نشریه پژوهش های نهج البلاغه
سال بیست و یکم شماره 2 (پیاپی 73، تابستان 1401)

Metaphors have always been used in religious discourse to express abstract matters and concepts that humans find difficult to grasp. So, these concepts have been explained in a concrete and tangible format for individuals. According to a cognitive viewpoint, metaphor is not just a linguistic category; through metaphor, one can achieve the speaker's way of thinking and the mental components that have created a connection between two areas (the target and the source) in the speaker's mind. In conceptual metaphors, the metaphorical nature of language is caused by the metaphorical nature of thought, and linguistic metaphors are the reflection of metaphor in thought. As a result, using a descriptive-analytical method and based on cognitive metaphor theory, this study seeks to investigate the abstract concepts that Imam Ali (AS) objectified for the audiences and facilitated their understanding by using Sh3aar in various derivatives with the meaning of undergarment. The findings of the research indicated that, in the words of Imam Ali (AS), clothes and undergarments are the most basic tangible concepts that mankind has known and understood. In several conceptual metaphors, it has been used as the starting point to objectify and facilitate the target areas of obedience to God, piety, love, and mercy, the teachings of the Qur'an, grief and sorrow, greed, patience, fear and awe, humility, and virtues. In this case, Imam Ali (AS), based on the different and tangible components of the source domain, has mapped several different target domains to make the highly abstract and spiritual concepts understandable and tangible to the audience.

Examining and evaluating the world view of the divine rulers and their deeds have always been considered by the followers of religions. On the other hand, their position was considered a valuable model for believers, particularly religious rulers. According to Jews, Hazrat Suleiman (AS) and, according to Muslims, mainly Shiites, Imam Ali (AS), are two prominent figures of wise and pious rulers. During their ascetic rule, they have been engaged in different and full-time economic and social conflicts and, at the same time, had no dependency on worldly materials. This research aims to represent and compare a part of Imam Ali (AS) and Hazrat Suleiman (AS)'s worldview based on their statements in the two books of Nahj al-Balaghah and Ecclesiastes by comparing their governance model in two Abrahamic traditions. The method of collecting data in this research is the library, and the data processing method is comparative. Based on the analysis of this research, like other ruling books in these two works, in addition to thematic similarities, concepts such as alignment in theology, epistemology, and practical wisdom were also visible. Surprisingly, similarities in the sentences and expressions were also found.

One of the important and key elements of a healthy lifestyle is having a healthy and effective relationship with relatives, which is interpreted as family reunion; this is a good tradition that, despite being emphasized in various sources, has been neglected, especially in today's societies. This research tries to answer the following questions by referring to Nahj al-Balaghah. Where is the place of family reunion in the system of social relations? What are its individual and social consequences in terms of reducing social harms? What are the consequences of its termination? The importance of family reunion and strengthening kinship relations in maintaining social unity and community health clarifies the necessity of the present research. The method used in this study is textual content analysis, and the findings demonstrate the extraordinary importance of family reunion, particularly for parents in Nahj al-Balaghah, by providing standards for kinship relationships such as love and forgiveness and assisting in the strengthening of kinship relationships. As a result, it strengthens the pillars of society and alleviates poverty, and in the case of termination, social values will disappear.

It is apparently reported for the first time in the History of the Prophets and Kings (Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk) that one of the companions of the Prophet (PBUH) named Nayyar bin Ayaz Aslami was killed by the companions of Uthman bin Affan in the incident of Yawm al-Dar. According to the report, the current study attempts to answer the following two questions by examining and criticizing the narrative of Nayyar's murder: first, why did the earlier sources of Tabari's history not report the story of the murder of Nayyar bin Ayaz Aslami ? Second, why did Amir al-Mu'minin (AS) not object to the murder of Nayyar bin Ayaz Aslami against the bloodthirsty advocates of Uthman and Mu'awiya? The purpose of analyzing the narrative of the murder of Nayyar is to make it clear that this historical report is not a historical and objective reality but a false story that was made up years after the incident of Yawm al-Dar. The findings of this article show that there was no companion with this name, and assuming the existence of Nayyar, it does not seem that he was killed by the allies of Uthman in the siege of the Caliph's house. As a result, neither the earlier sources on Tabari's history have reported it, nor Amir al-Mu'minin (AS) has protested against Muawiya's claim of bloodlust regarding the killing of Uthman.

Citizenship rights is a set of duties and responsibilities that citizens have to one another, to the city, and to the government. In other words, it is an individual's set of civil, political, and social rights. Nowadays, citizenship rights is one of the basic concerns of researchers and one of the most important issues in civil societies. Although, in its current form, it has not had a coherent research background, citizenship rights have been considered in divine teachings, mainly in the Holy Quran, hadiths, and Nahj al-Balaghah. After using the library method to study the texts of the Quran and Nahj al-Balaghah, this article analyzed their contents by selecting and collecting relevant materials and answered the following question: What is the approach of the Quran and Nahj al-Balaghah toward citizenship rights? The findings show that citizenship rights are rooted in Islamic teachings and religious orders and fully address them. The model of citizenship rights in the Qur'an and Nahj al-Balaghah includes facts and strategies about the characteristics of the optimal relationship between agents and people, maintaining human dignity, the way of management and governance, criticism and rational thinking, the right to life, and freedom of opinion. This model overshadows many of today's legal models for life; therefore, these models can be used to explain the issues and problems of citizenship rights.

