Imam Ahmad would discuss matters from memory, but when a listener asked to receive them for transmission, he would bring out his book and narrate from it.

There are thus three levels: intending to entrust the listener with the hadith so that he may narrate it on the speaker’s authority; intending to tell it to him, but not for him to narrate it on his authority; and intending only to speak of it to oneself.

(The second type)

This is when someone reads to the hadith scholar, who confirms what is read, just as a student recites the Quran to a teacher. The scholars of the Hijaz call this “presentation,” because the person receiving the hadith presents it to the person transmitting it. This resembles presenting a recitation, or presenting an acknowledgment, judgment, contract, or testimony for confirmation to the person whose words or actions are to be attested: the judge, witness, person making the acknowledgment, or contracting party.

Dimām ibn Thaʿlabah presented to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, what his messenger had conveyed, and he would answer, “Yes.” According to Mālik, Ahmad, and the majority of the early generations, this is equivalent to an explicit verbal statement.

For this reason, we have said that if the officiant asks the guardian, “Have you given her in marriage?” and he answers, “Yes,” and asks the husband, “Have you accepted?” and he answers, “Yes,” the marriage is contracted, and these are explicit declarations. For “yes” takes the place of uttering the complete statement about which the question was asked.

Thus, when people are asked, “Have you found what your Lord promised to be true?” or “Did Allah command you to do that?” or “Did so-and-so narrate such-and-such to you?” or “Have you given so-and-so in marriage on such terms?” and the answer is “Yes,” this is equivalent to saying, “I have found what my Lord promised to be true,” “Allah commanded me to do such-and-such,” “So-and-so narrated such-and-such to me,” or “I have given so-and-so in marriage on such terms.” The difference is that the former is an answer to a question, whereas the latter is a statement made independently. “Yes” is a concise word that dispenses with spelling out the details.