320 – He replied, “That is how it stands—if you insist on putting it that way. But what if I refuse to grant it to you in that form?”

321 – I said, “There is no escape from this position except by retracting it altogether or by dodging the answer through artful evasion and silence—and evasion is the more disgraceful of the two!”

322 – He said, “Suppose I claim that I will not accept a report attributed to a single person unless it is corroborated by four separate lines of transmission—just as I will not accept anything from the Prophet ﷺ unless it, too, reaches me through four distinct routes?”

323 – I responded, “In that case this principle obligates you—do you actually uphold it?”

324 – He answered, “If we uphold it, such corroboration will never be found.”

325 – I said, “Exactly—and you know full well that there are never four independent chains from al-Zuhri, nor even three others with al-Zuhri as the fourth, all reporting from a Companion of the Prophet ﷺ.”

326 – He conceded, “True; but leave that aside.”

327 – I continued, “Now, if someone says, ‘I will accept only when there are four transmitters, not three,’ and another says, ‘I will accept only when there are five,’ while yet another demands seventy—what proof could you bring against them? Who fixed the number at four for you in the first place?”

328 – He said, “I cited four merely as an example.”

329 – I asked, “Have you then set any definite limit on the number you will accept?”

330 – He said, “No.”

331 – I said, “Or do you in fact know the limit but conceal it because of the consequences it would entail for you?!”

332 – His weakness became evident.

333 – I then said to him—or perhaps to one of those present with him—“So what, then, is the third means by which a report is deemed established from the Prophet ﷺ?”