What follows is a presentation of the basic essentials of Hanbali fiqh. Rather than use any one text, I have distilled these rulings from four relied-upon (mu'tamad) primers in the school: Ibn Qudamah's ‘Umdat al-Fiqh; Ibn Balban's Akhsar al-Mukhtasarat; al-Qudumi's al-Ajwibat al-Jaliyyah and al-Hajjawi's Zad al-Mustaqni‘. The plan, God-willing, is to serialise these fiqh essentials over the coming weeks and months; commencing with purification. ♦ OUTLINE: Purification is…