Contradiction of the Silence and the Speech in Nahdj al-Balagha, Based on the Poststructuralist Theory

Nahdj al-Balagha is an epistemic literary masterpiece. So, its structure has the potential of analyzing from the perspectives of new approaches to literary criticism, such as poststructuralism. Using this approach with the main focus on dual contrasts can be a step toward using the new methods of analyzing the text in the field of Islamic studies and interdisciplinary research. On the other hand, it leads us to a new understanding of the text. Based on the poststructuralism theory, this study aims to explore the dual contrasts of silence (Somt) and speech (Notgh) in Nahdj al-Balagha.  Accordingly, the keywords of this semantic field were extracted and two basic words of the silence and the speech were examined in different contexts. The findings show that contrary to the common idea that assumes the speech as positive, in an uncommon view, Imam (AS) has considered the silence that means pithy sayings as a positive and valuable phenomenon, as well as causing dignity, effective, a sign of the wisdom and one of the ways to the thought completion.