and all his family and Companions. O Allah, just as You have supported the kings of Islam and those in authority with strength and might, established their renown, made them a source of succor for the oppressed who seek their protection, and a means of restoration for the broken who seek shelter at their gates, so strengthen them, O Allah, through Your gracious aid. Increase their prosperity, elevate their standing, augment their honor, grant them victory over Your enemies, and bestow upon them rightly guided success and enduring authority.

To proceed: when news of the restrictions imposed upon Shaykh al-Islām Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-Abbās “Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah”—may Allah preserve him—reached the people of the eastern lands and the regions of Iraq, the Muslims were deeply distressed, and the devout greatly troubled. The heretics raised their heads, while the followers of vain desires and religious innovators rejoiced.

When the scholars of this region saw the gravity of this calamity—the people of religious innovation and vain desires gloating over the foremost men of virtue and leading scholars—they reported this dreadful and outrageous affair to the noble court of the Sultan, may Allah increase its honor. They wrote their responses affirming the correctness of the answers the shaykh—may Allah preserve him—had given in his fatwas, and mentioned some of the knowledge and virtues he possesses. They presented this to our lord, the king of the emirs—may Allah strengthen his supporters and redouble his emulation—out of protective concern for this religion and sincere counsel for Islam and the rulers of the believers.