«اخْتِصَارُ الْحَدِيثِ»
Abbreviating a hadith means transmitting part of the text while omitting another part, on condition that the omission does not compromise what the retained words convey. This is not merely a stylistic preference for short quotations: it directly affects legal and interpretive reasoning.
In abbreviation, a narrator normally selects existing wording from the report. In narration by meaning, the relevant content is expressed in different words. Both demand fidelity of meaning, but they are not the same operation.
Where a report contains two independent events, narrating only one may be permissible. Where one ruling depends on a qualification, exception, or explanatory detail, deleting that component may misrepresent the original ruling.