about past events—beginning with the creation and the stories of the prophets—or about future events (1), such as the great battles (2), the tribulations, and the conditions of the Day of Resurrection. The same applies to a report (3) that performing a given act (4) yields a specific reward (5) or brings about a specific punishment.
It is given the ruling of marfūʿ only because his very act of reporting it presupposes that someone informed him of it, and any matter (6) that allows no room for personal reasoning demands a source (7) for the one who states it. There is no such source (8) for the Companions except the Prophet ﷺ, or, in some cases, someone relating material from the ancient scriptures; for this reason the second category was excluded. When that is the case (9), the report carries the same force as though he had declared, “The Messenger of Allah (10) ﷺ said…,” and hence it is marfūʿ, whether it is something (11) he heard directly from the Prophet or from him through an intermediary (12).
(1) MSS J and H read: “and the forthcoming.”
(2) Al-Qari, Sharh Sharh al-Nukhbah, p. 551: “With a fatḥa on the mīm; it is the plural of malham, meaning ‘battlefield,’ and what is meant here is wars.”
(3) MS H has: “the reports.” Al-Qari, Sharh Sharh al-Nukhbah, p. 552, notes: “with a kasra on the hamza.”
(4) MS D reads: “with it.”
(5) MS H gives makhṣūṣin (genitive with tanwīn); our text follows D, Y, and K.
(6) MSS H and T read walā instead of wamā lā.
(7) MS A has tawaqqufan, while MS H reads mūqifan with a single qāf; we have adopted the reading preserved in D, H, Z, and L. Al-Qari, Sharh Sharh al-Nukhbah, p. 552: “With ḍamma on the mīm, a silent wāw, and a lightly or doubly articulated qāf—that is, someone who points something out or makes it known.”
(8) MS A reads: “and no tawaqquf.”
(9) MSS H, W, and Z have: “fa-idhā” (then, when).
(10) MS K reads: “the Prophet.”
(11) MSS Z, H, T, and K read: “mā.”
(12) MS K adds: “or not.” In the margin of MS A, in the author’s own hand, appears: “then it likewise reached.”