A letter to al-Fath ibn Khaqan concerning the merits of the Turks and the general soldiery of the Caliphate In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. God is the source of all blessings.

May God protect you, guide you, and help you to be thankful, and may He set you aright and set things aright through your hands. May He make us and you among those who speak the truth, act by it, prefer it, and bear what may deter them from it. Let not your share of it be mere description and knowledge without striving for it, cleaving to it, and unveiling its essence, and delivering it to its rightful recipients. Be patient in preserving it so that it does not reach others, and be firm in verifying it with them. For God Almighty does not teach people to be knowledgeable without being doers; rather, knowledge is for acting and explaining, and then for understanding. Fear of falling into harm and plunging into destruction necessitates seeking clarification. The love of safety from perdition and the desire for benefit lead to enduring the burden of learning and hastening to bear the unpleasantness of suffering. And few are the doers and many are the describers. The ancient wise ones said: "More are the describers than the described, and more are the describers than the doers." The descriptions have become many and the described few because the reward for action is deferred, and what is in it is borne in haste.