The Concept of Civic Rights in Nahjul Balaghah

We attempt in this discussion to examine the scientific and applied meaning of civic rights in the light of the view of Imam Ali (ai). So, our study of what Nahjul Balaghah means by civic rights concentrates on seven central points: the foundation of citizenship (the grounds of development of the idea of citizenship), the basic principles of citizenship (the basic principle of viewing citizenship and its rights and obligations), the content ofcitizenship (the relationship of obligations and advantages with rights and duties), the depth of citizentship (boundaries of the importance and role of citizenship in private and public realms), the type of citizenship (the kind of attitude towards people´s participation in political activities), the domain of citizenship (how open or closed would enjoyment of citizentship in a society be and what would its domain be?) and the ultimate aim ofcitizenship (depending on the aim which a political system and society seek for).To sum up, Imam Ali presents in Nahjul Balaghah a different view of citizenship from that adopted by democracy which emphasises on rights or the one adopted by authoritarianism which emphasises on duties.According to Imam, citizenship observes both right and duty on equal terms.