—turning away from the abode of delusion, turning toward the abode of eternity, and preparing for death before it comes.”

In the introduction Imām Ahmad wrote to his book refuting the Jahmiyyah and the heretics, he said:

“Praise be to Allah, who, in every interval without messengers, preserves a remnant of scholars who call the misguided to guidance and patiently endure the harm they suffer from them. Through Allah’s Book they bring the dead to life, and through Allah’s light they give sight to the blind. How many a victim slain by Iblīs have they brought back to life, and how many a lost, wandering, bewildered person have they guided! How good is their effect upon people, and how ugly is people’s treatment of them! They defend Allah’s Book against the distortions of extremists, the false claims of those who promote falsehood, and the interpretations of the ignorant—those who have raised the banners of innovation and given free rein to discord. They differ over the Book, oppose the Book, and agree on departing from the Book. They speak on Allah’s behalf, about Allah, and about Allah’s Book without knowledge. They use ambiguous language and deceive ignorant people through the confusion they create for them. We seek refuge in Allah from the specious arguments of those who lead others astray.”

I say:

In several places in His Book, Allah, glorified is He, has contrasted the people of guidance with those of misguidance, and the obedient with the disobedient, in terms similar to these. For example, He Most High says:

“The blind and the seeing are not alike,”

“nor are darkness and light,”

“nor are shade and scorching heat,”

“nor are the living and the dead alike.”

He also says:

“The two groups are like the blind and deaf, and the seeing and hearing,”

to the end of the verse. And He says concerning the hypocrites: