Its derivation is from dalas (1) — with the letters fully vocalized (2) — which denotes the mingling of darkness (3). It was so called because both meanings involve concealment.
The mudallas (4) is usually introduced with a wording of transmission that can (5) be understood to allow for the possibility of an actual meeting (6) between the mudallis and the one from whom he is narrating, such as the formula “ʿan” or words like “he likewise said.”
Whenever the narration is cast in an explicit phrase that admits of no figurative interpretation (7)(8), it is considered a lie.
As for the ruling concerning a narrator whose practice of tadlīs has been established (9)—provided he is otherwise upright (10)—the soundest opinion (11) is that nothing is accepted from him except what he explicitly states he heard.
[The Mursal Khafī]
The same applies to the hidden mursal when it is issued by a contemporary (12) who never actually met the person from whom he reports; rather, an intermediary separates the two.
[The Difference between Mudallas and Mursal Khafī]
The distinction (13) between a mudallas and a hidden mursal is extremely subtle, and it is attained (14) —
(1) MS T reads: “al-mudalliss” (the narrator who practices tadlis).
(2) The phrase “bi-t-tahrik” (with the consonant vocalized) is absent from MS J.
(3) Cf. al-Azhari, Tahdhib al-Lugha, 12 / 253; Ibn Faris, Maqayis al-Lugha, 2 / 296.
(4) MS T reads: “warada” (“it occurred”).
(5) MSS Z, L, and M read “yahtamil” (“it is conceivable”); MS D shows the form with both ta and ya, while the word is left undotted in MSS A and H.
(6) MSS A, Z, and T read “al-liqa” (“the encounter”).
(7) MS D has “la tajuzu” in the nominative, whereas the adopted reading follows MSS J, H, W, Z, Y, K, and L—i.e. the phrase is not meant figuratively. See al-Laqani, Qada al-Watar, p. 990; Ibn Qutlubugha, Hashiya, p. 81.
(8) The clause “la tajawwuz fiha” (“with no figurative extension in it”) is missing from MSS A, B, and T.
(9) MS L reads: “yathbut” (“is affirmed”).
(10) MS H adds: “in” (“if”).
(11) A marginal note in MS D, in the author’s own hand, reads: “thumma balagha kadhālika” (“then it likewise reached”); in MS W, his marginal note states: “thumma balagha qirāʾatan baḥth ʿalayya” (“then it reached me as a reading that I examined”).
(12) The particle “idha” (“when”) is absent from MS A.
(13) MSS H and Z have “fa-l-farq” (“thus the difference”); a marginal note in H gives “wa-l-farq” (“and the difference”).
(14) MSS B and Y read “yahsul” (“is realized”).