Criticism of People’s Mojahedin Organization’s Perception of Nahj al-Balagha

The “People’s Mojahedin of Iran”, popularly known as the “Monafeghin” (hypocrites), often  referred  to  religious texts in order to formulate their ideology; In the meantime, one of the most widely used sources in the speech and writing of this group was Nahj al-Balaghah. The slogan “weapons in one hand and Nahj al-Balaghah in the other” demonstrates at least as a slogan, they received their theoretical foundations from this book and, in their opinion, apply those theories by weapons. It must be acknowledged that their strange, sometimes flawed, and extremist interpretations of religious texts were the basis of their destructive actions, such as bombing and assassination of personalities. By a descriptive-analytical method, this article attempts to criticize their methodological and content defects in the description and interpretation of Nahj al-Balaghah from the perspective of the rules of Fiqh al-hadith (knowledge of understanding the text of hadith) in two  parts: understanding the text and understanding the purpose of the hadith. Among the most important criticisms based on comprehension of the text, we should mention the incorrect personal interpretation, incorrect translation and ignoring the existing explanations of Nahj al-Balaghah. Also, one of the most important criticisms of understanding the purpose of hadith is ignoring the time and space of hadith issuance, disregarding the intention of Imam (AS) as well as fragmentation of hadiths and the resulting misunderstanding.