Conditions for the Acceptance of Trusted Narrators

The addition of words will be correct when it is from the narration of a trustworthy narrator in terms of memorization, such as the narration of Malik bin Anas with the chain «نافع عن ابن عمر» that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) made Zakat al-Fitr in Ramadan obligatory upon every Muslim, free and slave, male and female, one sa’ of dates or one sa’ of barley.

Malik has narrated the word «من المسلمین» in addition in this hadith.

Ayyub Sakhtiyani, Ubaidullah bin Umar, and several Imams of Hadith have narrated this hadith with the chain «نافع عن ابن عمر», but they did not mention the word «من المسلمین» in it.

Some narrators have narrated from Nafi’ a narration similar to that of Malik, who are not reliable in memorization.

Many hadith scholars have relied upon Malik's hadith, among whom are Shafi'i and Ahmad bin Hanbal. Both of them say that if a man has non-Muslim slaves, he will not pay Zakat al-Fitr on their behalf. And they have deduced this from Malik's hadith.

And if a trustworthy narrator with reliable memory narrates an additional word in a hadith, then his addition will be accepted.

4- And sometimes a hadith is narrated through many chains, but its strangeness is with respect to a specific chain of transmission.

Tirmidhi says: Abu Kurayb, Abu Hisham Rifa’i, Abu Sa’ib, and Husayn bin Al-Aswad narrated to us; they say that Abu Usamah narrated to us. Abu Usamah, with chain «برید بن عبداللہ بن ابی بردة عن جدہ ابی بردة», narrates that it is reported from Abu Musa Ash’ari that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “A believer eats in one intestine, and a disbeliever eats in seven intestines.” 1.

Tirmidhi says: This hadith is rare with this chain, and it is narrated in a marfu’ form through multiple routes.

Strangeness is only in the narration of Abu Musa.

Tirmidhi says: I asked Mahmood bin Ghailan about this hadith, and he said: It is narrated only through the narration of Abu Kuraib, from Abu Usamah.

Tirmidhi says: I asked Bukhari about this hadith, and he said: This hadith is narrated through Abu Kurayb from Abu Usamah; we know it only through this chain. So I said: Several people have narrated this hadith to me, and they narrate it from Abu Usamah. He was surprised and said: To my knowledge, no one besides Abu Kurayb has narrated this hadith.

Bukhari says: In our opinion, Abu Kuraib took this hadith from Abu Usamah during a discussion.

Tirmidhi says: Abdullah bin Abi Ziyad and several other narrators narrated to us that Shababah bin Sawwar narrated to us, Shababah says that Shu'bah narrated to us, and Shu'bah narrates from Bukair bin Ata, and Bukair narrates from Abdur Rahman bin Ya'mur that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade the use of vessels made of Dubba' (gourd) and Muzaffat (pitch-coated).

Tirmidhi says: This hadith is gharib through this chain; to our knowledge, no one except Shababa has narrated this hadith from Shu’bah, whereas it is narrated through many chains that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade making nabidh in vessels of dubba’ (gourd) and muzaffat (pitch-coated). The strangeness in Shababa’s hadith is that he is unique in narrating this hadith from Shu’bah.

Shu’bah and Sufyan Thawri narrated with this chain «بکر بن عطاء عبدالرحمٰن» from ‘Umar that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Hajj is (standing at) ‘Arafah.” This hadith is well-known among the people of hadith with this same chain. 1.

Tirmidhi says: Muhammad bin Bashar narrated to us, from Mu'adh bin Hisham, from his father Hisham, and Hisham from Yahya bin Abi Kathir, from Abu Muzahim, Abu Muzahim says that he heard Abu Hurairah say that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Whoever follows a funeral procession and offers the funeral prayer will receive one qirat of reward, and whoever follows it until it is buried will receive two qirats of reward." The people asked: "O Messenger of Allah! What are two qirats?" He said: "The smaller of the two is like the mountain of Uhud."

Tirmidhi says: Darmi narrated to us, and from Darmi, Marwan bin Muhammad narrated, and from Marwan, Muawiyah bin Salam, and from Muawiyah, Yahya bin Abi Kathir, and Yahya narrates from Abu Muzahim that Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever follows a funeral procession, for him is the reward of one qirat..." — a hadith with the same meaning as the previous hadith was narrated.

Darimi says: Marwan narrated to us, he narrates from Muawiyah bin Salam, that Yahya bin Abi Kathir said: And Abu Saeed Mawla al-Mahri narrated to us, he narrates from Hamzah bin Safinah, and Hamzah bin Safinah narrates from Sa’ib bin Yazid, that Sa’ib heard Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) say that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, and narrated the hadith similar to the previous hadith.

Tirmidhi says: I asked Darimi: Which of your hadiths have the people of Iraq considered to be gharib (rare)? He replied: The hadith narrated by Saib from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, then he mentioned the hadith.

Tirmidhi says: And I heard from Muhammad bin Ismail Bukhari, he was narrating this hadith from Darimi.

Tirmidhi says: This hadith is narrated through several chains with isnad «عائشہ رضی اللہ عنہا» that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said.

In this hadith, the peculiarity is only in terms of the chain of narration, as it was narrated by Saib from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), and Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated it from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Tirmidhi says: Abu Hafs Amr bin Ali Al-Fallas narrated to us, he says: Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan narrated to us, Yahya Al-Qattan says that Mughira bin Abi Qurrah Al-Sudusi narrated to us, Mughira says: I heard Anas bin Malik say that a man asked: O Messenger of Allah! Should I tie my camel and trust in Allah, or should I leave it untied? The Prophet replied: "Tie your camel, then trust in Allah."

Falas says: Yahya bin Saeed Al-Qattan says that in my view, this hadith is munkar (denounced).

Tirmidhi says: This hadith is gharib through this chain; we know the hadith of Anas only through this chain. A similar hadith is narrated marfu‘an from ‘Amr bin Umayyah ad-Damri.

Tirmidhi says: We have compiled this book "Sunan al-Tirmidhi" briefly in the hope of benefit. We pray to Allah Almighty that it may be beneficial, that He makes it beneficial for us by His mercy, and that by His mercy He does not make it a cause of harm for us. Ameen.

(1) Sunan al-Tirmidhi (187) (The word «وَلا سَفَرٍ» is present in some copies of ‘Ilal, but in Sahihain and Tirmidhi it is without it).
(2) Sunan al-Tirmidhi (1444).
(3) Both hadiths are authentic. The purpose of Imam Tirmidhi in mentioning the reason (‘illah) for both hadiths is that he has mentioned those evidences which show that both are abrogated.