and of the Rejectionists—those whose very creed is to stab at the righteous and belittle them.

Who, after you, will untie the knots of doubt and rebut every specious objection and foolish utterance (1)?

Who will clarify a perplexing problem (2) that minds fall short of grasping because of its subtle obscurity?

Who (3) will put down the contentious adversary who argues about the religion out of sheer obstinacy, a follower of some crooked sect?

Whom do you see, after you, to meet the stranger with a radiant face and the favor of generous hospitality (4)?

Since your departure the stranger is lost; he finds no helper against the harsh trials that befall him (5).

What a scholar the mourner announced to us, what a learned authority preserved upon this dusty earth!

What a luminary death has made disappear, now confined to the recess of a grave in some far-flung corner (6)!

He was the most knowledgeable of all people concerning the Book of Allah—exalted is His Name—beyond dispute,

of its meanings and the sciences it contains, and he was the most conversant with the radiant Sunnah,

narrating the hadith of the Master of the Messengers through the foremost, noble Imams,

both the sound and the weak reports, and the accounts of transmitters, whether reliable or of lesser standing,

as well as the traditions of his Companions and the legal verdicts of the scholars who came after them.