“We say—and in God is our trust—Praise belongeth unto God, the Beginner, the Bringer-back, the Doer of what He willeth, the Lord of the Glorious Throne and of Mighty Grasp, the Guider of His chosen creatures to the right path and to the true way, the Granter of benefits to them after the witness to the Unity (_tawhid_) by guarding their articles of belief from obscurities of doubt and opposition. He that bringeth them to follow His Apostle, the Chosen one (_Al-Mustafa_) and to imitate the traces of His Companions, the most honoured, through His aid and right guidance revealed to them in His essence and His works by His beautiful qualities which none perceives, save he who inclines his ear. He is the witness who maketh known to them that He in His essence is One without any partner (_sharik_). Single without any similar, Eternal without any opposite, Separate without any like. He is One, Prior (_qadim_) with nothing before Him, from eternity (_azali_) without any beginning, abiding in existence with none after Him, to eternity (_abadi_) without any end, substituting without ending, abiding without termination. He hath not ceased and He will not cease to be described with glorious epithets; finishing and ending, though the cutting off of the ages and the terminating of allotted times have no rule over Him, but He is the First and Last, the External and the Internal, and He knoweth everything.