Maqbūl: An accepted addition in a report

1. In this lesson

When several narrators transmit the same Hadith, one version may contain an additional word or sentence.

We will look at such wording in a Hadith about washing a vessel, then learn the conditions for accepting it.

2. The Hadith about washing a vessel

إِذَا شَرِبَ الْكَلْبُ فِي إِنَاءِ أَحَدِكُمْ فَلْيَغْسِلْهُ سَبْعَ مَرَّاتٍ (Mishkat al-Masabih, 490)
Meaning: When a dog drinks from a vessel belonging to any of you, he should wash it seven times.

This wording gives the instruction to wash the vessel seven times.

3. The additional wording

Another version also contains these words:

فَلْيُرِقْهُ (Sahih Muslim, 279a)
Meaning: pour out the water in it.

The instruction to pour out the water is additionally transmitted here. “Addition” means extra wording in the transmitted report, not a narrator inventing a statement.

4. The condition for an accepted addition

A thiqah (ثقة) narrator is trusted for honesty and for accurately remembering or preserving reports. Awthaq (أوثق) means the more reliable narrator in the comparison.

When a thiqah narrator transmits additional wording that does not oppose the awthaq narrator's report, the addition is called maqbūl here: accepted.

5. Why is this addition accepted?

• The first wording instructs that the vessel be washed seven times.
• The additional wording instructs that its water be poured out.
• Pouring out the water does not oppose washing the vessel: the water can be emptied and the vessel washed.

In this example, the addition does not oppose the more reliable narrator's report, which is why it is treated as accepted.

6. Reliability alone is not enough

If the additional wording opposes the more reliable narrator's report, we cannot call it accepted merely because its narrator is reliable.

Both conditions matter here:
• The narrator transmitting the addition is reliable.
• The addition does not oppose the more reliable narrator's report.

7. A report and an explanation are distinct

When a teacher explains a Hadith's meaning in simpler words, that is an explanation, not another transmitted version of the Hadith.

In this lesson, maqbūl concerns the acceptance of additional wording transmitted by a narrator. It is not a label for every helpful explanation or extra sentence.

8. Summary

• Versions of the same Hadith may contain an additional word or sentence.
• A reliable narrator's addition is maqbūl here when it does not oppose the more reliable narrator's report.
• Pouring out the water does not oppose washing the vessel; this explains acceptance in the example.
• Transmitted wording remains separate from a teacher's explanation.