Now this revered and illustrious shaykh, this honoured and noble imam, is unrivalled in his age and unique in his time, the ornament of the royal realm and the standard of the sultan’s state. Were anyone to swear by Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful, that this great imam has neither equal nor peer in his age, his oath would be true and require no expiation. The seven regions are devoid of his like, save this region. Every fair-minded person endowed with a sound disposition agrees with this.
I am not exaggerating in praising him. Indeed, however extensively someone might praise and commend him, he would not encompass even some of his virtues. Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah is a peerless pearl for which people vie, one to be bought but never sold. No pearl in the treasuries of kings matches or resembles it. All hope of finding his equal has vanished.
Hearing that Abū al-ʿAbbās—Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah—had been taken up to the citadels has deafened ears and sapped the strength of leaders and followers alike. Nothing deserving reproach could come from a man like him, unless it involved a matter that had been obscured for him and he had been accused of the sort of thing of which men like him are accused.
It would be unfitting to burden your august presence with a lengthy account. If there is a qutb (spiritual pole) in this world, he is unquestionably that pole. Allah has placed the Sultan—may Allah exalt his standing—in this age in the position occupied by Joseph the truthful—may Allah bless our Prophet and him—when Allah turned the people of the lands towards him after drought had afflicted their lands and they needed the food stored with him. As for people’s present need for the nourishment of souls referred to at that time, there is no doubt