and Abū al-Walīd al-Bājī (10) of the Mālikīs relate the further ruling that when a narrator (1) habitually sends mursal reports from both reliable transmitters and others, his mursal is, by unanimous agreement, not accepted (2).
[The Muʿḍal and the Munqaṭiʿ]
The third category of omission in a chain is as follows: if two or more consecutive links are missing, the hadith is termed muʿḍal; otherwise—if the omission (3) involves two (4) non-consecutive narrators at two separate points (5), it is called munqaṭiʿ. The same designation applies when only one link is missing, or more than two (6), provided (7)(8) that the omissions are not consecutive.
Furthermore, the break in the isnād may be obvious, so that everyone can recognize it—for instance, when the narrator, say, never lived in the same era as the person from whom he is supposedly reporting (9)
(1) In MS A the wording reads: “inna” (indeed).
(2) See al-Jassas, al-Fusul fi al-Usul, 3:155; al-Baji, al-Isharah fi Maʿrifat al-Usul, p. 240. In the margin of MS A, in the author’s own handwriting, it says: “then it reached likewise through audition (samaʿ), then it reached through reading.” In the margin of MS L, also in his hand: “then it reached through reading and study. Written by Ibn Hajar.” In the margin of MS M, likewise in his hand: “then it reached likewise.”
(3) MSS W and Z read: “al-saqat” (“the omitted one”).
(4) MS B reads ghayru with nominative case-ending; the adopted text follows A, D and W.
(5) MS L has “mawdiʿ” (“place”).
(6) A marginal note in MS H adds: “apparently: or more than two—i.e., two or more.”
(7) MS J reads “lakinahu”; the word lakin is absent from H, T and L.
(8) MSS W and Z read “yushtarat” (“it is required”).
(9) MS J reads “bi-kawn”; MSS D, W and Z have “ka-kawn.” Al-Qari, Sharh Sharh al-Nukhbah, p. 414: “with the preposition baʾ indicating causation; one copy has the preposition lam indicating purpose.” Al-Laqani, Qadaʾ al-Watar, p. 979: “li-kawn al-rawi (because the transmitter …): this expresses the cause of participation, or of its occurrence.”