Shaykh al-Islām said:

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

My Lord, make this easy and help me by Your mercy.

All praise is due to Allah. We seek His help and forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil within ourselves and from our evil deeds. Whoever Allah guides, none can lead astray, and whoever He leads astray, none can guide. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah bless him and grant him peace.

To proceed: One of the brothers asked me to write him an introduction setting out general principles that would help him understand the Quran, its interpretation and its meanings; distinguish truth from the various kinds of falsehood in both transmitted reports and reasoned explanations concerning it; and identify the decisive evidence by which to judge between differing views. For books of Quranic commentary are filled with both the worthless and the valuable, blatant falsehood and manifest truth. Knowledge consists either of an authenticated report from one protected from error or of a statement supported by established evidence,