the legal verdict of Shaykh Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī is that it is permissible for someone who, because of his engagement in teaching hadith, has become unable to earn a livelihood for his dependents.

Eleventh: The narration of anyone known to be lax in his audition or transmission is not accepted. This applies to a person who does not mind falling asleep during a session of listening, who relates hadith without consulting a verified master copy, who is known to accept prompting, whose narrations are riddled with slips when he is not reading from an original text, or whose reports contain an inordinate number of anomalies and reprehensible traditions. Ibn al-Mubārak, Aḥmad, al-Ḥumaydī, and others said: “Whoever commits a gross error in a hadith and, once it has been pointed out to him, persists in narrating it, all of his narrations are to be discarded.” This ruling is sound provided it is clear that he has persisted out of stubbornness or the like.

Twelfth: In our own times people have given up applying the full set of conditions mentioned above, for the goal has become simply to preserve the chain of transmission that is unique to this ummah. One should therefore confine oneself to what serves that end: that the shaykh be a Muslim of full legal age and sound mind, not openly sinful, and not so feeble-minded as to impair his accuracy; that his audition be established in handwriting free of suspicion; and that he narrate from a copy that accords with the copy of his own shaykh. Imām Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī expressed something to this effect.

Thirteenth: On the terminology of criticism and commendation (al-jarḥ wa-l-taʿdīl). Ibn Abī Ḥātim arranged these expressions with great skill. The terms of commendation fall into levels:

1. The highest level includes thiqah (reliable), mutqin (precise), thabt (firm), ḥujjah (an authority), ʿadl (upright), ḥāfiẓ (preserver), and ḍābiṭ (accurate).
2. The second level comprises ṣadūq (very truthful), maḥalluhu al-ṣidq (“his place is veracity”), and lā baʾsa bihi (“there is no harm in him”). Ibn Abī Ḥātim said of this last phrase, “He is among those whose hadith is written down and examined”; that is indeed the second rank, for the expression does not indicate complete precision, and thus his reports must be checked against others as explained earlier. Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn said, “When I say lā baʾsa bihi, I mean he is reliable,” but his personal usage cannot override the consensus of the specialists cited by Ibn Abī Ḥātim.
3. The third level is the single word shaykh: his narration is written down and scrutinized.
4. The fourth is ṣāliḥ al-ḥadīth (acceptable in hadith): his reports are recorded for purposes of corroboration.