At other times they differ as to whether the indication itself is conclusive, because they disagree over the status of the report: is it an explicit text (nass) or merely an apparent wording (zahir)? If it is only apparent, does anything within it eliminate the weaker, alternative possibility or not? This, too, is a vast subject.

Thus it may happen that some scholars are certain of a hadith’s purport while others are not—either because they know the report can bear no meaning but that one, or because they know the competing meaning is impossible, or for some other evidence that compels certainty.

As for the second category, namely the apparent wording, acting upon it in practical legal rulings is obligatory by the consensus of the recognized scholars. If, however, the report contains a doctrinal judgment such as a threat of punishment, the authorities have differed about it. A number of jurists maintain that when a solitary, upright narrator transmits a threat attached to an act, the report must be followed for prohibiting the act, yet the threat itself is not affirmed unless the report is definitive. The same applies when the wording of the text is definitive but its indication is only apparent.

On this basis they interpreted ʿĀʾishah’s statement, Allah be pleased with her: “Inform Zayd ibn Arqam that he has nullified his striving alongside the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, unless he repents.”(1)