Nahj al- Balaghah’s Vocabulary and Literature: The analytical study of the First Systematic Research in the West

Corresponding the time of Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1997, western studies on Shi'a hadith have engaged in new professional fields which particularly during 2 last decades consist of a vast endeavor on study and analysis of Shi'a hadith literature. The detailed research of A Critical Study of Nahj al-Balagha is considered as the beginning and the turning point of studies on Nahj al-Balagha in western academic centers, regarding its respected effort, that is in worthy of attention and scrutiny by researchers on this area. Among its distinguished and notable features are as follow: documental dating of Nahj al-Balagha, recovering the neglected documents of Nahj al-Balagha in classical and early Arabic texts, vocabulary of sermons, letters, and wisdoms through pre-islamic prose and poems, comparing between Quranic words and Nahj al-Balagha, quoting and analyzing of early and later scholars, attention to the misconceptions proposed against Nahj al-Balagha and presenting reasonable answers to them, and finally giving a systematic discussion, as the first effort on this field in the west. The present article aims to review, analyze, and criticize it, in addition to a brief recount of the evolution of western literature on Shi'a hadith.