Branches

First. If a blind narrator has not retained what he heard and therefore relies on a trustworthy assistant to keep the text accurate and to guard his manuscript—taking every precaution when it is read back to him so that he is reasonably certain it has not been tampered with—his narration is deemed sound. Even so, he is more liable to be barred than a sighted narrator in the same situation. Al-Khaṭīb said: “An illiterate sighted person is in the same position as the blind.”

Second. Should a person wish to transmit from a copy that carries neither his own audition note nor a collation mark—although it was read aloud to his teacher, or bears his teacher’s audition, or was written from his teacher’s dictation—and he feels inwardly at ease with it, the majority of hadith scholars hold that it is impermissible for him to narrate from it. ʿAyūb al-Sakhtiyānī and Muḥammad ibn Bakr al-Barsānī allowed it. Al-Khaṭīb said: “Sound reasoning dictates that whenever he knows these hadith are exactly what he heard from the teacher, he may transmit them, provided he is satisfied as to their authenticity and freedom from alteration. Allah knows best.” This applies only when he has no general ijāza from his teacher for all his narrations, nor a specific ijāza for this book. If he does possess such authorization, he may transmit from it and may say ḥaddathanā (he narrated to us) and akhbaranā (he informed us). If the copy bears the audition of his teacher’s teacher, or was read to the latter, he must hold a general ijāza from his own teacher, and the teacher must likewise have a comparable ijāza from his teacher. Allah knows best.

Third. When a narrator discovers in his book something that conflicts with his memory, then—if his memory was taken from that very book—he should follow the book; but if his memory came from the teacher’s oral delivery, he relies on his memory, provided he is free of doubt. A commendable way to reconcile the two is to state: “My recollection is such-and-such, while my book reads such-and-such.” If someone else differs, he should say: “My recollection is such-and-such, whereas So-and-so (or others) have it as such-and-such.”

If he finds his own audition recorded in the manuscript yet cannot recall it, Abū Ḥanīfah and some Shāfiʿīs say he may not narrate it, while the position of al-Shāfiʿī, most of his followers, Abū Yūsuf, and Muḥammad is that it is permissible—and this is the sound view. The conditions are that the audition be written in his own hand or that of a person he trusts, that the manuscript be securely preserved so that it is, in all probability, free from alteration, and that he himself feels assured of its accuracy. If he entertains doubt, transmission is not allowed. Allah knows best.