either relatively singular or absolutely singular. When a hadith is conveyed through only one route among the scholars of Syria—or of any other land—it is deemed relatively singular.

The same principle applies to a particular teacher: if one says, “So-and-so alone transmitted it from this shaykh,” the report is likewise relatively singular. In such a case its isolation is relative, whereas in an absolutely singular report the isolation is absolute. The relative form is closer to soundness, for it may be singular with respect to one group yet, for others, be mashhūr (well-known) or ʿazīz—that is, supported by several independent chains of transmission.