—his two books al-Maqālāt and, as he himself states, al-ʿUmad⦗1⦘. Abū Bakr ibn Fūrak records the same in his Akhbār⦗2⦘, and Abū al-Qāsim ibn ʿAsākir transmits it from him⦗3⦘, saying: “Shaykh Abū al-Hasan ʿAlī ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ashʿarī moved away from the doctrines of the Muʿtazilah.”⦗4⦘
All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah bless Muhammad, his family, and all his Companions. Let it be known that this is the last portion we have found of this beneficial treatise. It is by the imam—indeed, the imam of the imams, the renewer of the Sunnah of the Master of the Messengers for this ummah, the vanquisher of the champions of falsehood in every circumstance, and the exposer of the blemishes they tried to hide with ornate speech—Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah. May Allah drench his resting-place with the downpour of His mercy and make Paradise his destination and abode. With Allah’s aid it was completed on Wednesday, the twenty-fourth day of the month of Jumādā in the year 1223 AH from the Hijrah—peace and blessings be upon him⦗5⦘.