bless him, his family, and his Companions, and grant them abundant peace.

[The Subject of the Book and the Reasons for Its Composition: Affirming Allah’s Oneness]

To proceed: Certain individuals whose request I was duty-bound to honor asked me to put in writing the substance of what they had heard from me in some gatherings concerning divine oneness and the attributes, and concerning the Divine Law and predestination. The need to clarify these two foundations is pressing, and confusion about them is widespread. Everyone, without exception, needs to understand them; and people of reflection and learning, of intention and devotion, inevitably entertain thoughts and utter statements on these matters that require distinguishing guidance from error—especially since so many have plunged into them, sometimes upon truth, but often upon falsehood. Added to this are the doubts that assail hearts and cast them into various kinds of deviation.

[Oneness in Lordship and Attributes: an Informative Discourse—Oneness in Law and Decree: a Prescriptive Discourse]

Discussion of the oneness of Lordship and the divine attributes belongs to the realm of information, which revolves around negation and affirmation. Discussion of the Divine Law and predestination belongs to the realm of demand and volition, which revolves around will and love on one side, and dislike and hatred, both by way of denial and by way of affirmation, on the other.