[Continuation of al-Basrī’s words and Ibn Taymiyyah’s commentary]

Abū Muhammad said in this book, which he composed on the fundamentals of the Sunnah and divine oneness:

“The early and later generations, the leading religious scholars and Muslim jurists, from east and west, plains and mountains, and all the lands of Islam—the Maghrib, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, the Hijaz, Yemen, the maritime regions, and Khurasan—were unanimously agreed that the creed of the Sunnah comprises fourteen tenets: seven concern the visible realm and are professed as religion in this world, while seven concern the unseen and are matters of belief relating to the Hereafter.

“Those pertaining to this world are: professing and believing that faith consists of words, deeds, and intention; believing in divine predestination, both its good and its evil; affirming that the Quran is uncreated; giving precedence to the four caliphs in their order; affirming the imamate and refraining from rebellion against any of them; offering the funeral prayer for anyone who dies among the people of the qiblah; and abstaining from disputation and argument.

“Those pertaining to the Hereafter are: believing in the conditions of the intermediate state, the signs preceding the Hour, resurrection after death, seeing Allah Most High, the Cistern, intercession, the Bridge, the Balance, and the everlasting nature of the two abodes. Whoever disagrees with any of this has departed from the creed of the Sunnah and the community. Concerning this there is no uncertainty among the scholars of hadith, the jurists, and the scholars of all the regions.

“We shall discuss each issue separately and establish the evidence for it from the Book, the Sunnah, and rational consideration. Success and assistance come through Him. He is sufficient for us, and He is the best Disposer of affairs. We cannot do without Him for the blink of an eye, nor for less than