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

Publisher’s Foreword

All praise belongs to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Him from the evil within ourselves and from our misdeeds. Whomever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomever He leaves to stray, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

To proceed: It is incumbent upon every Muslim to worship Allah in the manner He has legislated in His Book and as set forth in the authentic sunnah of His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), together with the rulings derived from them. Because not every individual can readily grasp those rulings, Allah has bestowed His favor upon this ummah by raising up eminent scholars from among the Companions, their Followers, and those who came after them. They mastered the religion, delved deeply into the texts of the Quran and the Prophet’s sunnah, and extracted the relevant rulings, thus clarifying the path for people with knowledge and insight. May Allah be pleased with them all in proportion to their striving and dedication.

It was only natural that some of their opinions would differ and that their legal verdicts on a single issue would vary, for reasons the author explains in this treatise. Consequently, nothing warrants or permits the disparagement of any of them.