Conflict is a natural and inevitable part of human daily life, and every human being has to face it. It is a phenomenon that has two dimensions, positive and negative, and due to its quantitative, qualitative, and temporal scope, it has always been of interest, and different views have been formed regarding its nature and management strategies. The present research was conducted with a descriptive-analytical method and using library sources that included the equivalent keywords of conflict in Nahj al-Balaghah, i.e., dispute, quarrel, discord, dispersion, and hatred. Then, the obtained data were classified based on thematic and content relationships along the two axes of conflict sources and management methods. According to the findings, functional and non-functional conflict with two positive and negative aspects necessitated different management strategies, such as demanding, avoiding, and solving. Each of the conflict management methods is suggested based on divine motivation, compliance with moral and legal principles, and in line with the principles governing communication. These strategies can be operationalized in terms of four axes and context: conflicting group, subject, source, level of conflict, and hierarchy. It should be noted that the impact of context is not the same in all strategies; in some, the type of conflicting group is basically influential, while in others, situational contexts or the type of issue are decisive. Considering the scope of conflict management in Nahj al-Balaghah and its design based on the observance of ethical and legal principles, this issue can be a well-reasoned basis for presenting human theories and their application.

The Islamic Revolution, as one of the most important revolutions of the contemporary era, was able to achieve victory with divine-human thought and crush the spread of oppression and imperialism. As a result, from the time of victory (1978) to the present, the enemies and imperialism in the world have caused this revolution to face numerous crises and challenges, but the constant presence of the people on the scene has neutralized and failed their plans. Religious texts, particularly Nahj al-Balaghah, have presented many solutions and ethical standards to solve social problems and political crises to preserve and continue the Islamic revolution. In this book, the role of the elites in solving the problems of the political system has been emphasized. On this basis, by referring to Nahj al-Balaghah’s wisdom, this article aims to answer the question, "What are the responsibilities of the elites in preserving and continuing the Islamic revolution ?" The present research is descriptive, analytical, and historical, and its hypothesis is that the most important responsibilities of the elites for the preservation and continuation of the Islamic Revolution are acceptance of leadership, avoiding worldliness and ambition, not having ethnic, family, and party biases, avoiding hypocrisy, fairness, piety, courage, and cleverness against the enemy.

One of the most important sources for obtaining religious teachings concerning maximum absorption and minimum rejection in preventing religious deviations is the practical seerah (life) of the infallible imams, particularly Imam Ali (AS). In this case, it is very important to find out what factors were used by Imam to form the government and face different intellectual and ideological tendencies. This article, by focusing on the noble book of Nahj al-Balaghah, used the library method to collect data from first-hand sources. The authors used the analytical descriptive method to analyze the data and investigated the role of maximum absorption and minimum rejection in the thought and life of Imam Ali (As). Based on the obtained results, factors such as kindness, criticism, and consultation, freedom and human dignity, justice, and tolerance in maximum absorption; staying away from ostentation, discrimination, and greed, fraud and hypocrisy, unjust religious prejudices, ignorance, and cynicism in minimum rejection all play a very special role in preventing religious deviations.

Solving the social issues and problems of the present era is one of the important concerns of religious thinkers. Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohammad Javad Mughniyeh is a Lebanese writer who wrote the description of The Shadows of Nahj al-Balaghah with a social approach in a simple and concise language to improve the general public's understanding of social issues. In this description, he has tried to adapt the words of Imam Ali (AS) to find solutions to the problems of his society. This study is descriptive and analytical in nature, with the goal of explaining and evaluating the late Mughniyeh's social approach in The Shadows of Nahj al-Balaghah, particularly in the words of Imam Ali (AS). In this research, it was determined that although the late Mughniyeh did not explicitly discuss the innate nature of community, he considered social living a natural phenomenon. He assumed that an individual's interest and a society's interest complete each other, and he believed that an individual’s behavior can affect a society’s behavior and vice versa, and that the reformation of an individual leads to the reformation of a society and vice versa. According to him, the most important social concepts are the characteristics of a society’s leader and religious thinkers. In this discussion, he has introduced the contemporary oppressors and explained the ways to fight against them.

Resilience entails achieving balance from the lowest to the highest levels of life in threatening situations and getting desirable outcomes in life. Resilience can be considered a defense mechanism that enables people to persevere in the face of difficulties and improve mental health. Also, while considering resilience, the existential spirituality of individuals is also one of the important indicators of resilience. Also, having high spirituality is the best supporter of endurance and can make a person victorious against the issues and problems ahead. The purpose of this research is to analyze the spirituality of resilience based on the teachings of Imam Ali (AS) to provide educational requirements in the instructional system. In the current research, Nahj al-Balaghah is studied and analyzed as one of the most important spiritual sources in the Islamic world. This qualitative research was conducted through content analysis based on the standard categorization system. The research findings were encoded in three steps, and each spirituality step was divided into four main components (connection with God, connection with oneself, connection with creation, and connection with creatures) and sub-components according to Nahj al-Balaghah and the teachings of Imam Ali (AS). This research seeks to develop and expand resilience based on the teachings of Nahj al-Balaghah in the instructional system by observing educational requirements.