The Madinan Epistle on Establishing Figurative Language and Reality in the Attributes of Allah, Exalted be He
[Authored by: Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn Taymiyyah al-Ḥarrānī]

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

Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah sanctify his soul—said:

Peace be upon the Prophet, and the mercy and blessings of Allah; peace be upon his neighbours, the inhabitants of the city of Ṭaybah—[Ṭaybah: commonly identified with al-Madīnah, both literally and figuratively by its qualities]—whether living or deceased, from the Emigrants, the Helpers, and all the believers. And the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon them all.

To the shaykh, the eminent imām, the gnostic, the ascetic worshipper, the exemplar, the devout servant—Shams al-Dīn—may Allah inscribe faith upon his heart, support him with a spirit from Him, grant him mercy from His presence, teach him knowledge from Himself, admit him among His pious allies, His victorious party, and His specially chosen servants, endow him with inward and outward adherence to His Prophet, and join him to the Prophet in this world and the Hereafter. He is the Guardian of that and able to accomplish it.

From Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah: peace be upon you, and the mercy and blessings of Allah.

To proceed:

We praise to you Allah—there is no deity but He—Who alone deserves all praise and has power over everything. We ask Him to send blessings upon the elect of His creation, the choicest of His creatures, the unlettered Prophet Muḥammad, and upon his family, and to grant them abundant peace.

My letter to you—may Allah favour you in this world and the next, granting you through His kindness the loftiest ranks in wellbeing—concerns a favour from Allah, a mercy and comprehensive wellness that embraces us and all our brothers. All praise is due, in abundance, to Allah, Lord of the worlds, as He is worthy of it and as befits the nobility of His Face and the majesty of His might.

The three books you sent have reached us. We ask Allah, Exalted is He, and hope from Him that whatever He has decreed and determined of illness and other worldly afflictions will raise you to degrees that deeds alone could not attain—degrees already inscribed in the Mother of the Book—and that the best outcome be in what Allah has chosen for His believing servants.

We know, in general, that Allah does not decree anything for a believer except that it is good for him; and though one’s intention may yearn for something from which illness has withheld him, nonetheless the better choice—if Allah wills—lies in what Allah has intended. May Allah choose for you in all matters that which secures His good pleasure for you, together with wellbeing. As for any hardship you feel in your heart or your religion, we ask Allah to take you into His gracious care in a way that leaves you in need of no one among His creatures, to set all of your affairs right—a rectification that begins with Him and is completed by Him—and to realise for you the station of

“It is You we worship and You we ask for help” [al-Fātiḥah: 5].

There is no power and no strength except through Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.

We also hope that perceiving one’s own shortcomings and bearing witness to one’s slowness is among Allah’s favours upon His believing servant, through which He grants him advancement, completes His blessing upon him, wards off the burden of a devil who beautifies his evil deeds for him, and spares him the burden of a soul that loves to be praised for what it has not done and rejoices over what it has accomplished.

Allah, the Exalted, has said:

“Indeed, those who are apprehensive out of fear of their Lord, and those who believe in the signs of their Lord … until His words: … and who are certain that they will return to their Lord.” [al-Mu’minūn: 57–60]

It is related from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said:

“He is a man who fasts, prays, and gives charity, yet fears that it will not be accepted from him.”

And in the tradition— I think it is from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb or from Ibn Masʿūd— it is said:

“Whoever says, ‘I am a believer,’ is a disbeliever; and whoever says, ‘I am in Paradise,’ is in the Fire.”

And he said: “By Him besides Whom there is no …”