After returning from the rows (of battle), he said: I praise Allah to seek the completion of His favours, to humble myself before His might and majesty, and to seek protection from disobeying Him. Whomsoever He guides cannot be led astray, and whomsoever He treats as an enemy finds no refuge. Whom He undertakes to support has no need of anyone else. This praise and seeking of help outweigh every other weighty thing and surpass every precious treasure. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone without partner, a testimony whose sincerity has been tested and whose essence has settled in the heart without any doubt. We shall adhere to it throughout our lives. It is the firm foundation of faith, the first step towards righteous action, the means to Allah’s pleasure and the cause of Satan’s remoteness. And I bear witness that Muḥammad is His servant and His Messenger, whom He sent with a famous religion, manifest signs, a written Book, a radiant light, a shining lamp and decisive command, in order to remove doubts, establish proof with arguments, warn by verses, and frighten by punishments. He then describes the situation before the Prophet’s mission: people were in trials where the bonds of religion were broken, the pillars of certainty shaken, principles at variance and affairs scattered. The paths of deliverance were dark and narrow, guidance was unknown and misguidance was pervasive. Allah was disobeyed openly and Shayṭān was being helped. The signs of faith were effaced and its paths erased. Then he extols Ahl al‑Bayt: they are the trustees of Allah’s secret and the shelter of His religion, the repositories of His knowledge and the sources of His wisdom, the valleys of His books and the mountains of His religion. Through them Allah straightened the bent of His back and removed the trembling from His sides. He declares that no one in this ummah can be compared to the family of Muḥammad, upon whom their favours continually flow. They are the foundation of the religion and the pillars of certainty; whoever goes ahead of them must return to them and whoever lags behind must catch up with them. The special rights of wilayah belong to them, regarding them is the Prophet’s will, and for them is his inheritance. Then he censures another group who sowed corruption, watered it with negligence and delusion, and reaped destruction from it. He concludes that now the time has come when the right has returned to its people and settled in its proper place.