One of the Four Imams, to whom the Shāfiʿī madhhab is attributed. He was born in 150 AH and died in 204 AH. He wrote numerous works, among them al-Umm, and he also composed a Musnad of ḥadīths, in which he included reports on the divine attributes (al-ṣifāt). See, for example, al-Musnad, pp. 71, 234. The Musnad has appeared in several editions and has been the subject of commentaries by al-Suyūṭī and others. Fuād Sezgin states in his History of Arabic Literature (Tārīkh al-Turāth al-ʿArabī), vol. 1/3, p. 187: “It brings together the ḥadīths that Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Aṣamm compiled from various works of al-Shāfiʿī.” For further details on this book, see the same source, vol. 1/3, pp. 187–188; Carl Brockelmann, History of Arabic Literature, vol. 3, pp. 296–297; Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Kashf al-ẓunūn, vol. 2, p. 1683. For biographical entries, consult Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl, vol. 3/2, pp. 201–204; al-Baghdādī, Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 2, pp. 56–73; Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, vol. 4, pp. 163–169; al-Zarkalī, al-Aʿlām, vol. 6, pp. 249–250. (1) He is Abū ʿAbd Allāh Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal ibn Hilāl of the Banū Shaybān. He is regarded as the leading imam of the muḥaddithīn and a steadfast defender of the sunnah under trial. One of the Four Imams, to whom the Ḥanbalī madhhab is ascribed, he was born in 164 AH and died in 241 AH. His works include the printed edition of al-Musnad, containing some 30,000 ḥadīths, including those on the divine attributes. See, for example, vol. 2, pp. 269, 705; vol. 3, pp. 13, 16; vol. 4, p. 13. For further information on this Musnad—its commentaries, abridgments, and manuscript locations—see Sezgin, History of Arabic Literature, vol. 1/3, pp. 218–222; Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Kashf al-ẓunūn, vol. 2, p. 1680. For his biography, see Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl, vol. 1, p. 292; Abū Nuʿaym, Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ, vol. 9, p. 161; al-Baghdādī, Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 4, p. 412; Ibn Khallikān, Wafayāt al-Aʿyān, vol. 1, p. 63; Ibn Abī Yaʿlā, Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila, vol. 1, p. 4; al-Dhahabī, Tadhkirat al-Ḥuffāẓ, vol. 2, p. 431. (2) In all the manuscripts the name appears as “Ibn Qarra,” and I have not found anyone by that name in any of the works at my disposal…