«أَخْبَرَنِي فُلَانٌ»
So-and-so informed me.
«شَيْخٌ»
A teacher or elder.
«رَجُلٌ»
A man.
Such expressions assert that an intermediary exists but fail to identify the actual person. “Shaykh” may describe someone’s status, yet it does not function as a unique biographical identity.
For example, in “ḥaddathanī rajulun ʿan Zayd,” the unnamed person must be identified before a critic can check teachers, pupils, chronology, and evaluations. The mere presence of a descriptive word cannot replace that inquiry.