in this manner. I therefore do all I can to show kindness, refrain from retaliation, and bring hearts together. But he knows many people in Egypt, and knows that one can escape their evil and injustice only by following two paths: one is stable, while the other is subject to change.

(The first is to have support and authority from Allah, to seek refuge in Him and His help, to rely upon Him, seek His forgiveness, and obey Him. Through this, Allah wards off the evil of the devils among mankind and the jinn. This is the firm and enduring path.

The second path is when protection comes from someone of influence. They show consideration for an influential person as long as his influence lasts. But when his fortunes change, those very same people become some of his fiercest opponents. They may even beat the judge with rods and do similar things scarcely known among others. His enemies and those who hate him are numerous, and he has become involved in legal confirmations, property matters, and other affairs concerning both the state and private parties.

Thus, if someone influential had an interest in overturning his judgments and transferring ownership of properties, this would be exceedingly easy for him: he could put his apostasy on record, and an apostate’s judgments have no legal effect. For both the learned and the general public know that he has presented what he did in this case as the religious law of Muhammad ibn Abd Allāh, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Whenever a person declares lawful something unanimously agreed to be forbidden, declares forbidden something unanimously agreed to be lawful, or alters religious law on which there is consensus, he becomes an unbeliever and an apostate, by agreement of the jurists. And concerning a case such as this