have recourse to some other procedure capable of confirming such precise wording and subtle details.

Hence, the Battle of Badr is established by mass transmission (tawātur), and that it occurred before the Battle of Uḥud is likewise universally acknowledged. Indeed, we know with absolute certainty that Hamza, ʿAlī, and ʿUbayda stepped forward to challenge ʿUtba, Shayba, and al-Walid; that ʿAlī killed al-Walid; and that Hamza slew his own opponent—though scholars may debate whether that opponent was ʿUtba or Shayba.

This foundational principle deserves to be well known, for it is highly beneficial in reaching decisive judgments about a host of transmitted materials—hadith, Qurʾānic exegesis, accounts of the prophetic campaigns, people’s reported statements and actions, and much else.

Accordingly, when a hadith that lends itself to such corroboration is transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ through two independent lines, and we are certain that one narrator did not take it from the other, we can be sure of its authenticity—especially when we also know that its transmitters are not among those who deliberately fabricate reports, the only possible flaw lying in forgetfulness or inadvertent error. Anyone familiar with Companions such as Ibn Masʿūd, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, Ibn ʿUmar, Jābir, Abū Saʿīd, Abū Hurayra, and others knows with certainty that not one of them would intentionally lie about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, let alone those whose rank surpasses theirs. This is as evident as a man’s confidence, after lengthy and intimate acquaintance, that a particular individual is not the sort who steals, commits highway robbery, or bears false witness.

The same applies to the Followers in Medina, Mecca, Syria, and Basra. Whoever knows men like Abū Ṣāliḥ al-Sammān, al-Aʿraj, Sulaymān ibn Yasār, Zayd ibn Aslam, and their peers realizes beyond doubt that they were not people who deliberately invented hadith,