Ibn Taymiyyah said about al-Imām Ahmad, “He was the virtuous imam, and thecomplete leader with hom Allah clarified the truth, rejected falsehoods, clarifiedthe correct methodology, and repudiated the innovations of innovators,theheresies of heretics, and the doubts of the doubtful.” [Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyab（3/312)] Al-Subkī said,“He was the virtuous imām and the leader of a way of thought.Hewas patient during the midst of his inquisition. He was the teacher and exemplarof Ahl al-Sunnah.” [ȚTabaqāt al-Shāfiiyyah al-Kubrā(2/27)]Al-Shäfi'ī said of him,“Ahmad is an imām in eight characteristics: He is an imāmin hadīth, an imām in jurisprudence, an imām in language, an imām in Qur'ān,an imam in poverty, an imām in asceticism, an imām in abstinence, and an imamin Sunnah.”［Tabaqāt al-Hanābilah of Ibn Abī Yalā (I/s)] Al-Ustādh Ad-ham al-Junaydī stated,“Ibn Badrān was skilled in all rational,literary,and mathematical sciences. He was encyclopedic in his knowledge of lawand grammar. He was truly an authority. He was a virtuous sbaykb,forsaking thevanities of this world, austere in his dress, home, and life.”［Alam al-Adab wal-Fan(I/224-225)]Al-Shaykh Muhammad Bahjat al-Bayțār said, “He had high aspirations and manyefforts in reviving the religious and scholarly awakening in the Levant.Heresembled the scholars of the Salafin that he taught in private, preached in public,authored books, and forsook the vanities of the worldly life. ” [In the introductionof Munadamat al-Atlal]

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This book is a translation of Yūsuf b. ʿAbd al-Hādī’s (d. 909/1503) Ḥanbalī law manual, Kitāb furūʿ al-fiqh. The purpose of this rendition is to present the main aspects of Islamic law in a simple and modern manner. The manual at hand is considered to be the shortest law manual in the Ḥanbalī school. The translation covers the articles of law pertaining to the aspects of worship (ʿibādāt) and social dealings (muʿāmalāt). The appendix contains a translation of the chapters of fasting and devotional seclusion from Ibn Qudāma’s (d. 620/1223) Ḥanbalī law manual, al-Muqniʿ. A rendition of Ibn ʿAqīl’s (d. 513/1119) treatise on Islamic manners, Fuṣūl al-ādāb wa makārim al-akhlāq al-mashrūʿa, has been included to compliment the articles of law

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This is a translation of volume 1 of Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan's excellent commentary on the classical guide to the Hanbali madhab entitled Zad al-Mustaqni'. It covers the Book of Purification. Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd said in al-Madkhal al-Mufassal, Zād al-Mustaqnī’ fī Ikhtisār al-Muqni’ is the text that came to be considered as the main source for the study of the Hanbalī madhab (school of jurisprudence) and quintessential for the students in the land of the Hanābilah (i.e. the Arabian Peninsula); particularly in the region of Najd. The people busied themselves reading, memorising and writing commentaries upon this book. This was carried out in study circles in the masājid where the scholars imparted knowledge to others and also in formal learning institutions. This book was studied in-depth so much so that some scholars provided explanations just upon the phrases within it so as to make it easy for the new learner. This was expanded to include proofs and evidences for those in the intermediate level. In the levels thereafter, proofs and evidences were fused with the disputes that exist within the madhab and in comparison to the other madhabs. Some scholars said: The texts of Zād and Bulūgh, Suffice for one to attain genius. They indicated through this [the importance of] Zād al-Mustaqni’ with regards to the study of fiqh and Bulūgh al-Marām with regards to the study of hadīth. No book as exemplary has been authored since it that contains as many important points (muhimāt) and issues (masā’il) as Zād. In fact, Zād excelled in terms of quantity and content. It is said that there are approximately three thousand important points and issues mentioned and similarly another three thousand inferred from the text. Meaning that it possesses within it around six thousand issues. This is what we heard from some of the noble scholars of the madhab in our time. While [in the current time] the students of knowledge transmit from some of the contemporary scholars that the number of issues in Zād goes beyond thirty thousand. Thus one should not avoid it.

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