The Forerunner (rāʾid) Nahj al-Balāghah: the Word of Imām ʿAlī from Classical Arabic into Literary English: a Two-Decade Translation Endeavour

Translating Classical Arabic into literary English has challenged scholars since the seventeenth century: ‘new’ translations, such as those of the Qurʾān, often regurgitate earlier works. Insights from the author’s twenty-two-year work on an Arabic critical edition and English literary translation of Nahj al-Balāghah , the fifth/tenth century compilation of the word of Imām ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (d. 60 AH /661 CE ), demonstrate that scholars must engage directly with language and the text to produce original translations from Semitic languages into Indo-European languages. Palaeography, Classical Arabic grammar, and a thorough knowledge of the literature, culture, and history of both source and target languages are essential. But the scholar must become a ‘forerunner’ ( rāʾid ), going beyond lexicons, countering linguistic ‘obsolescence’ with ‘literary precedent’, and reflecting the status of Imām ʿAlī as a maker of the Arabic language through original English translations capturing the grammatical, semantic, and literary nuances of Classical Arabic.