In samāʿ, the teacher dictates or recites and the student listens. In ʿarḍ, a student or another reader recites before the teacher, who verifies or corrects what is read. Scholars recognizing reading to a teacher may differ over its rank and the suitable transmission formulas.
“ḤADDATHANĪ”
“He narrated to me.”
“AKHBARANĪ”
“He informed me.”
These formulas have varied across generations and scholarly conventions; one school’s technical convention cannot be imposed uniformly on every period. Therefore examine a narrator’s usage, evidence of hearing and the teacher’s own wording. Linguistic similarity by itself does not prove a particular session of direct hearing.