Nahj al-Balagha

Nahj al-Balagha, compiled by al-Sharif al-Radi from sermons, letters and sayings attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib, is a primary text central to Shia Islamic tradition and also respected within Sunni Islam for its literary and ethical content, though its precise attribution has long been a matter of scholarly and sectarian discussion. Some material within the collection is widely accepted as authentically tracing to Ali, while other passages have been questioned by both classical and modern scholars regarding exact wording and attribution, a normal feature of orally transmitted early Islamic material compiled centuries after the fact. Read it as the tradition's own foundational text carrying immense theological and literary authority within Shia Islam specifically, while noting that attribution questions about individual passages are a genuine and long-running scholarly conversation rather than a settled matter.