One might also argue that the advantage just mentioned lies in the fact that the ḥadiths found in the two collections are the most authentic of all sound reports (1).
Another category that conveys knowledge is the mashhūr (well-known) report, provided it possesses several independent chains of transmission that are free from weak narrators and hidden defects (2).
Those who have explicitly affirmed that such a report yields inferential knowledge include the Professor Abū Manṣūr al-Baghdādī (4), the Professor Abū Bakr Ibn Fūrak (5)(6), and others (7).
A further category is the musalsal report transmitted exclusively by eminent, meticulous ḥadith masters, so long as it is not singular—such as the narration related by Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, for example (8),
(1) In MS T the text from the words “wa-yahtamilu an yuqala” (and it may be said that…) up to this point is missing.
(2) MSS A and Y read kana (was).
(3) MS T reads bi-ifada (by imparting).
(4) MS K writes the nisba as al-Baghadhadhi, while MSS L and M have al-Baghdadhi. The person intended is ʿAbd al-Qahir b. Tahir Abū Mansur al-Baghdadi, the Shafiʿi scholar (d. 429 AH); see Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʾ 17:572. Al-Qari, in Sharh Sharh al-Nukhba, p. 227, comments: “The preferred pronunciation places an undotted dal first and a dotted one second; this is better than reversing them or making both letters either undotted or dotted.”
(5) MS J vocalises the word as ibn a (accusative), whereas the text here follows the nominative reading of MSS Z and K.
(6) MS K has Furak-in (genitive with tanwin), while MSS H, L and M omit the tanwin. Ibn Qutlubgha reports from Ibn Hajar that the name Furak is indeclinable; see Ibn Qutlubgha’s Hashiya, p. 45, and al-Qari, Sharh Sharh al-Nukhba, p. 227. The figure referred to is Abū Bakr Muhammad b. al-Hasan b. Furak al-Isfahani (d. 406 AH); Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʾ 17:214.
(7) Cf. al-Bahr al-Muhit by al-Zarkashi, 6:121. A marginal note in MS W, written in the author’s own hand, adds: “Then it likewise reached.”
(8) The word alladhi (which) is absent from MS L.