doubt of nahj al-balaghah’s volume and prolongation in imam ali's (peace be upon him) speech and reply to it

no doubt nahj al-balaghah is one of the greatest religious books after holy quran and its content including sermons, letters, and philosophies serve as a bright light that guides humans and they find path to growth and guidance with its light beam. this place is because nahj al-balaghah was inspired by contents of quran and the prophet’s tradition. imam ali reflects rhetoric and eloquence in his speech with most beautiful and amazing form but over time, some people doubted nobility and content of nahj al-balaghah which doubt in volume of nahj albalaghah and prolongation existence in imam's speech is among verbal or shape doubts proposed in this respect and some sermons such as al-qase'aeh, al-ashbah, and imam's letter to al-malik al-ashtar nakhaee have been criticized for being lengthy and prolixity and with this reason that during early islam and imam ali's era, this method in prolixity and lengthy speeches was not popular and experienced. this article aims to respond this doubt using analytical- descriptive method and different reasons including proving history of long sermons during imam ali's era and proportionality of prolixity and brevity in speech based on era atmosphere of speaker or listener and also place and condition of delivering sermon. so this was concluded that different factors have influenced prolixity in imam's speech for example imam's letter to al-malik al-ashtar has been generally written in fact for all rulers and governors and al-malik has been addressed specially as a ruler and importance of subject is the ground for prolixity and lengthiness of imam's speech.