Next comes obscurity (jahālah). It occurs when a transmitter has numerous sobriquets and is therefore cited— for some purpose—under a designation other than the one by which he is generally known (1); on this point the scholars authored al-Mawḍiḥ (2).
At other times (3) he may relate only a few reports, so scarcely anyone (4) transmits from him; on this subject (5) they compiled al-Wuḥdān (6).
Or he may not be named at all (7) out of brevity—hence the works on al-Mubhamāt. An unidentified narrator is not accepted, even if the phrase used to conceal him explicitly contains an appraisal of reliability (8); this is the sounder view.
If he is named (9) yet only one person (10) narrates from him, he is classified as majhūl al-ʿayn (obscure in identity) (11). If two (12) or more transmit from him and no declaration of reliability (13) is found, he is majhūl al-ḥāl (obscure in status), also known as mastūr (14).
(1) MSS B, D, and H read ma ishtahara, vocalised with a fatḥa on both the tāʾ and the hāʾ; the other copies are unvocalised.
(2) From the words “qad takthur naʿutuhu fayudhkar …” up to this point is absent in MS G.
(3) MS G has qad without the prefixed conjunction wāw.
(4) MS W reads fa-lā yukthiru (damma on the yāʾ, kasra on the thāʾ); the present text follows MS D.
(5) MSS G, D, and H read wa-fīhi in place of wa-ṣannafū fīhi. The author remarks in Nuzhat al-Nazar: “Indeed, they have composed works on it, the Wuḥdān.”
(6) MS Z reads al-Wāḥidān.
(7) MS H has aw lā yusammā. In Nuzhat al-Nazar the author writes: “or the transmitter is not named—by way of abbreviation—from the one who narrates from him.”
(8) MS W reads taʿdīl.
(9) MS Z inserts the word rāwin; it also appears in Nuzhat al-Nazar as al-rāwī.
(10) MS G reads wa-akhadha, an erroneous form. MS B has rāwin in place of wāḥidun, while one copy’s margin suggests wāḥid. The vocalisation adopted here follows MSS D, H, and W. In Nuzhat al-Nazar the author states: “A single transmitter alone narrates it.”
(11) The word al-ʿayn is missing from MS B.
(12) MS H reads wa-ithnān. The author says in Nuzhat al-Nazar: “or if two or more narrate it from him.”
(13) MS H has aw lam.
(14) The phrase wa-huwa al-mastūr is absent from MS B.