following him, begrudging his own throne, just as Heraclius had done. When the Prophet ﷺ was informed of this, he said, “The wretch has begrudged his kingdom, and his kingdom will not endure.” (1)

The Shaykh’s diction is at once elegant and exact. By naming his treatise “The Nullifiers of Islam,” he deliberately echoes the juristic chapters on “the nullifiers of wuduʾ”—the acts that invalidate ritual purification. Islam, too, possesses its own purity, for it is a covenant between the servant and his Lord. Once a person utters the two testimonies, he has pledged before his Lord to affirm His oneness, worship Him, and follow His Messenger ﷺ. This is the greatest of all covenants, and any cause of apostasy constitutes a violation of it. Just as the nullifiers of wuduʾ vitiate outward purity, so these nullifiers invalidate Islam itself, which embodies the true, inner purity. Tawḥīd (affirmation of divine oneness) and īmān (faith) are, in essence, purity; for that reason Allah has called the idol-worshippers najas (impure): “Indeed, the polytheists are impure” (9:28). Concerning the believer, however, the Messenger ﷺ said, “A believer is never impure.” (2)