al-Madkhal ila Madhhab al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Ibn Badran wrote it as a draft in Damascus in 1338 AH, and it was published after his death ¹. It comprises an introduction and eighteen treatises covering the doctrines transmitted from Imam Ahmad, the reason for choosing the madhhab, its principles in deriving branches, his companions' method, its juristic principles, its terminology, its famous books, and the divisions of fiqh among his companions ^{2 3}.

The edition relied on is the second, corrected, introduced and annotated by Dr Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Turki, published by Mu'assasat al-Risala in Beirut in 1401 AH / 1981 CE ^{4 5}.