laid down by ʿUmar; they were also compelled to accept humiliating subjection. Thus, the Sunnah and the Muslim community gained strength, while the Jahmiyyah, the Rāfidah, and their like were suppressed.

The same was true during the reigns of “al-Muʿtadid,” al-Mahdī (*), al-Qādir, and other caliphs whose conduct was more praiseworthy and whose ways were better than those of others. Islam was stronger in their time, and the strength of the Sunnah reflected this.

Under the rule of the “Buyids” and others like them, the opposite was true, for various reprehensible doctrines were represented among them. Some were heretics, and among them were many Qarmatians, philosophical speculators, Muʿtazilah, and Rāfidah. These tendencies were widespread and predominant among them. During their reign, the people of Islam and the Sunnah suffered unprecedented weakness, to the point that the Christians seized the frontier regions of Islam, the Qarmatians spread throughout Egypt, the Maghrib, the East, and elsewhere, and many events occurred.

Since the realm of Mahmūd ibn Sebuktigin was among the best realms ruled by men of his kind, Islam and the Sunnah enjoyed greater strength in his dominion. He waged war against the polytheists of India and spread justice to an extent unmatched by rulers like him. Thus, during his reign, the Sunnah was manifest and religious innovations were suppressed.

The same was true of Sultan “Nūr al-Dīn Mahmūd,” who ruled in Syria. During his reign, the people of Islam and the Sunnah gained strength, while the unbelievers and adherents of religious innovation in Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere—including the Rāfidah, the Jahmiyyah, and their like—were humbled. The same was true of the Abbasid caliphate in his time