In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful

A blessing from Allah and a command

It was read to Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī in the year three hundred and six. He said: Praise be to Allah, the wonders of Whose wisdom have confounded all intellects, the subtleties of Whose proofs have defeated all minds, (1) the marvels of Whose creation have cut off the excuses of atheists, and the tongues of Whose evidences have proclaimed in the ears of all creation, bearing witness that He is Allah, besides Whom there is no deity, Who has no equal to match Him, (2) no like to resemble Him, no partner to assist Him, no child, and no parent, and Who has taken no spouse, nor is there any equal to Him; and that He is the Compeller to Whose majesty all tyrants submit, the All-Mighty to Whose glory the most powerful kings are humbled, before the awe of Whose strike the formidable tremble, and to Whom all creation yields in obedience, willingly or unwillingly, as Allah—glorified be His praise and sanctified be His names—said: ﴿And unto Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the mornings and the afternoons.﴾ [Sūrat al-Raʿd: 15]. Thus, every existing entity calls to His Oneness, and every perceptible thing guides to His Lordship, through the marks of craftsmanship He has stamped upon them—of deficiency and increase, helplessness and need, susceptibility to incidental afflictions, and attachment to created phenomena—so that His conclusive argument remains established over them.

Then He followed up what His evidences bore witness to in that regard, and reinforced the radiance of faith that illuminated hearts through it, with messengers whom He dispatched to whomever He willed among His servants—as callers to that whose truth had become clear to them and whose proof had been established in minds, ﴿so that mankind should have no argument against Allah after the messengers.﴾ [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 165]