Bridge _as-Sirat_ is a Verity; that the Arousing (_ba‘th_) after death is a Verity; that God will set up His creatures in a place (_mawqif_) and will hold a reckoning with the Believers.[1] We believe that Faith (_iman_) consists in word (_qawl_) and in work (_amal_) and that it increases and diminishes. We trust in the sound Traditions handed down from the Apostle of God, which trustworthy people (_thiqat_), just man from just man, up to the Apostle, have transmitted. We hold by the love of the early Believers (_salaf_), whom God chose to be Companions to the Prophet, and we praise them with the praise with which God praised them, and we carry on their succession. We assert that the Imam succeeding the Apostle of God was Abu Bakr; that God through him made the Religion (_din_) mighty, and caused him to conquer the Apostates (_murtadds_). The Muslims made him their Imam, just as Muhammad had made him Imam at prayers. Then followed [as legal Imam] Umar ibn al-Khattab; then Uthman ibn Affan; his murderers killed him out of wickedness and enmity; then Ali ibn Abi Talib. These are the Imams after the Apostle, and their Khalifate is that of the Prophetic office [_i.e._, they are, though not prophets, successors of the Prophet]. We bear witness of Paradise for the Ten (_al-asharatu-l-mubashshara_), to whom the Apostle bore witness of it, and we carry on the succession of the other Companions of the Prophet and hold ourselves far from that which was in dispute between them. We hold that the four Imams were in the true way, were rightly guided and excellent, so that no one equals them in excellence. We hold as true the traditions which the People of Tradition (_naql_) have established, concerning the descent of God to the lowest heaven (_sama ad-dunya_), and that the Lord will say, “Is there a supplicant? Is there a seeker for forgiveness?” and the rest of that which they have handed down and established, contrary to that which the mistaken and misled opine. We ground ourselves in our opposition on the Qur’an, the _Sunna_ of the Prophet, the agreement of the Muslims and what is in accordance therewith, but put forth no novelty (_bid‘a_) not sanctioned by God, and opine of God nothing that we have not been taught. We teach that God will come on the Day of Resurrection, as He has said, (Qur. 89, 23); “When the earth shall be turned to dust, and the Lord shall appear and the angels, rank on rank,” and that God is near to His servants, in what way (_kayfa_) He wills, as He has said, (Qur. 50, 15); “and We are nearer to him than the artery in his neck;” and (Qur. 53, 8); “Then He approached and came near and was two bows’ length distant or even nearer.” To our Religion (_din_) belongs further, that we on Fridays and on festival days pray behind every person, pious and profane—so are the conditions for congregational prayers, as it is handed down from Abd Allah ibn Umar that he prayed behind al-Hajjaj. To our Religion belongs the wiping