And we believe in wiping over leather socks: for three days for a traveller, and for a day and a night for a resident. We believe in patiently bearing with a ruler from Quraysh, whether he is unjust or just, so long as he maintains the Friday and Eid prayers. Jihad under their leadership continues until the Day of Resurrection. Congregational prayer wherever the call to it is made is obligatory, unless there is an excuse or impediment, and the Tarāwīh prayers are a sunnah.

We testify that whoever deliberately abandons prayer is a disbeliever. Testifying to individuals’ ultimate fate and disavowing them are innovations. Offering the funeral prayer for deceased Muslims is a sunnah. We assign no one to Paradise or Hell until Allah assigns them there. Quarrelling and disputation over religion are innovations.

We believe that the disputes that arose among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, are for Allah to judge. We pray for mercy upon ʿĀ’ishah and ask Allah to be pleased with her. Theological pronouncements concerning the utterance and what is uttered, and likewise concerning the name and the named, are innovations. Declaring faith to be created or uncreated is an innovation.

Know that I have briefly set out the beliefs of Ahl al-Sunnah according to the apparent meaning of what has been transmitted from the Companions and their successors, without attempting an exhaustive account. Our shaykhs, known for their clear exposition and religious devotion, have already addressed this. However, I wished to mention ‘the creedal tenets of our Sufi companions’ in response to the innovations introduced by a group affiliated with them: fabricated claims from which Allah Most High has kept this school and its adherents free.”

He went on to say:

“I read a book by Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī entitled al-Tabsīr (Clarification), which he wrote to the people of Tabaristān concerning a disagreement among them. They had asked him to compose for them