علی شیخ الاسلامی

Abstract
The present study aimed to analyze the concept of knowledge in Nahj al-Balagha and to explain its position within the intellectual framework of Imam Ali (AS) using a scientometric approach. The statistical population of the study consisted of the entire text of Nahj al-Balagha—including sermons, letters, and maxims—which were examined in their entirety. Data were collected by extracting concepts and keywords related to knowledge and were entered into UCINET software in the form of a co-occurrence matrix. At the analysis stage, micro-level indicators including degree centrality, betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, and eigenvector centrality, as well as the macro-level indicator of network density, were calculated.

The findings showed that the term knowledge had the highest level of centrality and played a pivotal role in the conceptual network of Nahj al-Balagha. Moreover, concepts such as forbearance (?ilm), insight (ba??rah), reason (‘aql), and gnosis (ma‘rifah) were closely linked to knowledge and acted as intermediary and complementary nodes. The macro-level network analysis revealed that the concepts related to knowledge are highly coherent and interconnected, forming several semantic clusters around it.

The results indicate that knowledge, in the thought of Imam Ali (AS), is not only a fundamental concept but also serves as the central axis connecting other values and virtues. Accordingly, employing a scientometric approach in the study of religious texts makes it possible to reconstruct the conceptual structure of Nahj al-Balagha and uncover hidden relationships among its concepts.

Keywords: Knowledge, Nahj al-Balagha, Scientometrics, Conceptual Network, Centrality Indicators, Imam Ali (AS)