and does not subject it to allegorical interpretation. If you reflect on what (1) has befallen this Sacred Law in our own time—the transient corruption (2) that has crept into it by means of figurative exegesis (3)—you will see that the analogy is sound. The first to tamper with this greatest remedy were the Khawarij, followed by the Muʿtazilites, then the Ashʿarites, then the Sufis; after that, Abū Ḥāmid came and dammed the valley over the settlement (4). He then went on to say some further words (5) about the books of Abū Ḥāmid (6) which we have no need to recount.