Surah al-Nūr (The Light)

The godly shaykh and second exemplar of truthfulness; imam of imams and mufti of the Muslim community; ocean of knowledge and full moon among the stars; mainstay of the hadith masters and champion of meanings and words; peerless in his age and unequalled in his time; Shaykh al-Islām and leader of the illustrious imams; the great scholar of his era and interpreter of the Quran; standard-bearer of the ascetics and unrivalled among worshippers; vanquisher of the innovators and last of the scholars qualified for independent legal reasoning; the surging ocean and keen, cutting sword—

Abū al-‘Abbās Taqī al-Dīn Ahmad ibn Shihāb al-Dīn Abū al-Mahāsin ‘Abd al-Halīm ibn Shaykh al-Islām Majd al-Dīn Abū al-Barakāt ‘Abd al-Salām ibn Abū Muhammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Abū al-Qāsim al-Khidr ibn Muhammad ibn al-Khidr ‘Alī ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Taymiyyah al-Harrānī—may Allah sanctify his soul, illuminate his tomb, have mercy upon him, be pleased with him, and grant him contentment—said: