there, for his words could not possibly be concealed from those present, nor any part of them withheld from those who witnessed it:

‘I have left among you that which, if you hold fast to it, will keep you from going astray: the Book of Allah and my Sunnah.’

I swear that in these two lie the remedy for every perplexing matter and the cure for every intractable ailment. Their protection from falsehood—as we have already explained—is a sign for anyone who sincerely seeks his own good, and a guide for anyone whose aim is the truth.”

He said:

“What we have mentioned demonstrates the validity of the evidence on which they relied and the strength of the grounds through which they came to know the truth. Since matters are as we have described, you now recognize the slander of the proponents of innovation against them in accusing them of imitation, and how ill-judged was their decision to part company with them and abandon the path they had shared with them. Success comes through Allah.

And since what we have mentioned has established the soundness of the methods of