The irregular report (shadhdh)

When an acceptable narrator is contradicted by someone stronger, through greater precision, greater numbers or some other ground of preference, the stronger report is called the preserved (mahfuz) and the weaker one the irregular (shadhdh): so Ibn Hajar sets it out in [[work/nuzhat-al-nazar|Nuzhat al-Nazar]]. ²

Ibn Hajar's example is the report given by al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa'i and Ibn Maja through Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna, from 'Amr ibn Dinar, from 'Awsaja, from Ibn 'Abbas, that a man died in the Prophet ﷺ's time leaving no heir but a freedman he had set free. Ibn Jurayj and others corroborated Ibn 'Uyayna's connected chain, but Hammad ibn Zayd transmitted it from 'Amr ibn Dinar from 'Awsaja without mentioning Ibn 'Abbas. Abu Hatim said: the preserved version is Ibn 'Uyayna's. ¹

Ibn Hajar comments that Hammad ibn Zayd was upright and precise, yet Abu Hatim preferred the version of those who outnumbered him. ³

From this Ibn Hajar concludes that the irregular report is what an acceptable narrator transmits in contradiction of someone more worthy, and calls this the accepted technical definition. ³

Between the irregular and the [[concept/al-hadith-al-munkar|objectionable (munkar)]] report Ibn Hajar sees a partial overlap: both require contradiction, but the irregular is the report of a trustworthy or truthful narrator and the objectionable that of a weak one; whoever treats them as the same, he says, has overlooked this. ⁴

Freedom from irregularity is part of the definition of the sound and the good report, which is why Ibn Hajar rejects the unqualified acceptance of a trustworthy narrator's additions. ⁵

Overview

"Knowing the shadhdh" is the thirteenth type in Ibn al-Salah, who quotes three definitions and then sets out his own distinctions. ⁶

Three definitions

Ibn al-Salah's critique

Ibn al-Salah says what al-Shafi'i judged shadhdh is clearly shadhdh and unacceptable, but the other two definitions run up against reports transmitted alone by upright, retentive hafizes, such as "actions are only by intentions", which Umar alone transmitted, then Alqama ibn Waqqas alone from him, then Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, then Yahya ibn Sa'id, as hadith scholars soundly hold. ⁷ Clearer still is Abd Allah ibn Dinar's hadith from Ibn Umar forbidding the sale or gift of clientage, which Abd Allah ibn Dinar alone transmitted. ⁸

His distinctions

He concludes that when a narrator is alone in something, it is examined: if it contradicts what someone with better memory and precision relates, it is shadhdh and rejected; if there is no contradiction, the narrator is examined — if he is upright, retentive and trusted for precision his solitary report is accepted, and if not, his solitariness weakens him and moves the report out of the sound. ⁹ It then falls among degrees: if the solitary narrator is not far below the precise one whose solitariness is accepted, his hadith is deemed fair and not lowered to weak; if he is far below, it is rejected as shadhdh and objectionable (munkar). ⁹ So the rejected shadhdh is of two kinds: the solitary report that contradicts, and the solitary report whose narrator lacks the reliability and precision to offset the objection and weakness that solitariness brings. ⁹

Related notions

The shadhdh is linked with the rare and solitary report and with additions by trustworthy narrators, since Ibn al-Salah assigns the contradictory kind of addition to the ruling of the shadhdh. ¹⁰ His next type, the munkar, illustrates an unbearable solitariness with Abu Zukayr Yahya ibn Muhammad ibn Qays's "eat unripe dates with dried dates", a righteous shaykh whom Muslim cites, yet not of a standing to carry a report alone. ¹¹