Written(1) on the night preceding Friday, the fourteenth of the month of Rabiʿ al-Akhir.
***
[Another letter from the Shaykh, dispatched from Egypt to Damascus]
Among these letters is one in which—after praising Allah the Exalted and invoking blessings upon His Prophet ﷺ—he said:

To proceed: Allah—praise be to Him—has bestowed upon me such immense favors, weighty bounties, and noble gifts that they call for abundant gratitude, steadfastness in obedience, and the habit of displaying beautiful patience while carrying out what is commanded. Indeed, the servant is ordered to show patience(2) in times of prosperity even more than in times of hardship. The Exalted says(3:

“If We let man taste a mercy from Us and then withdraw it from him, he becomes utterly despairing and ungrateful; but if We let him taste prosperity after hardship has afflicted him, he will surely say, ‘The evils have left me,’ and he is exultant, boastful—except for those who are patient and do righteous deeds; such people will have forgiveness and a great reward.” (Hud 9–11)

You know that, in this affair, Allah—glorified be He—has granted favors that serve to bring victory to His religion, raise His word high, aid His soldiers, honor His allies, strengthen Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamaʿah, humiliate the people of innovation and schism, confirm what of the Sunnah has already been established among you, and add to that by opening doors of guidance(4), triumph, and proofs, and by the appearance