«إِنْ وُجِدَ مَا يَجْبُرُ ذَلِكَ الْقُصُورَ كَثْرَةُ الطُّرُقِ، فَهُوَ الصَّحِيحُ أَيْضًا لَكِنْ لَا لِذَاتِهِ»
If support such as multiple transmission routes compensates for the deficiency, the report becomes sahih, but not through its intrinsic quality alone.
A central case of sahih li-ghayrihi is a hasan li-dhatihi report raised by suitable independent corroboration compensating for a limited shortfall in precision. Its status remains distinct from sahih li-dhatihi because the original route lacked the highest intrinsic strength on its own.
Caution: Three routes branching from the same weak point are not automatically three independent witnesses. Nor can every severe weakness be repaired by merely counting routes. Both independence and the nature of the shortfall must be assessed.