Part Three
A Summary of the Creed of the Early Muslim Generations

In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon him after whom there is no prophet.

The shaykh and imam, the learned and erudite scholar, Shaykh al-Islām Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-‘Abbās Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halīm ibn ‘Abd al-Salām Ibn Taymiyyah al-Harrānī—may Allah be pleased with him and grant him contentment—said:

All praise belongs to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Him 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 there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, his family and his Companions.

To proceed:

Those whom I was obliged to answer have asked me to write down for them the substance of what they heard me say at certain gatherings concerning Allah’s oneness and His attributes, and concerning revealed law and divine decree, given the pressing need to establish a sound understanding of these two fundamental principles and the widespread confusion