“To proceed: anyone who wishes to understand the religions and to distinguish among them must first know the various madhāhib (schools of thought) and maqālāt (doctrinal statements). I have observed that, when people recount these doctrines and compose works on sects and religions, they fall into several categories. Some are negligent (1) in what they transmit; others err in what they cite from the words of their opponents; [while others deliberately lie in their reports in order to vilify those who differ from them]. (2) Still others fail to investigate thoroughly what they relate of the disputants’ disagreements, and some tack on to their opponents’ positions whatever they imagine will oblige them to concede.

He said (3): ‘This is not the way of the godly, nor the path of the discerning (4) and intelligent. What I have witnessed has compelled me to clarify what I sought to elucidate regarding these doctrines, and to present it in abridged form.’

[I say] (5): Although he himself strove (6) for accuracy and honesty in what he transmitted, most of what (7) he conveys concerning the doctrines of those whose books he never examined—and whose own words he did not hear directly—comes from the reports of those who compiled works on doctrinal positions, such as Zurqan, a Muʿtazilite, and Ibn al-Rāwandī (8)