By al-'Allamah Abu 'l-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597/1200) The author said, "I bore witness to a group of eminent Habash who were disheartened due to the darkness of their skin colour. I thus clarified to them that the matter upon which consideration is placed is good deeds rather than one's appearance, and I wrote this book for them to mention the virtue of many from amongst the Habash and black people." Pages 320
