Type Fourteen: Recognizing the munkar report
Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bardīḥī stated: “It is the solitary narration whose wording is not known from anyone other than its transmitter.” Many scholars have used the term in the same way. The correct position, however, is the detailed distinction set forth earlier under the heading of the shādh report, for the two are identical in meaning. Allah knows best.

Type Fifteen: Recognizing al-iʿtibār, mutābaʿāt, and shawāhid
These are methods by which the experts determine the status of a ḥadīth.

Example of iʿtibār (comparative verification): Suppose Ḥammād relates a narration that no one else has transmitted on the authority of Ayyūb, from Ibn Sīrīn, from Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet ﷺ. The examiner then asks: Has any reliable narrator other than Ayyūb reported it from Ibn Sīrīn? If none is found, he looks for a trustworthy narrator other than Ibn Sīrīn who reports it from Abū Hurayrah; if that is lacking, he searches for another Companion, other than Abū Hurayrah, who transmits it from the Prophet ﷺ. The discovery of any of these alternatives shows that the report has an original basis; if none is found, it does not.

Mutābaʿa (corroboration) occurs when someone other than Ḥammād narrates it from Ayyūb—this is the complete mutābaʿa—or when another transmitter relates it from Ibn Sīrīn, or when someone other than Ibn Sīrīn narrates it from Abū Hurayrah, or when a different Companion reports it from the Prophet ﷺ. All of these are called mutābaʿa, described as “closer” or “farther” according to their distance from the primary example. A mutābaʿa may also be called a shāhid (supporting narration). A shāhid is another ḥadīth conveying the same meaning, and this is not termed mutābaʿa.

Thus, when the scholars remark, “Abū Hurayrah—or Ibn Sīrīn, or Ayyūb, or Ḥammād—has transmitted it alone,” they indicate the absence of mutābaʿāt. If no shawāhid are found either, its ruling is the same as that previously stated for the shādh report.