Reversal of order and mistaken addition Read the bilingual lesson for Maqlūb and an extra narrator in the chain and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. In this lesson
Sometimes words or names are reversed; sometimes a narrator is mistakenly added to a chain. • A Hadith about concealed charity illustrates reversal. • A report through Ibn al-Mubārak illustrates an added narrator. • We will study both definitions and their relevant conditions.
2. Word order in the charity Hadith
Compare two word orders in the report about giving charity secretly: حَتَّى لَا تَعْلَمَ شِمَالُهُ مَا تُنْفِقُ يَمِينُهُ His left hand does not know what his right hand spends. حَتَّى لَا تَعْلَمَ يَمِينُهُ مَا تُنْفِقُ شِمَالُهُ His right hand does not know what his left hand spends. In the second wording, shimāl and yamīn have exchanged places. This is the reversal illustrated here. 1. Shimāl: left hand. Yamīn: right hand.
3. The definition of maqlūb
Maqlūb is a Hadith whose chain or text has been altered by moving something before or after something else. • In a chain: names may be reordered. • In a text: words may exchange positions, as right and left do in the charity example. 1. Taqdīm and ta’khīr: moving before and after. Such reversal is called qalb here.
4. The ruling on reversal
Reversal to test a narrator is permitted on condition that the original form is clarified before the gathering ends. • The purpose is an examination. • The correct form is disclosed before that gathering ends. • Reversal for another purpose makes the report weak and rejected. This concerns a scholarly examination of a narrator, not general permission to circulate altered Hadith wording.
5. The report through Ibn al-Mubārak
The example includes this abbreviated chain segment: حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ حَدَّثَنِي بُسْرٌ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا إِدْرِيسَ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ وَاثِلَةَ يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا مَرْثَدٍ After Sufyān it names ‘Abd al-Raḥmān, Busr, Abū Idrīs, Wāthilah and Abū Marthad. Focus for now on Sufyān; the following explanation concerns that addition. 1. Ḥaddathanā: he narrated to us. Ḥaddathanī: he narrated to me. Sami‘tu: I heard. This is a chain segment, not the Hadith text.
6. How was Sufyān’s name added?
A mistake by someone transmitting from Ibn al-Mubārak introduced Sufyān’s name. • The version with the addition places Sufyān between Ibn al-Mubārak and ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. • Reliable transmitters report it through Ibn al-Mubārak from ‘Abd al-Raḥmān without Sufyān. • This particular error is attributed to a transmitter below Ibn al-Mubārak, not to Ibn al-Mubārak himself. 1. Wahm: a mistake in transmitting the report here.
7. Al-mazīd fī muttaṣil al-asānīd
A Hadith whose chain appears connected but contains a narrator mistakenly added is discussed under al-mazīd fī muttaṣil al-asānīd. • The chain appears connected. • A narrator’s name has been added by mistake. • In the example through Ibn al-Mubārak, the addition under discussion is Sufyān. More names alone are not enough; the addition must be established as mistaken.
8. First condition: explicit hearing
At the point of the addition, direct hearing must be explicitly stated, for example with حدثنا, ‘he narrated to us’, or سمعت, ‘I heard’. In the report without the extra name, explicit hearing at that point states a direct link between the two narrators. 1. Explicit hearing: stating clearly that the narrator heard directly. A shorter chain alone does not replace this condition.
9. Second condition: an established mistake
The addition must have arisen from someone’s mistake, and investigation must establish that mistake. • Noticing an extra name in one chain is insufficient. • It must also be established that the name was mistakenly added. • With both explicit hearing and an established mistake, the addition is rejected and the report is treated as weak. An additional narrator is therefore not automatically an error.
10. Distinguishing the two
• Maqlūb: something changes position; the charity example exchanges left and right. • Al-mazīd: a narrator is mistakenly added to an apparently connected chain; Sufyān is the name discussed in the example. A visible difference alone does not settle the matter. Reversal for examination has its own condition, while rejecting an added narrator requires the two conditions just studied.
11. Summary
• Maqlūb: an alteration by reversal in chain or text. • Reversal for examination: the original must be clarified before the gathering ends. • Al-mazīd fī muttaṣil al-asānīd: a mistaken narrator addition in an apparently connected chain. • The example: a transmitter below Ibn al-Mubārak mistakenly added Sufyān. • Two conditions for rejection: explicit hearing at the relevant point and an established mistake in the addition.