the words spoken. Even if he did not correspond with anyone, but merely wrote something in his own hand, reading his handwriting is like hearing his words. This is what they call wijādah (finding a written narration). As noted previously, the narrator has neither narrated this nor rejected it, even though he may have said and written it. Not everything a person says or writes is something he considers fit to narrate, communicate to others, or have transmitted from him.

(The Fourth Type)

Authorization to Narrate

When authorization concerns specific material known to the person granting it, it is like handing over a written text. It is a “presentation of a presentation.” In presentation, the person presenting the material recites it in detail, and the shaykh says, “Yes.” The person seeking authorization, however, asks, “Have you authorized me to narrate what is in this book?” and the person granting authorization says, “Yes.” The difference between the two is that, in presentation, the shaykh hears the entire hadith, whereas here he hears words referring to it, having learned their content by examining what is in the book or by some similar means.

Such authorization constitutes narration and communication. Reports from some of the early scholars of Medina and elsewhere state that they regarded authorization as equivalent to hearing directly, and treated the expressions “He narrated to us,” “He informed us,” “He told us,” and “I heard” as equivalent. What they intended—and Allah knows best—was this kind of authorization: for example, someone coming to Mālik and saying, “This is al-Muwatta’; authorize me to narrate it,” whereupon he grants him authorization.

As for authorization that leaves the material unspecified, it resembles authorization that leaves the recipient unspecified. If someone says, “I authorize you to narrate whatever you establish as belonging to my hadiths,” narration on that basis becomes dependent upon knowing that the material belongs to his hadiths. If this is learned directly from him, authorization is unnecessary. If it is learned from someone else, then that other person is the one who has narrated it to him on his authority