Shādhdh: Opposing a stronger report

1. In this lesson

One report transmits a saying of the Prophet ﷺ, while the other reports in this example describe his action.

This difference will help explain shādhdh: when does a reliable narrator's report oppose a stronger report?

2. The definition of shādhdh

A report by a thiqah—a reliable narrator—is called shādhdh when it opposes:

• the report of an awthaq narrator, one more reliable than that narrator;
• or the report of several reliable narrators.

Transmitting alone is not enough: opposition to the stronger report is also required here.

3. After the two rakʿahs of Fajr

إِذَا صَلَّى أَحَدُكُمْ رَكْعَتَيِ الْفَجْرِ فَلْيَضْطَجِعْ عَلَى يَمِينِهِ (Tirmidhi: 420)
Meaning: When one of you prays the two rakʿahs of Fajr, let him lie on his right side.

Here a qawl, a saying attributed to the Prophet ﷺ, is transmitted: “let him lie down.”

4. Where is the opposition in this example?

• This report transmits a command to lie down.
• Several other reliable narrators transmitted the Prophet's ﷺ action: he would lie on his right side.

The stated reason for treating this example as shādhdh is that one reliable narrator transmitted it as a command rather than an action, contrary to the other reliable narrators.

Finding a saying and an action does not always establish opposition; this is the scholarly explanation of this particular example.

5. The transmission sequence

In this report of a saying:

• ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād narrated from al-Aʿmash.
• Al-Aʿmash narrated from Abū Ṣāliḥ.
• Abū Ṣāliḥ narrated from Abū Hurayrah.

Abū Hurayrah transmits it as a saying of the Prophet ﷺ.

1. ʿAn (عن): in a chain means “narrates from.” This is the relevant part of the chain, not the full chain.

6. Scholarly disagreement about the example

Scholars do not all assess this report alike. Imam al-Tirmidhī called it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ gharīb, while its use as an example of shādhdh rests on the difference between the command and action reports.

We therefore do not present its classification as shādhdh as unanimous. The aim is to understand the stated reasoning, not issue a new judgment.

1. Ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ gharīb: these are al-Tirmidhī's own technical words; the point here is that he accepted the report. A detailed explanation of this combined expression is outside this lesson.

7. Summary

• Shādhdh: a reliable narrator's report opposes that of a more reliable narrator or several reliable narrators.
• In the awthaq–thiqah comparison, the awthaq report is maḥfūẓ; the opposing thiqah report is shādhdh.
• The source example concerns transmission as a command versus an action; its assessment is disputed.
• Having only one narrator is not enough to call a report shādhdh.