Then the accepted report further divides into two categories: one that is acted upon and one that is not. If it is free of any counter-evidence—that is, no report contradicts it—then it is the muḥkam, and examples of this abound (1). (2) Should it be challenged, one of two possibilities arises: either the challenger is an accepted report of equal standing or it is a rejected report. The latter (3) carries no weight, for the strong is not affected (4) by the opposition (5) of the weak.
If the contradiction comes from a narration of comparable strength, there are again two alternatives: either the two implications can be harmonised (6) without strained interpretation (7), or they cannot.
[Mukhtalif al-ḥadīth]
When harmony is possible, the type is what is called (8) mukhtalif (9) al-ḥadīth. Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (10) illustrated this with the hadith: “There is no contagion and no …”
(1) Al-Hakim cites examples of this under the thirtieth category of the sciences of hadith, entitled “Knowledge of reports for which no contradiction exists in any respect.” See al-Hakim, Maʿrifat ʿUlum al-Hadith, p. 129.
(2) al-muhkam (the unequivocal report).
(3) MS K adds: “and the second.”
(4) In MSS Y, K and L the verb is written tuʾaththiru with an initial ta; in B and W it is spelled with both ta and ya.
(5) MS Z reads mukhalifuhu (“its contradictory report”).
(6) MSS H, Z and Ḥ read madluluhuma (“their import”).
(7) MS A has min ghayr (“without”).
(8) MS B inserts the word fahuwa (“then it is”).
(9) MS T vocalizes the word as mukhtalaf with a fatha on the lam; MSS W and M show both the fatha and kasra; the reading adopted here follows MS D. Al-Qari states in his Sharh Sharh al-Nukhba, p. 363: “With a kasra on the lam, i.e., ‘the meaning of his hadith differs’; this suits its counterpart—that it is the nasikh (abrogating report). Some, however, read it with a fatha, treating it as a verbal noun, which accords with his subsequent remark: ‘then comes the tarjih (preferential weighing).’”
(10) Muqaddima ʿUlum al-Hadith, p. 284.