The Interrupted Report (munqaṭiʿ) and its Criterion

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

17 – “Every report whose chain, under any circumstance, is not continuous— its isnād is severed in its links.”

This is the eighteenth category of ḥadith mentioned in the poem, namely the munqaṭiʿ.

His words, “and every [report],” may refer to every ḥadith or to every isnād, but the context shows that he means every ḥadith, as his next statement clarifies: “whose isnād is not continuous.” In other words, any ḥadith whose chain of transmission is broken in any way is called munqaṭiʿ in its broad sense.

Imagine a narration conveyed by five transmitters: the first from the second, the second from the third, the third from the fourth, and the fourth from the fifth. If we later encounter it as “the first from the third, from the fourth, from the fifth,” the chain is interrupted. If it appears as “the second from the third, from the fourth, from the fifth,” it is likewise interrupted because its opening link has fallen out. Should it be reported as “the first from the third, from the fifth,” it is still considered munqaṭiʿ.

The scholars classify this disconnection into four kinds:

1. A break at the very beginning of the chain.
2. A break at the very end of the chain.
3. A break in the middle, consisting of a single missing link.
4. A break in the middle, consisting of two or more consecutive missing links.

The first kind—where the chain is broken at its outset—is termed muʿallaq (suspended).