The Mudtarib and Its Explanation

The author, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
25 “A report whose isnad or its wording disagrees
Is called mudtarib by the experts of this science.”

This is the twenty-fifth category of hadith mentioned in the poem: the mudtarib (internally inconsistent) report.

Linguistically, idtirab means “disagreement.”

Technically, a mudtarib report is one in which the transmitters differ over its isnad (chain of transmission) or its matn (text) in such a way that the versions can neither be reconciled nor one of them preferred over the other.

A discrepancy in the isnad would be, for example, that some narrators relate it with a continuous chain while others transmit it with a break.

A discrepancy in the matn would be, for example, that some narrate it as marfuʿ (traced back to the Prophet) while others narrate it as mawquf (a Companion’s statement), or that the wording of one version contradicts the other with no possibility of preference or reconciliation.

If the different versions can be harmonised, the report is not considered mudtarib.

If one version can be shown to be stronger, we adopt the stronger version and there is no idtirab.

Likewise, if the variation does not affect the core meaning, the report is not deemed mudtarib.

An example where harmonisation is possible is the hadith concerning the Prophet’s performance of Hajj. The narrators differed over how he performed Hajj in several ways.

Some said he performed it as qarin (combining Hajj and ʿUmrah under one ihram).

Others said he performed it as mufrid (Hajj alone).

Yet others said he performed it as mutamattiʿ (performing ʿUmrah, releasing from ihram, and then entering ihram again for Hajj).

In the hadith of ʿAʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, she said: “We set out with the Messenger of Allah in the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage. Some of us entered ihram only for Hajj, some only for ʿUmrah, and some for both Hajj and ʿUmrah together, while the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—…"