In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger ﷺ.
The chapter on the solitary report:
In this section Imam al-Shafi’i sets out the conditions for accepting the solitary report (khabar al-wahid) as a legal proof, and compares it with testimony (shahadah), focusing on the point that the solitary report is considered a legal proof if it meets the conditions of acceptance.
The main points Imam al-Shafi’i dealt with in this section:
- The least by which proof is established: Imam al-Shafi’i shows that the least by which proof is established against the people of knowledge is the report of one individual from one individual until it reaches the Prophet ﷺ, or whoever below him it ends with (such as a Companion or a Successor).
- The conditions for accepting the solitary report: Imam al-Shafi’i lays down conditions for accepting the solitary report, namely:
- Trustworthiness in religion: The narrator must be trustworthy (thiqah) in his religion and known for truthfulness in his speech.
- Understanding and comprehension: He must understand what he narrates, and know what in the wording alters the meanings of the hadith.
- Conveying the wording: He must convey the hadith in its exact letters as he heard it, and not narrate it by meaning unless he knows what in the wording alters the meanings.
- Memory or writing: He must have memorised what he narrates if he narrates from memory, or have kept his book safe if he narrates from his book.
- Agreement with those who memorise: His hadith must agree with the hadith of the people of memorisation, and not be anomalous (shadhdh).
- Freedom from concealment: He must be free of concealment (tadlis), which is to narrate from someone he met what he did not hear from him, giving the impression that he heard it from him.
- A connected chain: His chain must be connected, through the transmission of an upright and precise narrator (al-‘adl al-dabit) from one like him up to its end.
- The definition of the authentic hadith according to al-Shafi’i: Imam al-Shafi’i defines the authentic hadith (al-hadith al-sahih) as “that whose chain is connected through the transmission of an upright and precise narrator from one like him up to its end, without anomaly (shudhudh) or hidden defect (‘illah).”
- Explaining some hadith terminology: Imam al-Shafi’i explains some terms of hadith science, such as concealment (tadlis), anomaly (shudhudh), and the rejected report (munkar), and shows the difference between them.
- A comparison between the solitary report and testimony: Imam al-Shafi’i compares the solitary report with testimony and shows the points of agreement and difference between them. Among the points of difference:
- The number of witnesses: The solitary report is accepted from one man, one woman, or one slave, whereas testimony requires two upright witnesses, or one man and two women.
- The manner of conveying: In hadith, “So-and-so narrated to me from so-and-so” is accepted if the narrator is not a concealer (mudallis), whereas testimony requires “I heard,” “I saw,” or “He called me to witness.”
- Dealing with disagreement: When hadiths disagree, some are given preference over others by their agreement with the Book, the Sunnah, consensus, or analogy, whereas when testimonies disagree, the contradictory testimonies are void.
- Narrating hadith by meaning: Narrating hadith by meaning is accepted if the narrator knows the Arabic language, whereas testimony is accepted only regarding what the witness heard or saw.
- Caution in hadith is greater than in testimony: Imam al-Shafi’i shows that caution in accepting hadith is greater than caution in accepting testimony, because the alteration of a hadith’s meaning is more hidden than the alteration of a testimony’s meaning. Testimony concerns a perceptible matter expressed in well-known words, whereas a hadith may be narrated by meaning and so requires a good knowledge of the Arabic language so that the meaning is not altered.
- The requirement of knowing the narrator’s uprightness: Imam al-Shafi’i affirms the requirement of knowing the narrator’s uprightness (‘adalah). It is not enough for a narrator to say, “A trustworthy person narrated to me”; rather, he must make clear who this trustworthy person is, just as it is not enough in testimony for four upright witnesses to testify to the testimony of two witnesses until the uprightness of those two witnesses is known.
Additional clarifications:
- The solitary report: This is a hadith that has not reached the level of mass transmission (tawatur), that is, one narrated by one, two, three, or a small number that does not yield definitive knowledge.
- Concealment (tadlis): This is hiding a defect in the chain, such as a narrator narrating from someone he met what he did not hear from him, giving the impression that he heard it from him.
- Anomaly (shudhudh): This is a trustworthy narrator contradicting one more trustworthy than him.
- The rejected report (munkar): This is a weak narrator contradicting the trustworthy narrators.
- Hidden defect (‘illah): This is a hidden cause that impairs the authenticity of a hadith, even though it appears sound on the surface.
Final summary:
In this section Imam al-Shafi’i sets out the conditions for accepting the solitary report as a legal proof, and compares it with testimony, focusing on the importance of trustworthiness, precision, uprightness, and a connected chain in accepting hadith, and on the point that the solitary report is considered a legal proof if it meets these conditions. He shows that caution in accepting hadith is greater than caution in accepting testimony, and that the requirement of knowing the narrator’s uprightness is necessary for accepting his hadith.
All parts of Summary of the Explanation of al-Shafi'i's al-Risala by Dr. Yasir Burhami