In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful; in Him we seek aid (1).
He said (2)—our Shaykh, the illustrious Imām, Shaykh al-Islām Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah be pleased with him— (3):
[All praise is due to Allah] (4). We seek His help and His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own souls and from the consequences of our misdeeds. Whomever Allah (5) guides, none can mislead; and whomever He allows to stray, none can guide. [And I bear witness] (6) that there is no deity except Allah (7), [and I bear witness] (8) that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger—may Allah bless him and grant him peace— (9).
[To proceed:] (10) Indeed, toward the end of the month of Ramadan in the year 706 AH (11),
(1) In S: “wa bihi thiqati” (and with it is my confidence), omitted in T.
(2) The speaker—Allah knows best—is one of the Shaykh’s disciples (may God have mercy on him); I did not find his name explicitly stated in my study of the book nor in my efforts to identify him.
(3) In T: “rahimahu Allahu ta‘ala” (may God have mercy on him).
(4) The text within quotation marks is an addition in both S and T.
(5) In the original: “yahdi” (He guides); in T: “yahd”.
(6) The text within quotation marks is an addition in both S and T.
(7) In T: “wahdahu la sharika lahu” (He is One, without partner).
(8) The text within quotation marks is an addition in both S and T.
(9) After the word “wa sallam”: in S and T there is an addition: “tasliman” (with salutation). In the original: blank space.
This is part of the Khutbat al-Ḥajah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught his Companions, and the pious predecessors used to begin their books and letters with it. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya (may God have mercy on him) also followed this practice, frequently opening his works with it. The khutbah has been transmitted through several chains, all of which Shaykh Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī collected in his book Khutbat al-Ḥajah.
(10) The text within quotation marks is an addition in both S and T.
(11) In the original and in T: “seven hundred and twenty-six” is erroneous. See my note on p. 60.