In the Name of Allāh, the Entirely and Innately Merciful

All praise is due to Allāh, Who has made incumbent upon His servants praise of Him on account of His blessings which are already with them, and due to that merited from them renewed gratitude, by virtue of the success He has granted them in offering that praise for those blessings. Glory be to Him with Whom no-one has any share in either the prior blessing or the renewed gratitude—neither in originating a gift nor in inspiring gratitude. Rather, through His clemency He initiated the blessings, and through His tenderness inspired gratitude; through His favour He extended success in all of this, and by His wisdom directed them to guidance. By the justice of His judgement, He has placed no constraint in the religion, nor has He invited anyone to it by an obscure means. Had the indication thereof been distinct from the speech current upon people’s tongues—as distinct as He, magnified be His laudation, is from His servants—ears would have been bewildered in listening to it, hearts would have lost their way in attaining it, and minds would have fallen short of comprehending it, just as they fall short of comprehending the modality of Allāh, magnified are His Names. All praise is due to Allāh, among Whose subtle workmanship and effective exercise of wisdom was that He did not burden us in this regard with any onerous load, and made His chosen one from among His creation, Muḥammad صلى الله عليه وعلى آله, His envoy in that to which He invited people. He made evident in him, during the days of the Mission, and even before the advent of his Prophethood and the manifestation of his Apostolate, noble elements, an immaculate lineage and pleasing traits. He made him the example to be followed in the noblest of ethics, and the one pointed to for his avoidance of those defects which preclude one from being advanced and cause one to be held back, while he stood distinguished by sanctity and Divine favour. Hence, he invited us to Allāh, magnified be His majesty, with comprehensible speech and an esteemed Book: ﴾falsehood cannot approach it, at present or in future, a [revelation gradually] sent down from One all-wise, all-laudable﴿ [41:42]. Thus, He rendered the Missionary free of any lowly trait that would prevent him from speaking what is right, and shielded him, through infallibility, from forbidding a characteristic act while himself committing its like; and He rendered the Apostolic Message itself immune from falsehood approaching it, at present or in future. And among His benefactions upon His creatures is that He rendered the Missionary acting on His behalf familiar to them through proximity, and the Mission itself well-known through proximity. In this, He further reinforced His decisive argument against His servants by inviting them to a truth which does not bring together those who differ, nor unite any but those who agree. And He has rendered His servants, despite the differences in their concerns and the diversity of their dispositions, removed from the path concerning which ﴾had the truth followed their desires, the heavens and the earth would have surely fallen apart [along] with those who are in them﴿ [23:71], and removed from a condition in which they would possess for themselves either benefit or harm. Instead, He has entrusted their incapacity and the weakness of their judgements to intemerate, elect Divine leaders and pious guardians,[1] who convey from Allāh and invite people to Him, who act upon the good that they command and themselves desist from that which they forbid, for ﴾they do not intercede except for someone He approves of, and they are apprehensive for the fear of Him﴿ [21:28]. Thus, all praise be to Allāh for all these excellent blessings, with a praise through which His due is rendered and through which increase is sought. And may Allāh salute Muḥammad and his House with a salutation that is raised up to Him and flourishes in His presence, and which demonstrates, notwithstanding the encompassing doubts and the settled inward convictions, that they are Allāh’s decisive argument binding upon us, captains leading us to Him, and proofs of Him—hallowed be His name—and, within His upright religion, a Sacred Law and an established precedent; that their word will never be rendered void, their decisive argument will never be refuted, their number will never differ, and their lineage will never be extinguished, until Allāh, magnified be His majesty, inherits the Earth and all those upon it, and He is the best of inheritors; and until He causes them to prevail over all religion, even if those who associate others with Allāh dislike it.