Others have said that it refers to any report transmitted from a Successor or someone below him, whether conveying his statement or his deed; this opinion is rare and weak.

The eleventh category:
Al-muʿḍal

Pronounced with a fatḥah on the ḍād, the term comes from the expression aʿḍalahu, “he rendered it muʿḍal.” Technically, it is a chain from which two or more consecutive transmitters are missing. Such a report is also called munqaṭiʿ, and—as mentioned earlier—jurists and others sometimes classify it as mursal.

Some ḥadith scholars add that when a narrator says, “It has reached me,” as in Mālik’s statement, “It has reached me from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘A slave is entitled to his food and clothing,’” the report is deemed muʿḍal.

Likewise, if a follower of the Successors reports a ḥadith from a Successor but stops it at him, whereas that Successor himself considers the narration marfūʿ and fully connected, the report is classified as muʿḍal.