found among Successors transmitting from other Successors (1).
[The scholars’ positions regarding the mursal]
If it is known that a particular Successor habitually narrates only from reliable authorities, the majority of hadith scholars nonetheless withhold judgment (2), for the possibility of an unreliable intermediary still remains; this is one of the two opinions reported from Ahmad (3).
The second view—advanced by the Malikites and the scholars of Kufa—is that the mursal is accepted outright (4).
Al-Shafi‘i maintained that it is to be accepted when it is corroborated by the same report coming through a different route independent of the first (5), whether that supporting route is musnad (6) or likewise mursal, so that the likelihood of the omitted narrator’s being trustworthy is strengthened (7) and ultimately preferred (8).
Abu Bakr al-Razi (9) of the Hanafis, and Abu al-Walid al-Baji (10)
(1) Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi composed a tract entitled Hadith al-Sitta min al-Tabiʿin wa Dhikr Turuqihi wa Ikhtilaf Wujuhihi (“The Hadith transmitted by six Successors, its chains and their variants”). It concerns the report of Abu Ayyub on the merit of Surah al-Ikhlas, namely that it equals one-third of the Quran. Al-Khatib states: “Yaʿqub ibn Shaybah declared it the longest isnad ever related, and this is indeed the case, for six Successors occur consecutively in the chain.” Hadith al-Sitta min al-Tabiʿin, p. 32.
(2) See al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, al-Kifayah, p. 384.
(3) See al-ʿAlaʾi, Jamʿ al-Tahsil, p. 38; Ibn Muflih, Usul al-Fiqh, 2:639.
(4) See al-Jassas, al-Fusul fi al-Usul, 3:145; Ibn al-Farraʾ, al-ʿUdda fi Usul al-Fiqh, 3:906; al-Qarafi, Sharh Tanqih al-Fusul, p. 379.
(5) MS Ṭ reads “al-awwal” (“the first”). Al-Qari notes in Sharh Sharh al-Nukhbah, p. 408: “One manuscript likewise has al-awwal.”
(6) The word kana (“was”) is missing from MS W.
(7) MS W reads “liyarjaḥ” (“so that it may predominate”), while MSS Z and L have “litarajjuḥ” (“for the predominance of”).
(8) See al-Shafiʿi, al-Risalah, p. 462.
(9) Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ʿAli al-Razi al-Jassas (d. 370 AH). See Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʾ, 16:340; al-Jawahir al-Mudiyyah, 1:84.
(10) Abu al-Walid Sulayman ibn Khalaf ibn Saʿd al-Baji al-Maliki (d. 474 AH). See Siyar Aʿlam al-Nubalaʾ, 18:535.