—the Muslims. (Consequently, after these books had become famous and numerous manuscript copies of them were in circulation, it was impossible for anyone to alter them wholesale. Still, some wording errors had slipped in before they spread, for a hadith transmitter—even if upright—may nevertheless make a mistake.) Nonetheless, whatever reports the Muslims have received with acceptance, confirmed as authentic, and put into practice are reports that the vast majority of Muslims hold with certainty to be truthful and traced back to their Prophet.

This is the position of the early generations (salaf) and of the overwhelming majority of schools: most of the adherents of the four legal schools, and most theologians among the Kullabiyyah, Karramiyyah, Ashʿariyyah, and others. Some scholars of kalam, however, imagined that one cannot be certain of such reports because a single narrator might err or lie; yet this reservation applies only to a lone narrator whose honesty and precision have not been established.