are mursal (disconnected) or muʿḍal (severely interrupted) reports, and it includes mawqūf (companion) narrations as well—many of them, like this very report, are weak. How, then, could the collection possibly be classified as “sound”?!

A comparable mistake is to label the Four Sunan “al-Ṣiḥāḥ” (the sound collections), as some academics do. Besides clashing with their genuine titles—al-Sunan—such a description is at odds with reality, for these works also contain a considerable number of weak hadiths. It likewise contradicts the methodology of their compilers, who at times draw attention to the weak narrations that slipped into their books. Imam al-Tirmidhī in particular is well known for his extensive remarks on the weak material in his compilation, a fact recognized by scholars familiar with these Sunan. Indeed, Sunan Ibn Mājah contains not only weak reports but even fabricated ones. Consequently, no one calls these Sunan “the sound collections” except an ignorant person or someone with an ulterior motive.