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

26 – “Interpolations within a ḥadīth are those … that come from some of the narrator’s own words and become attached.”

This is the twenty-sixth category of ḥadīth mentioned in the poem: the interpolated report (al-mudraj).

An interpolated ḥadīth is one into which a narrator inserts wording without indicating that it is an addition. It is therefore called “interpolated,” for those words have been merged into the ḥadīth without clarifying what belongs to the report and what belongs to the narrator. Such interpolated material is not part of the Prophet’s speech ﷺ; it is the narrator’s. A narrator may insert it to explain a term in the report or for some other reason.

Interpolation may occur:
• at the beginning of a ḥadīth,
• in the middle, or
• at the end.

Example of interpolation at the beginning: the report of Abū Hurayrah (d. 59 AH) in which he said, “Perfect your wuḍūʾ; woe to the heels from the Fire.” The portion traced back to the Prophet is, “Woe to the heels from the Fire,”¹ whereas “Perfect your wuḍūʾ” is Abū Hurayrah’s own statement. A reader unaware of this might assume the entire sentence is the Prophet’s ﷺ because the distinction was not made explicit.

Example of interpolation in the middle: the ḥadīth of al-Zuhrī from ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) describing how revelation first came down—that is, the initial stages of what was revealed to the Prophet