After explaining the original outward forms (al-ẓawāhir), their metaphor, and their reality; and [explaining] Islam, upon whose outwardness the external forms of the five acts of worship were built; and Faith (al-Īmān), through which alone their inner realities (bawāṭin) can be known; as well as their divisions, the metaphor of Islam and its reality, and the stable abode of Faith and its repository.

I hastened, by the help of God and His gracious success, to compose this inscribed form (al-ṣūra al-masṭūra), exerting the effort of the humble. That was in the year 620 AH.

Subsequently, I left it as a rough draft, out of bashfulness toward anyone who might come across it—due to the inadequacy of my expressions in clarifying its meanings, and for lack of a verdict confirming the correctness of my insight regarding the arrangement of its chapters and structures.

Then, in the year 627 AH, a discussion regarding its meanings took place between me and the felicitous Sa‘īd, Abū Jamāl al-Dīn ibn Makka. I mentioned it to him, and he asked to examine it. I excused myself on the grounds that it had not been refined.