He was also asked:

“What is meant when a hadith is described as fair, mursal (disconnected), or singular? How does al-Tirmidhī combine the descriptions ‘singular’ and ‘authentic’ for a single hadith? Are there hadiths mass-transmitted in both wording and meaning? Do most authentic hadiths yield certainty or probability? What are the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, given that scholars distinguish between their respective criteria and say, ‘According to the criteria of al-Bukhārī and Muslim’?”

He replied:

A mursal hadith is one transmitted by someone other than a Companion without naming the Companion from whom he received it; he may, however, have received it from someone other than a Companion. Some scholars apply the term mursal only to reports transmitted in this manner by a Successor, while others also apply it to reports transmitted in this manner by someone other than a Successor.

Likewise, when a narrator is omitted from a chain of transmission, some scholars reserve the term munqatiʿ (interrupted) for it, while others include it under the term mursal. Some also call every mursal report interrupted. All these usages are linguistically permissible.