As for the number of transmitters required for mass transmission, some have stipulated a fixed number, but they disagree over what it is. Some say more than four; others say twelve, forty, seventy, three hundred and thirteen, or some other number. All these views are invalid, for each is no more than an assertion.

The correct view, held by the majority, is that mass transmission has no fixed number. The certainty produced by a report arises directly in the heart, just as satiety follows eating and thirst is quenched by drinking. There is no fixed quantity that satisfies everyone’s hunger or quenches everyone’s thirst. Satiety may result from the quantity of food, from its quality—as with meat—or because the person eating needs only a little. It may also result from the mind’s preoccupation with joy, anger, sorrow, or something similar.

Likewise, certainty arising from a report may result from the large number of those conveying it. When they are numerous, their report may yield certainty even if they are unbelievers. At other times, it results from their religious integrity and accuracy. The reports of two or three men may yield a degree of certainty not attained through the reports of ten or twenty whose religious integrity and accuracy cannot be trusted.

At other times, certainty may arise because each reporter relates the same account as the other, while it is known that the two have not colluded and that such agreement cannot ordinarily occur by coincidence. An example is someone narrating a lengthy hadith containing several sections, which is also narrated by another person who has never met him.

At other times, certainty through a report is attained by someone endowed with discernment, intelligence, and knowledge of the reporters’ circumstances and of what they report