Shaykh al-Islam’s intent in this brief epistle:

This question is one of the most important matters we must understand and ponder, for by grasping it we can resolve a difficulty into which some have fallen through misreading the Shaykh’s purpose:

• A group of scholars affirmed the passage—and that is the correct view—but did not comprehend what was meant by it, and therefore offered an interpretation that contradicts what Shaykh al-Islam and the scholars intended.

• Another group of scholars denied it, differed over the issue, and became confused: some of them rejected it outright and in detail, even composing refutations that—may Allah pardon us and them—involved a great deal of unnecessary labor.