I sent someone to fetch it from my home, along with notebooks in my own handwriting, and “The Wāsitī Creed” was brought. I told them:
“The occasion for writing this was that a judge from the districts around Wāsit—a shaykh named Radī al-Dīn al-Wāsitī, of the Shāfi‘ī school—came to visit us while on pilgrimage. He was a man of goodness and religious devotion. He complained of the prevailing ignorance and injustice, and the fading away of religion and knowledge, in those lands and under Tatar rule. He asked me to write a creed that he and his household could rely upon. I asked to be excused and said, ‘People have already written numerous creeds; take one of the creeds of the imams of the Sunnah.’ But he persisted in his request, saying, ‘I want only a creed that you yourself write.’ So I wrote this creed for him while sitting after the afternoon prayer. Many copies of it have since circulated in Egypt, Iraq, and elsewhere.”
The emir indicated that I should not read it myself, so as to dispel any suspicion. He gave it to his scribe, Shaykh Kamāl al-Dīn, who read it aloud to those present, word for word. Everyone present listened, and any of them who wished could raise whatever objections he chose and challenge whatever he wished. The emir, too, asked about particular passages in it. People were aware of some of the opposition and partisan inclinations harboured by a group of those present. Some of this arose from matters of belief, and some from other causes.
It is impossible to recount the discussions and debates that took place in these sessions, for there was