—may Allah reward him well. This manuscript usually corresponds to the Salafi printed edition, yet it is marred by numerous gaps whose total length equals about one-third of the treatise. Even so, I drew upon it at several points while preparing the second edition.

After examining all the manuscripts, I concluded that the Berlin copy is the most accurate and complete. The remaining four clearly go back to a single exemplar, for they share the same corruptions, omissions, and disorder in most places.

Editorial Method
I adopted the Berlin copy as the base text because it is both the earliest and the soundest, and because it alone contains the final chapter missing from the others. I collated it against the remaining copies and did not depart from it unless the base reading was patently erroneous or clearly inferior; wherever lines were missing, I supplied them in square brackets. At first I recorded every variant and distortion, but I later abandoned that plan, for most of them were manifest scribal blunders. I therefore limited myself to noting only those variants that bear some plausible meaning, and I indicated all omissions in the base text and the other copies so the reader would be fully informed. I have designated the Berlin copy as “the Base,” the Umm al-Qura copy as (Q), the Dalm copy as (D), the Saudi Library copy in Riyadh as (R), and the Shaqraʾ copy as (Sh).

I also reviewed the first printed edition and found it riddled with corruptions