his treatise, written in the month of Rabiʿ al-Awwal in the year 293 AH. He said: Abu Jaʿfar Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Manqari al-Basri, in Tinnis, narrated to us; he said: ʿAbdus ibn Malik al-ʿAttar narrated to me; he said: I heard Abu ʿAbd Allah Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah be pleased with him) say:

“The fundamentals of the Sunnah, according to us, are to hold fast to what the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ were upon and to take them as our model.”