After memorizing the Qur’an, some of the Prophet’s Hadith and al-Zahra’s sermon, Ali decided to memorize Nahj al-Balagha of Imam Ali ibn-abi-Tahlib (as) too.
It was not difficult for Ali to memorize Nahj al-Balagha because he had the Holy Qur’an in his heart and was acquainted with Arabic words through working on the book of God and translating its verses into Persian. In addition, reading four volumes of ‘Kileede Fahme Zabane Qur’an’ (The Key to Understand the language of Qur’an) helped him a lot to understand Arabic vocabulary.
With a heart full of love and regard to Imam Ali ibn-abi-Tahlib, Ali went on spending his days and nights on memorizing the sermons, letters and maxims of Nahj al-Balagha, and felling an extreme pleasure on this blessed way.
Ali did not complete his ninth year yet when he had finished memorizing all Nahj al-Balagha. His memorization of Nahj al-Balagha was accurate to an extent that when the head of the council for defining the welfare of the system had referred to a maxim-number in Nahj al-Balagha in the presence of academic persons, Ali immediately delivered that profound and expressive statement, which was appreciated by all the audience.
* But… what made Ali memorize Nahj al-Balagha?
It was about nine o’clock when the live television program called ‘Besharat’ starts on the air from the Islamic Republic TV. The guest of that program was eight and a half years old, and he was a memorizer of the entire Qur’an and Nahj al-Balagha. The delighted TV presenter asked Ali, whose feet fingers could hardly reach the floor from his chair, about the motives behind memorizing Nahj al-Balagha.
Ali answered, here, by quoting a significant saying from Imam Khomeini:
After Qur’an, Nahj al-Balagha is considered the greatest rule for material and spiritual human life, and the best book to liberate human being, and its spiritual and administrating teachings are the best way for human salvation.
Ali Reza-Zada Jouybari, this pupil of the school of Khomeinism, had several TV programs in which he dealt with Nahj al-Balagha’s themes and accounts. Seeing this young teacher was attracting every viewer and making any Iranian hold his head high. Ali was telling the accounts of Nahj al-Balagha and explaining the lessons that could be derived from them one by one with a pleasant wording and extremely plain language. Broadcasting these programs significantly attracted audiences from families, particularly children, to the teachings of Nahj al-Balagha, the book of the man who drunk his fill from the wellspring of the Qur’an. After memorizing Nahj al-Balagha, Ali began flying in the sky of knowledge, so he went on trying to interpret the words of God with the help of Imam Ali’s words in Nahj al-Balagha, and through this he was able to make his audience fond of the words of ameer al-mumineen. Besides he started discovering the existing relation between the book of God and Nahj al-Balagha.
So from then on Ali was not just a memorizer of the Qur’an, rather he was climbing the steps of knowledge one by one through his working on translation and Qur’anic concepts, sayings of the Prophet’s, Nahj al-Balagha and also through an extensive reading and researching, till he became eligible to get the doctorate degree.
This blossom that we are proud of, got a ‘Creativity’ doctorate degree from Syria in the year 2001. Eminent Syrian professors made a university examination for him in four followed sessions that continued about ten hours, along with his replies to deep and universal questions in the University of Damascus in the presence of students, where he successfully responded them and deserved the doctorate degree. The main topics of the exam were as follows:
1. Memorization of the Qur’an.
2. Topics concerning the Qur’an and Hadith.
3. Concepts of the Qur’an and Nahj al-Balagha.
4. Comparison between verses and Hadith.
5. Memorization of Nahj al-Balagha.
Certainly, there is no child of Ali’s age in the Islamic world has succeeded in memorizing both the Qur’an and Nahj al-Balagha, especially with a creativity in connecting similar subjects.
Having this certificate from the scientific-religious circles in Syria had wide echoes and was considered a marvelous honor to the Islamic Republic of Iran and for the followers of Imam Khomeini’s path.
Let us end this chapter by a piece from Nahj al-Balagha concerning the Holy Qur’an. Imam Ali says:
God sent the Prophet after a pause of messengers and a long sleep of nations, and a breach in what has been concluded, so he (the Prophet) brought them a certifier of what precedes it and the guiding light. That is the Qur’an, so ask it to take, and it will never talk, but let me tell you about it: it has the knowledge of the future, the story of the past, the cure of your malady and the order of what is among you. (1)
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(1) Nahj al-Balagha, sermon number 158