Volume 1 of ʿUmdat al-Ṭālib, an authentic resource in compliance with the official canon, covers the chapters of worship in a masterfully crafted yet accessible manner. Accordingly, the scholar and expert of the school, Ibn Badrān deemed that, “the Hanbalite instructor’s religious duty was to select either Akhṣar al-Mukhtaṣarāt/The Supreme Synopsis or al-ʿUmdat/The Mainstay by Shaykh Manṣūr” as the manual to teach novice pupils.”