Ḥasan li-Ghayrihi: Definition, Limits, and Example

Understand support that removes weakness, its limits, and the ruling on ḥasan li-ghayrihi. Read the bilingual lesson for Ḥasan li-Ghayrihi: Definition, Limits, and Example and test your understanding with a focused quiz.

Lesson

1. Introduction

An omitted narrator makes a sanad weak. If the report is also transmitted through other chains, does their support remove that weakness? We will study the definition and limits of ḥasan li-ghayrihi (حسن لغیرہ), together with an actual Hadith example.

2. Definition of ḥasan li-ghayrihi

A weak report whose weakness is removed through support from other chains is called ḥasan li-ghayrihi (حسن لغیرہ). Two points belong together: • The same report is transmitted through other chains. • Their support removes its weakness. More chains by itself is not the same as removal of weakness.

3. Which kinds of weakness?

The kinds of weakness intended here are: • Lower narrator precision (خفیف الضبط): relatively less strength in remembering Hadith. • An unknown narrator (مجہول): necessary information about the narrator is not clear to scholars. This does not merely mean a learner has not heard the name. • An interrupted sanad (منقطع): the sequence is not connected: a narrator is omitted. Even in these cases, the other transmissions must provide support that removes the weakness.

4. A Hadith example

إِنَّ امْرَأَةً مِنْ بَنِي فَزَارَةَ تَزَوَّجَتْ عَلَى نَعْلَيْنِ فَقَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَرَضِيتِ مِنْ نَفْسِكِ وَمَالِكِ بِنَعْلَيْنِ؟ قَالَتْ نَعَمْ فَأَجَازَهُ. (Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī, 1113) Translation: A woman of Banū Fazārah married for a dower of two sandals. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked: Are you satisfied with two sandals regarding yourself and your property? She said: Yes. He then permitted it. 1. Mahr (مہر): the woman's financial entitlement in marriage. The example concerns Hadith classification, not a complete treatment of dower law.

5. The example's sanad and support

The relevant part of this report's sanad is: عن عاصم بن عبيد الله عن عبد الله بن عامر بن ربيعة عن ابيه Meaning: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh transmits from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah, who transmits from his father, ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿah. This is an example of ḥasan li-ghayrihi. That rank concerns weakness removed by other transmissions; reading the names above is not an investigation of that support.

6. Ruling and rank

Ḥasan li-ghayrihi is usable as evidence (قابلِ استدلال). Its rank is: • Below ḥasan li-dhātihi. • Above weak Hadith. In ḥasan li-dhātihi the acceptance conditions are present in its own sanad; in ḥasan li-ghayrihi, support from other transmissions removes weakness.

7. The distinction from ṣaḥīḥ li-ghayrihi

• Ṣaḥīḥ li-ghayrihi: the starting point is ḥasan li-dhātihi; other transmissions compensate for lesser precision. • Ḥasan li-ghayrihi: the starting point is a weak report; other transmissions remove the weakness within the limits explained. The names are not interchangeable. Not every weak report automatically becomes ḥasan, and several translations of one sanad are not other chains.

8. Summary

• Definition: a weak report becomes ḥasan li-ghayrihi when other transmissions remove its weakness. • Limits: lower precision, an unknown narrator, or interruption; the support must also remove the weakness. • Example: the two-sandal dower report and the displayed portion of its sanad. • Ruling: usable as evidence, below ḥasan li-dhātihi and above weak Hadith.

Practice questions

Question 1

Which two points are required together in the definition of ḥasan li-ghayrihi?

  • Other chains exist, even if the weakness remains.
  • Other chains exist and their support removes the weakness.
  • Narrators are named and the report has a good meaning.

Question 2

Every report with an interrupted sanad necessarily becomes ḥasan li-ghayrihi as soon as another chain is found.

  • True
  • False

Question 3

Match each situation to its term.

Question 4

A learner sees Urdu and English translations of a report with the same sanad and counts them as two supporting chains. Which statement is correct?

  • Changing the language creates another narrator sequence.
  • Two translations establish that the weakness is removed.
  • There are two translations, but the stated sanad is the same.

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