I say: The clarification of this passage will appear later in this treatise devoted to innovation, God willing. For the present, it is enough to remind our readers of the statement of the noble Companion ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with them both: “Every innovation is misguidance, even if people deem it good.” This is so that they may clearly understand the position of anyone who claims to champion the Companions while, in reality, he is at the forefront of those who contravene the very matters the Companions forbade. Not content with that, he even accuses those who invite people to act upon the sunnah of opposing the Companions, whereas in truth such callers are the most devoted to following them whenever an authentic chain of transmission back to them is established, as the honoured reader has seen in the first epistle and sees again in this one.

Rebuttal of misconceptions and objections:

Furthermore, when we firmly insist on confining ourselves to the number established in the Sunnah and disregarding anything that exceeds it, we are under no obligation whatsoever to accept the charge—levelled at us by the individual mentioned in the footnote—that we are disparaging those who opt for the larger number. We hold that they did not adopt that view, or any other, out of personal whim, as has already been clarified in ⦗93⦘