Shaykh al-Islām said: Tab ibn Ahmad informed me: Muhammad ibn al-Husayn—that is, Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān—narrated to us: I heard Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Shādhān al-Rāzī say: I heard Abū Ja‘far al-Farghānī say: I heard al-Junayd ibn Muhammad say: “The least harm in speculative theology is that it strips the heart of awe of the Lord. When the heart is stripped of awe of Allah, it is stripped of faith.”

Abū al-Qāsim said: “In this chapter, we shall mention passages from their scattered statements concerning the fundamentals of religion. We shall then present, in an orderly and concise manner, what one needs concerning belief. I heard Shaykh Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī say: I heard ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mūsā al-Salāmī say: I heard al-Shiblī say: ‘Exalted is the One, who was known before