The Thirty-Fifth Category
Recognizing Scribal Corruptions (maʿrifat al-muṣaḥḥaf)
This is a distinguished field that only the most astute specialists truly master. Al-Dāraqutnī was one of them, and he wrote a valuable treatise on the subject. Scribal corruption (taṣḥīf) may arise visually or orally and can occur in both the chain of transmission (isnād) and the actual text (matn).
• In the isnād: al-ʿAwām b. Murājim—spelled with a rāʾ (r) and a jīm (j). Ibn Maʿīn misread it and produced a zāy (z) and a ḥāʾ (ḥ) instead.
• In the matn: the report of Zayd b. Thābit that “the Prophet ﷺ iḥtajar in the mosque,” meaning he set up an enclosure of palm-matting or the like in which he prayed. Ibn Lahīʿa misread it as iḥtajama, “he underwent cupping.” Likewise, the ḥadīth, “Whoever fasts in Ramadan and then follows it with six days of Shawwāl,” was misread by al-Ṣūlī as shayʾan (“something”) of Shawwāl, inserting a dotted letter.
• There is also corruption caused by mishearing, such as the report transmitted “from ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal,” which some narrated as “Wāṣil al-Aḥdab.”