The Corroborating Narration (mutābiʿ)

When one transmitter relates a hadith and another transmitter relates a narration that agrees with it, that second narration is called a mutābiʿ—literally, a “corroborating narration,” formed from the active participle. This is what the hadith scholars mean when they say, “So-and-so corroborated him,” a wording that al-Bukhari frequently employs in his Ṣaḥīḥ; they also say, “It has mutābiʿāt,” meaning additional corroborating chains.

The Benefit of Corroboration

Corroboration serves to strengthen and endorse the original report. The corroborating transmitter need not be equal in rank to the principal narrator; even if he is somewhat inferior, his narration is still suitable for corroboration.

Degrees of Corroboration

Corroboration may occur within the very same transmitter or at the level of a teacher above him. The first form is more complete and more perfect than the second, for weakness is most common at the beginning of the isnād.

When the Term mithluhu Is Used

If the corroborating narration matches the original in both wording and meaning, the critics say, “mithluhu”—“its like.”