[Knowledge of the Transmitters’ Lands and Home Regions]
Another important point is to know their lands and native towns; the benefit of this is the safeguard against mixing up two identical names when, in fact, they differ in lineage (1).
[Knowledge of the Transmitters’ Conditions]
Another important point is to know their conditions—whether they are declared trustworthy, declared unreliable, or remain unknown—for a transmitter is either recognized for his uprightness, known for his sinfulness, or nothing at all is known about him (2).
Among the most critical matters—once the material has been surveyed—is to know the ranks of jarḥ (discrediting) and taʿdīl (accrediting), because the critics may censure a person for something that does not necessitate rejecting all of his ḥadīth (3).
We have already enumerated the causes of this earlier, limiting them (4) to ten, and their detailed explanation has already preceded (5).
The aim here is simply to mention the expressions that, in their technical usage (6), designate those various ranks.
(1) In manuscripts A and K the phrase appears as “bil-nisba” (by attribution), while Z has “bil-nisb” with a kasra on the n; it is absent from the remaining copies. Al-Qari, Sharh Sharh al-Nukhba, p. 723, observes: “The wording fi al-nasab, with two fathas, also occurs as bi-n-nasb, and it may be read with a kasra at the start as the plural of nisba. This is supported by the reading bil-nisba, meaning that referring each narrator to his respective hometown distinguishes the two narrators.”
(2) Manuscript W reads “tu‘raf” (is recognized); in A the dots are missing, leaving the word indistinct.
(3) Manuscript T has “yajrahu,” while D reads “yujarrihun” (damma on the ya, fathah on the jim, kasra on the ra); the text adopted here follows J, W, and K. Al-Qari, Sharh Sharh al-Nukhba, p. 724, comments: “‘qad yujarrihun,’ with a doubled ra, means they ascribe the narrator to jarh (discredit). Another copy has ‘yajrahun,’ with sukūn on the jim and fathah on the ra, i.e., they declare him majruh, defective.”
(4) Manuscript H reads “wa-hasruha” (and its enumeration).
(5) Covers pp. 150–180. In the margin of D, in the author’s own hand, appears: “thumma balagha kadhalik” (then it likewise reached).
(6) Manuscript H reads “‘ala.”