has been transmitted from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

We believe in the punishment of the grave and the Cistern, and that the Balance is real, the Bridge is real, and resurrection after death is real. We believe that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, will have His servants stand at the place of gathering and will call the believers to account, and that faith consists of speech and deeds, and increases and decreases.

We accept the authentic reports from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, transmitted by trustworthy narrators, each upright narrator relating from another, until the chain reaches the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

We profess love for our predecessors whom Allah, Mighty and Majestic, chose to accompany His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. We praise them as Allah praised them, and affirm our loyalty to them all.

We say that the foremost imam after the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was Abū Bakr al-Siddīq, may Allah be pleased with him. Allah strengthened the religion through him and granted him victory over the apostates. The Muslims gave him precedence in leadership, just as the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had given him precedence in leading the prayer. They unanimously called him the successor to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Then came ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, then ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, may Allah be pleased with him. Those who fought him did so unjustly and aggressively. Then came ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him. These were the imams after the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and their caliphate was a prophetic caliphate.

We testify that the ten whom the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, testified would enter Paradise will indeed enter it.