reported the hadith of ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Samit from Rafiʿ ibn ʿAmr, and many similar instances appear in the two Sahihs. Some of these were cited earlier under the Twenty-Third Category.
Among the Successors, for example, is Abu al-ʿAshra’, from whom no one narrated except Hammad ibn Salamah. Al-Zuhri was the sole transmitter for more than twenty of the Successors; ʿAmr ibn Dinar likewise stood alone for a number of narrators, as did Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Ansari, Abu Ishaq al-Sabiʿi, Hisham ibn ʿUrwah, Malik, and others—may Allah have mercy on them all. Allah knows best.

Forty-Eighth Category
Identifying Narrators Mentioned under Different Names or Descriptions
This is a subtle discipline that is essential for detecting tadlis (concealed transmission). ʿAbd al-Ghani ibn Saʿid and others authored works on the subject.
• One example is Muhammad ibn al-Saʿib al-Kalbi, the exegete; he is the same narrator known as Abu al-Nadr, from whom the hadith of Tamim al-Dari is transmitted.
• Another is ʿUday—that is, Hammad ibn al-Saʿib—the transmitter of the hadith “The tanning process purifies every hide belonging to a Muslim.” He is also Abu Saʿid, from whom ʿAtiyyah relates Qur’anic exegesis.
• Likewise, there is Salim who narrates from Abu Hurayrah, Abu Saʿid, and ʿA’ishah. He appears under multiple designations: Salim Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Madini; Salim, the freedman of Malik ibn Aws; Salim, the freedman of Shaddad ibn al-Had; Salim, the freedman of the Nasrites; Salim, the freedman of al-Mahri; Salim Sablān; Salim Abu ʿAbd Allah al-Dawsi; Salim, the freedman of Daws; and Abu ʿAbd Allah, the freedman of Shaddad.
Al-Khatib frequently applied this method when listing his own shaykhs. Allah knows best.