Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ warns that the door to narration by meaning should be restricted lest persons who lack the needed ability wrongly suppose themselves qualified and alter hadith wording. Such confidence without competence has contributed to mistakes in transmission.
The concern is preventive restriction: a theoretical concession should not invite widespread practical misrepresentation. It does not follow that every qualified scholar allowing restricted paraphrase was indifferent to preserving meaning.
The availability of written hadith collections is also cited as reducing the ordinary need for paraphrase. When the actual text is preserved and accessible, reproducing it rather than reconstructing it is generally a safer exercise of scholarly responsibility.