The Author's Introduction

Bismi Allāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm

al-Ḥamd lillāh muṣawwir al-ashbāḥ wa-munawwir al-arwāḥ fāliq anfās al-ṣabāḥ wa-khāliq anfus al-ṣabāḥ. Wa-al-ṣalāh ʻalá sayyidinā Muḥammad al-mabʻūth fī al-kutub al-ṣiḥāḥ al-mutakallim bi-al-kalim al-fiṣāḥ. Al-ladhī huwa li-abwāb al-khayr khayr fattāḥ wa-fī ẓalām layl al-kufr anwar miṣbāḥ. Wa-ʻalá ālih wa-ṣaḥbih hudāh sabīl al-najāh wa-ṭarīq al-najāḥ.

Wa-baʻd fa-inna al-ʻabd al-ḍaʻīf yaqūl innī min muddah madīdah kuntu dhā raghbah shadīdah fī an aktub kitāb fī al-nafs wa-al-rūḥ wa-ajmaʻ fīhi mā qālahu al-nās wa-mādhā ẓahara ʻalá sabīl al-futūḥ wa-ṣarafanī ʻan hādhā al-marām mā kāna nafʻuhu aʻamm wa-ṣarafanī dhālika al-kalām mā kāna jamʻuhu ahamm fa-innī kuntu manṣūb li-dhikr durūs mukhtalifah al-funūn wa-mandūb ilá sharḥ kutub muʼtalifah fī al-ʻulūm wa-al-ẓunūn. Ilá an ittafaqa muthūlī fī baʻḍ al-ayyām bayna yaday sayyid al-anām al-Sulṭān al-ʻālim al-ʻābid al-mawlá al-ajall al-mujāhid al-ladhī jamaʻa bayna al-mulk wa-al-dīn fa-qamaʻa bi-qūwah yamīnihi asās al-mutamarridīn wa-lamaʻa bi-nūr yaqīnihi al-ḥaqq al-mubīn aʻlá Allāh shaʼnahu wa-akhlá ʻan al-makārih jinānahu. Fa-saʼalanī ʻan aqwāl al-nās fī al-nufūs wa-kānat ijābatuhu farḍ ʻalá al-ʻuyūn wa-al-ruʼūs fa-inna fawāyidahu fī al-ʻulūm tutlá tilāwah al-durūs wa-mawāqifuhu fī al-jihād lā yukhfīhā ṭumūs wa-lā durūs fa-dhakartu bayna yadayhi mā iḥtamalahu majlisuhu al-jalīl wa-majālis al-salāṭīn lā taḥtamil al-taṭwīl fa-miltu li-al-takhfīf ilá al-taqlīl thumma katabtu hādhihi al-risālah nāṭiqah bi-mā ʻalayhi al-taʻwīl. Wa-hiya dūna mā kuntu nawaytu