all because of such laxity.

As for his phrase “ḍābiṭ” (precise memorizer), it denotes one who safeguards what he narrates both at the moment of reception (taḥammul) and at the moment of transmission (adāʾ).

An example: he is keen and alert while the shaykh is dictating the hadith; scarcely does a word leave the teacher’s lips before he has grasped it, fixed it in memory, and preserved it. That is precision in reception.

Precision in transmission means that he is rarely forgetful; whenever he wishes to relate what he heard from the shaykh, he conveys it exactly as he heard it. Thus accuracy is required in both stages—reception and transmission.

The opposite of precision is for a person to be inattentive when receiving, or excessively forgetful when transmitting.

We do not require that he never forget, for were we to demand total infallibility we would retain barely a tenth of what has been authentically reported from the Prophet ﷺ. What is meant is that he must not be frequently forgetful; if he is, his hadith cannot be judged sound. Why? Because he may well have forgotten part of it.

People differ greatly in this regard, whether at reception or at transmission. Allah grants some individuals sharp understanding and outstanding memory: the moment they hear a word they comprehend it, lodge it perfectly in their minds, and store it exactly as it was uttered. Others misunderstand the matter and then consign that misunderstanding to memory.

So too with forgetfulness: people vary enormously. Some, once they have memorized a hadith, keep it intact just as they learned it, hardly ever forgetting a single word, and even then only rarely. Others are the very opposite.

The first type is plainly precise.

The second, who is often forgetful, is not precise; however, he must