and it can likewise involve a distortion of meaning, as in the remark of Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā: “We are a people of honor; we belong to ʿAnaza. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ once led us in prayer.” And Allah knows best.

The Thirty-Sixth Category
Recognizing Apparently Contradictory Ḥadiths and How to Deal with Them
This is among the most crucial fields, for scholars of every discipline are obliged to master it. It concerns two reports whose wording seems mutually opposed: one must either harmonize them or determine which of the two is to be preferred. Only the leading authorities who combine expertise in ḥadith, jurisprudence, and the principles of law—those who plunge deeply into meanings—are able to perfect this science.

Imam al-Shāfiʿī authored a treatise on the topic. May Allah have mercy on him: he did not aim for completeness but mentioned a representative selection to indicate his methodology. Ibn Qutaybah then wrote on it as well, producing commendable points alongside others less satisfactory, because stronger and more suitable material was available, and he left out most of the conflicting reports. Whoever brings together the works we have cited will find only the rarest cases still problematic.

Conflicting reports fall into two kinds. In the first, reconciliation is possible; in that case it is obligatory to reconcile them and act upon both. In the second, reconciliation is impossible. If it is known that one of the two abrogates the other, the abrogating report is given precedence. Otherwise, the stronger of the two is acted upon, strength being assessed by such factors as the transmitters’ qualities and their number—nearly fifty distinct considerations. Allah knows best.