8—Abū al-Hasan Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Abān al-Abdī al-Isfahānī: al-Lunbānī (1).

A leading hadith scholar.

He traveled in pursuit of knowledge and studied under Ibn Abī al-Dunyā. He also heard the entire Musnad from the son of Imam Ahmad.

Those who narrated from him included al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Yawah, Abū Abd Allah ibn Mandah, Abū Umar, Abd al-Wahhāb al-Sulamī, and others.

He died in Rabī al-Ākhir, 332 AH (1).

Verification of Its Attribution:

I have established that the book is correctly attributed to its author on the basis of two proofs:

1—The copyist of the original manuscript, Ibn Urwah al-Hanbalī, narrated the book from its author through a sound, uninterrupted chain consisting throughout of trustworthy narrators and scholars.

2—The book was mentioned and attributed to the author by al-Nadīm in al-Fihrist, p. 262; al-Dhahabī in Siyar Alām al-Nubalā, 13/401; Ibn Rajab al-Hanbalī in Jāmi al-Ulūm wa-al-Hikam, 1/24; al-Sayyid Muhammad Murtadā al-Zabīdī in several places in Ithāf al-Sādah al-Muttaqīn bi-Sharh Ihyā Ulūm al-Dīn, 10/6, 8, 9, 42, 5, 4, 62, 67; al-Baghdādī in Hadiyyat al-Ārifīn, 1/442; al-Kattānī in al-Risālah al-Mustatrafah, p. 44; and the author of Mujam Musannafāt Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, p. 12.