The Singular (gharīb) report—its linguistic and technical definition

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

“And know that a report is termed gharīb when it is related by only one narrator.”

This is the seventeenth category of hadith mentioned in the poem, namely the gharīb.

His statement, “And know that a report is termed gharīb when it is related by only one narrator,” draws on the root sense of ghurbah, for a gharīb in any land is a person who does not belong to its people.

Technically, a gharīb is any narration conveyed by a single transmitter— even if that transmitter is a Companion. Thus, if no Companion relates the report except Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with him—it is classed as gharīb; and if among the Successors the only transmitter is Qatādah, it is likewise gharīb.

The singularity may occur:
• at the beginning of the chain,
• in its middle, or
• at its end.

For example, a report can be singular at the end of the isnād when only one Successor receives it from the Companions, after which many transmit it from him. The ḥadith “Actions are judged by intentions …” ⦗1⦘ is of this type: it is singular in the generation of the Companions and Successors, yet thereafter it spread so widely that it nearly reached the level of tawātur.

A report may also be singular in the middle of the chain—several narrators transmit it, one alone continues it, and then a group takes it from him—or it may be singular at the very start, when a lone narrator receives it from a group.

A gharīb report can be sound or weak, but most singular reports tend to be weak.