(1) A caller will then proclaim, “My servant has lied; give him bedding from the Fire and open for him a gate to the Fire”—may Allah protect us. Because these questions are so crucial, we are obliged not only to learn them but also to believe in them, to have faith in them, and to live by them for as long as we remain alive. We pray that Allah will keep us steadfast when the questioning in the grave takes place. Allah says: “Allah makes firm those who believe with the firm word in this worldly life and in the Hereafter; and Allah leads the wrongdoers astray, and Allah does whatever He wills” (Qur’an, Surah Ibrahim 14:27). These three fundamentals are therefore of tremendous importance. For that reason the shaykh concentrates on them in this treatise, explaining them so that we might study, ponder, internalize, and act upon them—hoping that Allah will grant us and you steadfastness with the firm word in this life and in the Hereafter. (2) After the shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—presented the three fundamentals in summary form, he wished to set them out in detail, one by one, providing proofs from the Qur’an, the Sunnah, the cosmic signs of Allah, and sound rational evidence; that is how every creed ought to be constructed.