those who have gone astray back to guidance; who patiently endure the hurt they suffer; who, by the Book of Allah, bring the dead to life and, by the light of Allah, grant sight to the blind. How many a victim of Iblīs have they revived, and how many a lost wanderer have they directed! How excellent is their influence upon the people, and how deplorable is the people’s response to them! They purge the Book of Allah of the distortions of extremists, the fabrications of impostors, and the interpretations of the ignorant—those who have hoisted the banners of innovation and unleashed the reins of tribulation. They differ about the Book, oppose the Book, and are united only in contravening the Book. They speak about Allah, concerning Allah, and regarding the Book of Allah without knowledge. They trade in ambiguous rhetoric and beguile the uninformed with the semblances they cast upon them. So we seek refuge in Allah from the trials stirred up by those who mislead.”⦗1⦘

• Among those whom Allah appointed to champion His religion and defend it with speech, pen, and sword was Shaykh al-Islām Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām ibn Taymiyyah. He was born in Harran on Monday, the tenth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal 661 AH, and he passed away—unjustly imprisoned—in the Citadel of Damascus on Monday night, the twentieth of Dhū al-Qaʿdah 728 AH. His funeral prayer was held in the Umayyad Mosque after the noon prayer, and, because of the immense crowd, he was not buried until shortly before ʿAṣr. May Allah grant him abundant mercy and gather us with him and with those whom Allah has favored in the Gardens of Bliss.

• He—may Allah sanctify his soul—produced many writings in which he debated the people of innovation and combated their doctrines, ranging from voluminous works to medium-sized and brief treatises; through them, great benefit was realized.

Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, alluded to some of these works in his Nuniyyah, saying:
If you would behold the downfall of those bygone—
The folk of taʿṭīl (negating the divine attributes) and ingratitude—