Then I sent someone to fetch it, and with it came a few notebooks (1) in my own handwriting from the house; thus al-ʿAqīdah al-Wāsiṭiyyah arrived.

I said to them, “The reason it was written (2) is that a certain judge from the region of Wāsiṭ, an elder known as Radi al-Din al-Wāsiṭī (3), came to us on pilgrimage. He was a man of piety and devotion, and he complained about what the people in those lands, under Tatar rule (4), were suffering—rampant ignorance and oppression, and the fading of religion and learning. He asked me to compose a creed that he and the members of his household could rely on. I excused myself (5), saying, ‘Scholars have already written the creeds of the imams of the Sunnah’ (6).

“But he persisted, declaring, ‘I want no creed except one written by you.’ So I composed this creed for him while seated after the ʿAsr prayer. Many copies of it have since circulated (7) in Egypt, Iraq, and elsewhere.

“The amir then suggested that I should not read it myself—so as to dispel suspicion (8). He handed it to his secretary, Shaykh Kamal al-Din, who read it aloud to those present, word for word, while the assembled company…"