Hidden omission

1. In this lesson

A narrator's name may be omitted from a chain without the reader readily noticing. This lesson explains that form of omission.

1. Sanad: the chain of narrators showing who narrated from whom.

This form is called saqṭ khafī.

2. Hidden omission

In saqṭ khafī, a narrator's name is omitted from the chain in a way that not everyone can recognize; it requires an expert to identify it.

1. Expert: here, a scholar with expertise in Hadith and its chains of transmission.

3. Hidden does not mean unknowable

Here hidden does not mean that no one can know a narrator was omitted.

An ordinary reader may not recognize it, but an expert can identify it.

4. Clear and hidden omission

There are two forms of narrator omission:

• Clear: readily discoverable; the narrators did not meet, and the report was not received through ijāzah or wijādah either.
• Hidden: not recognizable by everyone, but requiring an expert.

Both concern a narrator omitted from the chain.

5. Personal difficulty and the chain

Not understanding a narrator's name or finding Arabic difficult to read is a different matter. Neither establishes that a narrator has been omitted from the chain.

In hidden omission, a narrator really is omitted, and recognizing it requires expertise.

6. Summary

• Saqṭ concerns a narrator omitted from the chain.
• In hidden omission, not everyone can recognize that omission; it requires an expert.
• Personal difficulty reading or understanding is not evidence of an omitted narrator.

The remaining chain forms and their explanations will be treated separately.