Introduction explanation of the message for Ibn Abi Zayd Al-Qayrawani

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate Praise be to Allah, we praise Him, seek His help, ask for His forgiveness, and seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whomsoever He misguides, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. Allah sent him before the Hour as a bearer of good tidings and a warner, so he conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust, called to Islam, and struggled in Allah’s cause with true effort until certainty came to him. May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, and upon those who follow his guidance and emulate his Sunnah until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows: Allah, the Most High, sent His Prophet Muhammad with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all other religions. He opened through him closed hearts, blind eyes, deaf ears, and ignorant people—both Arabs and non-Arabs, illiterate and literate—in ignorance and blind fitnah, until the clear proof came to them: “Never will those who disbelieve from among the People of the Book and the polytheists desist until there comes to them the clear evidence — a Messenger from Allah reciting purified scriptures in which are correct writings.” [Al-Bayyina: 1-3] The light of Islam continued to spread and its command grew stronger until it reached the horizons, and people entered into the religion of Allah in groups. Allah appointed a select group of His creation to preserve and spread it; they carry it from every trustworthy generation, defending it against distortion by the extremists and false claimants. Among these noble predecessors was the Imam of Ahl al-Sunnah in the Maghreb: Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, may Allah have mercy on him, who authored his treatise in Maliki jurisprudence with an elegant foundational creed, following the traditions of the early Salaf—imams of Ahl al-Sunnah and al-Jama’ah—and emulating them, weaving on their pattern. Allah granted me the blessing of explaining this introduction on multiple occasions, through successive lessons. Then, the audio content was transcribed, reviewed, edited, and documented in accordance with scholarly standards for publication and dissemination. I ask Allah to benefit from this explanation as He benefited from the original, and to keep us alive upon Islam and the Sunnah, to cause us to die upon them, and to make us guides and guided. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. Written by: Dr. Ahmed bin Abdul Rahman bin Othman Al-Qadi, ‘Aynizah, on 20 Ramadan 1442 AH.