[Introduction]

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
May Allah bless our master Muhammad, his family and his Companions, and grant them peace.

The jurist Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd said:

To proceed: after praising Allah Most High, who has guided us to faith and Islam, and invoking blessings upon His Prophet, through whom He delivered us from the worship of idols and graven images, and upon all the members of his household and his noble, righteous and honourable Companions:

One of our companions who gather with me to review and debate the questions discussed in the books of al-Mudawwana asked me to compile for him as much as possible of the material I used to present to them at the outset of its books and at various points within some of them. This material serves as a fitting introduction to each book and to the topics with which I opened the discussion, and there is great benefit in expounding it, presenting it beforehand and laying the groundwork for it. It includes explaining the meaning of each book’s title and the derivation of its wording; establishing its foundations in the Quran and the Sunnah; and setting out the points on which scholars agree or differ, showing how the book’s questions are founded upon these principles and referred back to them, and linking those questions together by classifying them and precisely elucidating their meanings—all in keeping with the practice of our teacher, the jurist