In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.

[My Lord, make matters easy and aid me.] (1)

[The eminent shaykh, the illustrious imam, the noble master, the reviver of the sunnah, the defender of hadith, the pillar of the religion, Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn Mas‘ud al-Farra’, may Allah have mercy on him, said:] (2)

All praise belongs to Allah, Possessor of majesty and grandeur, might and everlastingness, loftiness and exaltation, glory and praise. Exalted is He above peers and partners, and sanctified beyond likenesses and equals. May blessings be upon His Prophet and chosen one, Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and leader of the God-fearing, as numerous as the particles of the earth and the stars of heaven.

And all praise belongs to Allah, the Sovereign, the Most Holy, the Giver of Security, the Guardian, the All-Knowing, the Ordainer of rulings, Possessor of Majesty and Honor, who honored us with the religion of Islam, bestowed favor upon us through our Prophet Muhammad—upon him be blessings and peace—and graciously gave us His Book, which distinguishes what is lawful from what is forbidden. May blessings [and peace] (3) be upon His beloved and the choicest of His creation, Muhammad, the master of all humankind, as numerous as the hours of nights and days; and upon his family and companions, the stars in the darkness; and upon all the prophets and the noble, righteous angels.

To proceed:

Allah, majestic is His mention, sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth: as a mercy to all worlds, a bearer of glad tidings to the believers, and a warner to those who oppose him. Through him, He completed the edifice of prophethood, sealed the register of messengership, and perfected noble character and virtuous deeds. By His grace, He sent down to him a light through which He guided people away from misguidance and delivered them from ignorance. He decreed success for whoever follows him, and loss for whoever turns away from him after hearing him. He rendered all creation incapable of challenging it or producing even a sura like it in opposition to it. Yet, despite its inimitability, He made its recitation easy for people and facilitated its reading upon their tongues.

In it, He commands and forbids; gives glad tidings and warns; mentions admonitions so that people may take heed; relates the circumstances of those who came before so that they may take warning; and sets forth parables so that they may reflect. He points to the signs of Allah’s oneness so that they may contemplate. These purposes cannot be attained except through knowledge of its exegesis and its principal features, knowledge of the occasions of its revelation and its rulings, and awareness of its abrogating and abrogated passages, its particular and its general expressions.

Moreover, it is inimitable speech and a deep sea: there is no end to the hidden treasures of its knowledge, nor can the realities of its meanings be fully grasped. The imams of the early generations composed books on the various branches of its sciences, each according to the extent of his understanding and knowledge, (out of consideration for later generations). (4) May Allah Most High reward their efforts and have mercy upon them all.