My Procedure in Editing
My work on the critical edition of this book may be summed up as follows:
1 – I produced a complete transcription of the manuscript.
2 – I collated the four manuscripts selected for this edition, adopted the first copy as the base-text, and recorded the variant readings in the footnotes. Where an obvious error appeared in one manuscript while the others were correct, I passed over it in silence.
3 – I inserted a number of sub-headings, placing them in square brackets [ ]. Most of these headings are drawn from Hidāyat al-Rāghib.
4 – I added brief annotations at certain points in the poem, whether to explain an unfamiliar term, clarify a meaning, supply a definition, and the like, always with brevity in mind.
5 – I provided concise source references for many of the invocations cited in the work.
6 – I prefaced the book with an introduction that sets out its significance, supplies a biography of the author from primary sources, establishes the book’s attribution to him, surveys earlier editions and the scholarly attention it has received, and describes the manuscripts on which this edition is based.

In conclusion I say:
This is my work; I have exerted myself to present it in the best possible form. Whatever in it is sound and correct is by the grace of the Lord of creation, and whatever in it is lacking or deficient comes from Satan and from this poor servant.