, well-known, and solitary reports. Accordingly, most of the texts in the two Sahīh collections are known with certainty and reliably preserved. Hadith scholars have accepted them, affirmed their truth, and unanimously agreed on their authenticity. Their consensus is protected from error, just as the jurists’ consensus on legal rulings is protected from error. If the jurists unanimously agree on a ruling, their consensus constitutes authoritative proof, even if an individual jurist bases his view on a solitary report, an analogy, or a text of general scope. Likewise, when hadith scholars unanimously agree on the authenticity of a report, it yields certainty. Although each of them individually may err, their consensus is protected from error.

Furthermore, these hadiths, whose authenticity they unanimously affirm, may be mass-transmitted and widely circulated among some scholars but not others. Some may attain certainty of their truth because they know the qualities of the transmitters and the corroborating circumstances accompanying the report that yield certainty. This is like someone hearing a report from al-Siddīq or al-Fārūq as he relates it among the Emigrants and the Helpers, who had witnessed what he had witnessed, affirm his truthfulness, and endorse his account.

His saying,

“Actions are judged only by intentions,”

is among the reports that scholars have accepted and affirmed as true. It was not mass-transmitted at its origin; rather, it is among the singular authentic reports. Yet, because they accepted it and affirmed its truth, its authenticity became established with certainty.

The Sunan collections also contain hadiths that scholars have accepted and affirmed as true, such as his saying—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“No bequest is to be made to an heir.”

This is among the reports that the Muslim community has accepted and acted upon. It is found in the Sunan collections, not in the Sahīh collections.