Sermon of The Roar of A Camel - Authenticity Controversy

Authenticity Controversy

This sermon has become both well known and controversial. However, there is controversy regarding its authenticity.

The former Wahhabi and later Shi'a scholar Muhammad al-Tijani, wrote in his book And then I was Guided:

I remember, for example, when our Arabic Rhetoric teacher was teaching the Shaqshaqiyyah oration from the book Nahj al-Balaghah by Imam Ali, that I was puzzled, as were many other students, when we read it, but I dared to ask the following question: "Are these truly the words of Imam Ali?" He answered: "Definitely, who would have had this eloquence apart from him? If it were not his saying, why should the Muslim scholars like Shaykh Muhammad Abduh, the Mufti of Egypt, concern themselves with its interpretation?" Then I said, "Imam Ali accuses Abu Bakr and Umar that they robbed him of his right to succeed as Caliph".

The teacher was outraged and he rebuked me very strongly and threatened to expel me from the class, and added, "We teach Arabic Rhetoric and not history. We are not concerned with the dark episodes of history and its bloody wars between Muslims, and in as much as Allah has cleaned our swords from their blood, Not mentioning the faults of the Sahaba (Sunni doctrine)|let us clean our tongues by not condemning them".

Many critics have claimed that the sermon is a forgery of Al-Radhi, the compiler of Nahj al-Balagah. Proponents of the sermon argue that the quality of the sermon is higher than the ability of Al-Radhi, and that others referred to the sermon centuries before Al-Radhi was born. al-Islam.org has a translation of Nahj al-Balagha, and its footnotes include some quotes from non-Shi'a scholars including some who lived before Al-Radhi, in order to prove that the hadith is authentic.