(1) MSS A and K add the word “ay” (i.e.). (2) MS B reads “ma ahdath” with the dal vocalised, whereas the text adopted here follows MSS A, J, H, and K. (3) MSS D and L read “wahuwa.” Al-Qari notes in Sharh Sharh al-Nukhbah, p. 434: “The verb is put in the feminine in view of the predicate.” (4) MSS A, D, H, W, Z, T, and K read: “about one whose error is less than his correctness.” MS Y has “greater”; another copy corrects the margin to “less,” then remarks: “This copy contradicts what will come later; hence the student Qasim rejected it.” MS L reads: “whose error equals his correctness,” with a marginal note: “The wording ‘whose error is less than his correctness’ does not match the later phrase ‘whose side of correctness has not preponderated,’ whereas ‘equals’ does.” MS M reads: “whose error is not less than his correctness.” The wording adopted in the present edition is taken from MSS B and J. A marginal note on J substitutes “less than his trustworthiness” for “less than his correctness.” It seems that Hafiz Ibn Hajar first wrote the phrase as found in most copies—“whose error is less than his correctness”—and then altered it to one of two forms: the reading adopted here, or “whose error equals his correctness.” Both convey the same sense. Al-Biqaʿi remarks: “His statement ‘and it is a phrase about someone whose error …’ conflicts with what he later says when explaining the tenth cause, namely, ‘What is meant is the one whose side of correctness does not outweigh his side of error.’ Had he said ‘it is a phrase about someone whose error is not less than his correctness,’ it would have agreed … I later found this exact wording in some reliable copies, so perhaps our shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—corrected the original after we discussed it with him.” Qada al-Watar by al-Laqani, 2/1022. Al-Manawi states in al-Yawaqit wa-l-Durrar, 2/34–35: “(‘and it is a phrase about someone whose error is less than his correctness’) is what appears in one copy, while another has: (‘about someone whose error equals his correctness’). Kamal Ibn Abi Sharif observed that the first wording does not accord with the later phrase ‘whose side has not preponderated,’ whereas the wording ‘equals’ does.” Al-Qari writes in Sharh Sharh al-Nukhbah, p. 434: “‘A phrase indicating that he not be’—in the negative form—is the correct reading, contrary to what some copies have; details will follow. ‘His error is less than his correctness,’ whether equal to it or greater; but if his error is truly less than his correctness, or insignificant in comparison, he is acceptable.” Nevertheless, the wording Ibn Hajar originally penned—“about one whose error is less than his correctness”—can be interpreted soundly: the scarcity of error is judged relative to his accuracy, meaning that a slip or two, as some commentators feared, does not impugn him. See Huda al-Sari, 1/384.