«عَدَدٌ كَثِيرٌ أَحَالَتِ الْعَادَةُ تَوَاطُؤَهُمْ أَوْ تَوَافُقَهُمْ عَلَى الْكَذِبِ»
A number so large that customary experience rules out either deliberate collusion or coincidental agreement upon a falsehood.
Tawatuʾ refers to deliberate coordination, whereas tawafuq concerns coinciding in the same false account without prior planning. The condition addresses both possibilities.
Illustration: Many people repeating one circulating rumor are not automatically independent witnesses. What matters is a sufficiently broad and dependable pattern of transmission that removes the ordinary possibility of a jointly false report.