in concise form appropriate to this abridged work.

5 – Whenever the author simply alludes to a scholarly disagreement by saying “there is a dispute,” “according to the sounder of the two opinions,” and the like, I have set out the various positions in the footnotes, briefly, with references to their sources.

6 – I have pointed out the questions in which the author diverges from what later Hanbali authorities regard as the well-known view of the school.

7 – Any terms that call for clarification have been explained on the basis of their recognized sources.

[Description of the Manuscripts Consulted]

I relied on four manuscript copies in preparing this edition:

The first copy: the recension of Shaykh ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman Aba Butayn. It comprises 10 folios, each containing 28 lines, and is preserved in the King Abdulaziz Foundation under the shelf-mark (Āl ʿAbd al-Laṭīf/15). The text has been collated and corrected, and the scribe is the shaykh himself—may Allah have mercy on him. The manuscript was copied in 1214 AH. I have designated it as (A).