A musalsal report repeatedly exhibits a feature, formula, action or method of transmission across successive narrators. One might, for example, repeat particular words when delivering the report, or perform a specific action in the teaching session. The continuity may be verbal, practical or combined.
In musalsal bi-l-awwaliyyah, each narrator describes the report as the first he heard from that teacher. It must be investigated whether this characteristic holds at every link or stops at a particular transmitter. The discussion involving Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah is an illustration of the need to delimit the sequence.
Being musalsal does not certify authenticity. The actual isnād and text need independent critical assessment. If the repeated condition is established only in part of the chain, it should not be unqualifiedly attributed to the entire chain.