وأنا أخبركم عن نفسي، والله الذي لا إله إلا هو،
لقد طلبت العلم، واعتقدَ من عرفني أن لي معرفة، وأنا ذلك الوقت لا أعرف معنى "لا إله إلا الله"، ولا أعرف دين الإسلام قبل هذا الخير الذي مَن الله به، وكذلك مشايخي، ما منهم رجل عرف ذلك. فمن زعم من علماء العارض أنه عرف معنى "لا اله إلا الله"، أو عرف معنى الإسلام قبل هذا الوقت، أو زعم عن مشايخه أن أحداً عرف ذلك ١، فقد كذب وافترى، ولبس على الناس، ومدح نفسه بما ليس فيه. وشاهد هذا أن عبد الله بن عيسى ما نعرف في علماء نجد ولا علماء العارض ولا غيره أجلّ منه، وهذا كلامه واصل إليكم إن شاء الله.
"I am telling you about myself, and by Allah, there is no god but Him. I sought knowledge, and those who knew me thought I possessed knowledge. However, at that time, I did not understand the meaning of 'There is no god but Allah,' nor did I know the religion of Islam before this blessing that Allah had bestowed upon me. Likewise, my teachers—none of them knew this either. Therefore, anyone among the scholars of the 'Aard (region) who claims to have known the meaning of 'There is no god but Allah,' or to have understood the meaning of Islam before this time, or claims that any of their teachers knew this, has lied, fabricated, and misled the people, praising themselves for something they do not possess. And the evidence of this is that Abdullah bin Isa, whom we know as the most distinguished among the scholars of Najd, the 'Aard, and beyond, has stated this, and his words have reached you, God willing."
