He is likewise among those addressed by Allah’s words (1): “Allah has promised those of you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession in the land just as He granted it to those before them, will surely establish for them the religion He has approved for them, and will surely replace their fear with security: they worship Me and associate nothing with Me” (al-Nūr 24:55).

What the Muslims have continually witnessed, and what the believers have grown accustomed to, of noble mercies and compassionate sentiments is the honoring of the people of religion and the exaltation of the scholars of Islam (2).

What impelled us to raise these explicit supplications to the noble court—although they have never ceased to be raised to Allah, exalted is He, with sincere intention—is the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: “Religion is sincere counsel.” It was asked, “For whom, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “For Allah, for His Messenger, for the leaders of the Muslims, and for their common folk” (3); and his ﷺ saying: “Actions are judged by intentions” (4). These two hadiths are famously sound and widely transmitted (5) throughout the ummah.

Moreover, this venerable, exalted shaykh and this honored, eminent imam—the peerless one of the age, the unique figure of his time, the ornament of the royal realm and the standard-bearer of the sultanic state—were an oath-taker to swear by Allah the All-Powerful, he could declare that this great imam has in his era no equal, nor