Type Thirteen: The shādh (anomalous) report

According to al-Shāfiʿī and a group of the scholars of the Hijaz, a shādh report is one in which a trustworthy narrator relates something that contradicts what the majority transmit, not merely a report that no one else has transmitted. Abū Yaʿlā al-Khalīlī said: “The hadith experts hold that a shādh report is one that possesses only a single chain of transmission, whether the lone transmitter is reliable or otherwise. If the narrator is unreliable, the report is discarded; if he is reliable, judgment is suspended and it is not used as proof.” Al-Ḥākim declared: “It is whatever a trustworthy narrator relates on his own for which no corroborating narration exists.”

What the two of them have stated is problematic, for it would include solitary narrations transmitted by upright, precise transmitters—such as the ḥadīth ‘Actions are only by intentions,’ the prohibition of selling the right of walāʾ, and other examples found in the Ṣaḥīḥayn.

The sound position requires differentiation: if the lone narrator contradicts someone who is more knowledgeable and more precise, the report is shādh and therefore rejected. If no contradiction exists and the narrator is upright, a memorizer, and trusted for his accuracy, his solitary report is sound (ṣaḥīḥ). Should his precision not be fully attested yet he is not far below the level of exactness, the report is ḥasan. But if he falls well short of that standard, the report is shādh, munkar, and rejected.

To summarize: a shādh report that must be rejected is either (1) a solitary narration that conflicts with stronger transmitters, or (2) a solitary narration whose transmitter lacks sufficient reliability and precision to offset his isolation. Allah knows best.