Cinematic elements in the rhetorical images of Nahj al-Balaghah

Nahj al-Balaghah has a prestigious position in terms of literary and rhetorical illustrations, and Imam Ali (A.S.) elaborately created rhetorical and impressive images of the events. By thinking deeply about the nature of the rhetorical images in this exquisite book and by studying and being aware of new rhetorical achievements, we will witness the closeness of the rhetorical images of Nahj al-Balaghah with cinematic images. The dynamic and technical images of Imam (A.S.) surprisingly include effective cinematic elements. These images play a significant role in conveying the discussed themes. This article, relying on the theoretical foundations available in the books of film criticism, examined the most important cinematic components and then extracted the evidence of narrative tones from the sermons of Nahj al-Balaghah to determine the cinematic and theatrical capabilities of their images. The result of the present research shows that the rhetorical images of Nahj al-Balaghah, especially in the religious text, take advantage of the narration, elements, and cinematic features. Elements such as nested narration and moving narration, mise-en-scène, perspective, camera angle, montage, and editing process are used in Imam's rhetorical images. These elements play an active role in the effectiveness and dynamism of the presented images.