّخَذُوا الْأَرْضَ بِسَاطاً وَتُرَابَهَا فِرَاشاً وَمَاءَهَا طِيباً وَالْقُرْآنَ شِعَاراً وَالدُّعَاءَ دِثَاراً ثُمَّ قَرَضُوا الدُّنْيَا قَرْضاً عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ الْمَسِيحِ.
O Nawf! Blessed be those who abstain from this world and are eager for the next world. They are the people who regard this earth as a floor; its dust as their bed-cloth; and its water as their perfume; they recite the Qur’ān in low tones and supplicate in high tones and then they are cut off from the world like ‘Īsā (Jesus).
Open record →يَا نَوْفُ إِنَّ دَاوُدَ (عليه السلام) قَامَ فِى مِثْلِ هَذِهِ السَّاعَةِ مِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَقَالَ إِنَّهَا لَسَاعَةٌ لَا يَدْعُو فِيهَا عَبْدٌ إِلَّا اسْتُجِيبَ لَهُ إِلَّا أَنْ يَكُونَ عَشَّاراً أَوْ عَرِيفاً أَوْ شُرْطِيّاً أَوْ صَاحِبَ عَرْطَبَةٍ ـ وَهِيَ الطُّنْبُورُ ـ أَوْ صَاحِبَ كَوْبَةٍ ـ وَهِيَ الطَّبْلُ،
O Nawf! The prophet Dāwūd (David), peace be upon him, rose up at a similar hour one night and said, “This is the hour when whatever a person prays for is granted to him unless he is a tax-collector, an intelligence man, a police officer, a lute player or a drummer.”
Open record →قال السيد الرضى: وَقَدْ قِيلَ أَيْضاً إِنَّ الْعَرْطَبَةَ الطَّبْلُ وَالْكَوْبَةَ الطُّنْبُورُ.
As-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: It is also said that “‘arṭabah” means ‘ṭabl’ (drum) and “kūbah’’ means ‘lute’.
Open record →No licensed commentary edition has been cleared for reproduction, so the reader shows the text without it. No licensed recording is connected, so none is offered.