Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Nahj al-Balagha
The Peak of Eloquence — theology, governance, and wisdom from the gate of prophetic knowledge
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Nahj al-Balagha |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Time · Traversability | Linear |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Finite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | Three |
| Space · Locality | not engaged |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Matter · Conservation | Conserved |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | not engaged |
| Observer · Time Instance | Single |
| Observer · Space Instance | Single |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Mediate |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Embodied |
| Observer · Agency | Active |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Personal |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Revelation |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Finite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Energy · Conservation | Conserved |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Irreversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Granularity | not engaged |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Nahj al-Balagha
Both — God is eternal, preceding time itself. Created time is linear and moves toward the Day of Judgement. The sermons stress the transience of worldly life and the permanence of the hereafter. Free will is affirmed: humans are responsible moral agents.
Space
Nahj al-Balagha
Finite created cosmos. God is not spatial but omnipresent through knowledge and power. The sermons describe creation as bounded and ordered by divine wisdom.
Matter
Nahj al-Balagha
Created, real, transient. The material world is a sign of God's power and a test for human beings. Physical resurrection on the Day of Judgement presupposes the conservation of bodies.
Observer
Nahj al-Balagha
Human beings are embodied, free, rational, and morally responsible. Knowledge comes through revelation, prophetic inheritance, and rational reflection. Ultimate metaphysical agency is personal: Allah, the one God who creates and judges.
Energy
Nahj al-Balagha
Finite, created, and sustained by God. The cosmological sermons presuppose a stable natural order under divine governance.
Information
Nahj al-Balagha
Knowledge originates in God and is transmitted through the prophetic chain. Ali is "the gate of knowledge" — a privileged transmission node. All deeds are recorded; nothing is lost before divine reckoning.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The major tension is authenticity: the Nahj al-Balagha was compiled four centuries after Ali's death, and critical scholars debate which portions are genuinely his, which are from later sources, and which may be al-Radi's own compositions. The theological tension between Ali as political ruler (caliph) and Ali as spiritual master (imam/wali) also runs through the text, unresolved.