preferring it, giving it precedence over everything else, loving it, submitting to it, calling others to it, and striving against its enemies to the extent possible.

The truth is what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions followed, and what he brought in knowledge and practice concerning the Lord’s attributes—glory be to Him—His names and oneness, His commands and prohibitions, His promises and warnings, and the realities of faith, which are the stations of those journeying to Allah Most High.

In all these matters, authority rests with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, not with people’s opinions, formulations, ideas, or terminology. Thus, any knowledge, deed, spiritual reality, state, or station that proceeds from the lamp of his prophethood and bears the Muhammadan stamp, minted in Medina, belongs to the straight path. Whatever does not is part of the path of those who have incurred wrath and those who have gone astray. There is no path beyond these three: the path of the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and what he brought; the path of those who have incurred wrath, who recognized the truth but stubbornly opposed it; and the path of those who have gone astray, whom Allah has led away from it.

For this reason, ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abbās and Jābir ibn ‘Abd Allāh, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: “The straight path is Islam.” ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd and ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: “It is the Quran.” A hadith traced back to the Prophet to this effect is reported in al-Tirmidhī and elsewhere. Sahl ibn ‘Abd Allāh said: “The path of the Sunnah and the community.” Bakr ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Muzanī «1» said: “The path of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.”

There is no doubt that it is what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions followed in knowledge and practice: knowing the truth, giving it precedence, and preferring it over everything else. This is the straight path. All the preceding statements point to it and encompass its meaning.

Through this general explanation, it becomes clear that everything contrary to it is false and belongs to the path of one of the two communities: those who have incurred wrath and those who have gone astray.