and spiritual address, and the greatest and finest in ecstasy and spiritual taste. This holds for Muslims in relation to all other nations, and for the people of Sunnah and hadith in relation to all other religious communities. Anyone who surveys the conditions of the world finds that Muslims have sharper and sounder intellects, and that in a short time they attain many times more of the realities of knowledge and practice than others attain over centuries and generations. Likewise, you find the people of Sunnah and hadith enjoying these advantages.

This is because belief in established truth strengthens understanding and makes it sound. Allah Most High says:

“And those who are guided—He increases them in guidance.”

And He says:

“If they had done what they were admonished to do, it would have been better for them and would have strengthened them more firmly. Then We would have granted them a great reward from Us, and We would have guided them to a straight path.”

This can sometimes be known by examining the points of dispute between them and others: you will find no issue on which they have been opposed without its becoming clear that the truth is with them. Sometimes it is known through their opponents’ acknowledgment and their return to them rather than to others, or through their testimony that their opponents are misguided and ignorant. Sometimes it is known through the testimony of the believers, who are Allah’s witnesses on earth. And sometimes it is known from the fact that every group relies on them in its disagreements with another, and levels harsher charges of misguidance at everyone who opposes it than it levels at them.

As for the testimony of the believers, who are Allah’s witnesses on earth, this is an evident matter, known through direct observation and widely transmitted testimony to anyone who has heard what Muslims say. You will find no one in the Muslim community held in greater esteem than they are. Nor will you find others esteemed except to the extent that they agree with them, just as they are disparaged only to the extent that they differ from them.