«أَخْبَرَنِي الثِّقَةُ»
A trustworthy person informed me.
If a transmitter says only that an unnamed reliable person reported to him, identity remains unresolved. A narrator may consider someone trustworthy on grounds that another critic would dispute or supplement with evidence of a defect. Without the name, these evaluations cannot be reliably reconciled.
Under the critical approach described here, an anonymous endorsement is not a substitute for identification. Other positions have been argued in juristic and methodological discussions; those qualifications should not be erased by presenting a single view as unanimous.