Its procedure is as follows: the shaykh hands over his master copy—or whatever stands in its place—to the student, or the student brings the master copy to the shaykh (1), and in either case the shaykh says to him (2), “This is my narration from So-and-so; transmit it from me.”
A further condition (3) is that the shaykh must enable the student to make use of the text, either by granting him ownership of it or by lending it to him (4), so that he may copy it and collate his copy with the original. Otherwise, if the shaykh only hands it to him and then immediately takes it back (5)(6), the munāwala will show no clear superiority (7)(8) over a specific ijāza—namely, where the shaykh (9)(10) authorizes him to transmit a particular book and specifies the manner in which he is to transmit it.
If, however, the munāwala is devoid of explicit permission (11), the majority of scholars do not regard it as valid (12)(13).
(1) In W the word is written yaḥḍuru with the nominative ending; the adopted reading follows J, H, Ṭ, K, and L.
(2) In A and D it reads wa-yaqūlu, nominative; the chosen wording is that of J and L.
(3) Ṭ has wa-sharṭ. Al-Qari states in Sharḥ Sharḥ al-Nukhba, p. 680: “wa-sharṭuhu: the verbal-noun form is in the nominative as the subject of a nominal sentence, and the attached pronoun refers to the higher reading. One copy reads shuriṭ (passive).”
(4) K reads bi-l-ʿāriya (“by way of a loan”).
(5) A copy found in the margins of W and L adds: wa-ammā idhā (“whereas if”).
(6) Ṭ has wa-istiraddahu (“and he repossessed it”).
(7) H reads fa-lā yabīn (“so it is not evident”).
(8) A marginal copy in L adds: li-hādhā (“for this reason”).
(9) D, Z, and Ṭ read yukhbiruhu (“he informs him”); the word is undotted in H.
(10) The word al-shaykh is absent from A.
(11) H adds wa-in (“and if”).
(12) L reads lam yuʿtadd (“it was not taken into account”).
(13) See: al-Kifāya, al-Khaṭib, p. 346.