Second Principle: Rejecting the Inconsistent (muḍṭarib) Ḥadīth

From what has just preceded we know that a sound report must be free of hidden defects. One such defect is inconsistency (iḍṭirāb). The scholars describe an inconsistent ḥadīth as follows:

“It is a report in which the narrations vary, so that some transmit it in one manner while others transmit it in another that contradicts the first. We only call a report ‘inconsistent’ when the two versions are of equal weight. If, however, one of them clearly outweighs the other—because its transmitter has a stronger memory, enjoyed more frequent contact with his source, or for any other recognised factor of preference—then the ruling follows the stronger version, and the label ‘inconsistent’ no longer applies, nor does its ruling.

Inconsistency may occur in the text (matn) or in the chain of transmission, and it may arise from a single narrator or from several. In every case, iḍṭirāb renders the report weak, for it indicates that the narration was not preserved accurately.”⦗1⦘

The author then adduces as an example the ḥadīth of the line, which he has deemed sound; our refutation of that, Allah willing, will appear in the chapter on the sutrah.