All praise belongs to Allah for His countless favors. I bear witness that there is no god except Allah alone, without partner in His earth or His heaven; and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant, His Messenger, and the seal of His prophets. May Allah send perpetual blessings and peace upon him, his family, and his Companions until the Day of Meeting.

To proceed: After pledging their loyalty to Allah the Exalted and to His Messenger ﷺ, Muslims must also show loyal devotion to the believers, as the Qur’an proclaims—most especially to the scholars, the heirs of the prophets. Allah has set them in the place of the stars, by which people find direction amid the darkness of land and sea (1). The Muslims are unanimously agreed on their sound guidance and profound knowledge.

Indeed, before the mission of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ every nation’s scholars were its worst members, whereas the scholars of the Muslims are their finest. They are the Messenger’s ﷺ successors within his community, breathing life into whatever of his Sunnah has faded. Through them the Book is upheld, and by it they stand; through them the Book speaks, and by it they speak.

Let it be known as well that none of the imams whose leadership the ummah has universally accepted ever intended to contradict the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in any aspect of his Sunnah, whether minor or major.