to Imām Aḥmad—may Allah have mercy on him—and no one, whether from the Hanbalīs or from others, ever censured him for that.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar, in his Fatḥ al-Bārī, reproduces the very passage quoted in al-Mughnī and endorses it.

Likewise, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿUmar cites the treatise in his al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr, unequivocally ascribing it to Imām Aḥmad. The eminent scholar and ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—also quotes from it in Kitāb al-Ṣalāh, declaring with certainty that it belongs to Imām Aḥmad. When he finished his quotation he added, “All of this is Aḥmad’s own speech.” Elsewhere he again draws upon its contents and remarks, “Aḥmad used this very text as evidence.”

Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Mufliḥ likewise incorporates material from the treatise in his al-Furūʿ, asserting without reservation that it is Imām Aḥmad’s. The same holds true for other leading Hanbalī authorities. We know of no one who ever reproached these distinguished scholars—either for quoting from the treatise or for attributing it to Imām Aḥmad—may Allah have mercy on him.

Legal theorists state that an affirmative assertion takes precedence over a mere denial, provided both sides speak with equal certainty; as for one who hesitates, his word carries no weight. These luminaries—foremost among the Hanbalīs—have affirmed decisively that the treatise is Imām Aḥmad’s. They are better acquainted with their Imām’s words, writings, and school than anyone else from the other legal traditions. Generation after generation, Hanbalīs and other scholars received the treatise, confidently acknowledging its attribution to Imām Aḥmad, and no one impugned it—neither Hanbalī nor otherwise—until Shaykh al-Albānī appeared at the end of the fourteenth century AH and challenged both the treatise and its attribution to its compiler without any legitimate basis for such censure. Were people to grant themselves the license