In the name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the Ever-Merciful.

All Praise is for the One Who created the heavens and the earth, and created darkness and light; yet those who disbelieve ascribe [equals] to their Sustainer (Q 6:1).

Praise be to Allah, to Whom thanks for even one of his favours cannot be given except through a new favour from Him: that of allowing one to be thankful, which in turn requires [further] gratitude for this new favour by the giver of thanks for His past favours.

Those who attempt to describe Him cannot touch His greatness; He is as He has described Himself, far above what creatures can attribute to Him.

I praise Him with praise commensurate with His kindness and the might of His Majesty. I ask Him for His succour; there is no power or might save through Him. I ask Him for His guidance, a guidance that cannot lead its adherent astray.

I ask Him for His forgiveness, for whatever I have already committed and what I have yet to commit – with the pleading of one who confesses in a state of servitude and who knows that He alone can forgive his offence and save him from it.

I bear witness that there is no god except Allah; He has no associate. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger…

When the foreordained term for the Book reached the appointed time, the Providential decree became a reality through the manifestation of His dīn, which He chose; after disobedience to Him had become widespread despite His displeasure, He opened the gates of His heavens by His mercy. (…)

The one whom he chose for His revelation, the one selected to be His Envoy, the one favoured above all His creatures through the gift of His mercy and the sealing of His Prophethood, more universal than all that He sent to any Messenger before him, was Muhammad, His servant and Messenger. The mention of him is bound together with mention of [Allah]; he is the intercessor in the Hereafter, whose intercession shall be sought out; the purest of His creatures in soul, who combines most fully every characteristic pleasing to Him – in both the spiritual and temporal realms, the best in lineage and family: Muhammad, His servant and Messenger.

[Imam al-Shafi‘i, al-Risala, opening supplication, translated in The Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur’an, vol. 1, p. vii)