Another view holds (1): “The report of one (2) who is not (3) an active propagandist for his innovation is accepted,” because (4) the urge to adorn his innovation may drive him (5) to tamper with the narrations and shape them to fit what his school (6) requires; and this is, on the soundest opinion, the case.
Ibn Ḥibbān (7) went even further, claiming consensus on accepting the non-propagandist without any distinction—although, granted, the majority do accept the non-propagandist (8).
(Except that if he transmits (9) something that reinforces his innovation, it is rejected (10) according to) the preferred position. This was explicitly stated by the ḥadīth master Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Yaʿqūb al-Jūzajānī (11), the teacher of Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī, in his book (12) Maʿrifat al-Rijāl (13). In describing transmitters he wrote: “Among them (14) is one who deviates from the truth—that is, from (15) the Sunnah—yet is honest in speech; there is nothing in him…”
(1) See al-Khatib, al-Kifaya, p. 121.
(2) MS M reads ma.
(3) MS A adds lahu.
(4) MS A reads la.
(5) MSS B, J, K, and L read tahmiluhu.
(6) MS A has yaʿtaqiduhu ("he believes it"); MS T reads ʿala madhhab ma yaqtadihi ("according to what it entails").
(7) See al-Thiqat 6:140.
(8) The phrase "min ghayri tafsil; naʿam, al-akthar ʿala qubul ghayr al-daʿiya" ("without further detail; yes, most scholars accept a narration not driven by self-interest") is missing from MS A.
(9) MSS B, J, and W read an yarwi.
(10) MS Y has faturadd; MS H spells the word with both ta and ya.
(11) In MS T the nisba appears as al-Jawazjani, with the jim and waw both vocalized with fatḥa; the form adopted here follows MSS B, J, D, H, W, Y, L, and M. The person intended is Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Yaʿqub ibn Ishaq al-Jawzjani, the hadith scholar (d. 259 AH); see Ibn ʿAsakir, Tarikh Dimashq 7:278.
(12) MS B reads kitab.
(13) The work is published under the title Ahwal al-Rijal.
(14) MS K reads minhum; MS H adds an extra min.
(15) MS A reads ʿala.