it were hung on a wall, severing any direct connection. Some scholars, moreover, have used the term for the omission of the entire chain, as in the bare statement, “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said…,” or “Ibn ʿAbbās said…,” or “ʿAṭāʾ said…,” and the like. Such a taʿlīq carries the ruling of a sound (ṣaḥīḥ) report, as noted earlier under the section on ṣaḥīḥ narrations. They did not, however, apply the word taʿlīq to non-categorical formulations—phrases such as “It is narrated from so-and-so…,” “It is said about him…,” “It is mentioned…,” “It is reported…,” and similar expressions. Rather, they restricted it to unequivocal wording—“He said,” “He did,” “He commanded,” “He forbade,” “He mentioned,” “He related.” Nor did they use it for cases where a link is missing in the middle of the chain. Allah knows best.

Fourth: If some trustworthy, meticulous transmitters relate a hadith in mursal form while others transmit it with a complete chain; or if some report it as mawqūf and others raise it to marfūʿ; or if the same narrator at one time connects or raises it and at another time sends it as mursal or stops it—the sound position is that the ruling follows the connected or marfūʿ version, regardless of whether those who disagree are equal to or greater than him in number. This is because the connected or raised wording constitutes an additional detail supplied by a reliable narrator, and such additions are accepted.

Some scholars, however, hold that the ruling should follow the mursal or mawqūf version. Al-Khaṭīb said that this is the view of most ḥadith specialists. Others decide according to the side with the larger number of transmitters; still others favor the narration of the stronger memoriser (the one more firmly grounded). On this basis, if the stronger memoriser reports it as mursal or mawqūf, the existence of a connected or marfūʿ version does not impugn the reliability of his report. It has also been said that his connecting the chain is defective when the leading ḥuffāẓ transmit it as mursal. Allah knows best.