A ḥadīth narrated through different but closely comparable routes that cannot be reconciled is called al-muḍṭarib. If one of the two reports can be given preference, the ruling goes to the preferred one and the report is not called muḍṭarib (from iḍṭirāb: disturbance, agitation).1 Likewise, it is not called muḍṭarib if the two reports can be reconciled.
Iḍṭirāb renders the ḥadīth weak, since it implies an absence of ḍabṭ.2
Iḍṭirāb most often occurs in the isnād and may occur in the matn; however, a muḥaddith rarely rules a ḥadīth muḍṭarib because of disagreement in the matn alone, without disagreement in the isnād.3
According to Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, al-Nawawī, Ibn Ḥajar and others, in contrast to al-Zarkashī. ↩
See: Muqaddimat Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, pp. 73–74; Tadrīb al-Rāwī, 1/262; Nukat al-Zarkashī, p. 224; Nukat Ibn Ḥajar, p. 319; Fatḥ al-Mughīth, 2/70; Fatḥ al-Bāqī, 1/272. Al-Ḥāfiẓ, however, says in al-Nukat (p. 346): "Disagreement in the isnād, when it is between equally trustworthy narrators and no preference can be given, does not in reality affect acceptance of the ḥadīth nor the ruling of its soundness, since the report is, after all, from a trustworthy narrator. It does, however, affect the aṣaḥḥiyya (relative degree of soundness) when the question is contested." ↩
Sharḥ al-Nukhba, pp. 64–65. As for examples of iḍṭirāb in the matn, they are all but non-existent, as al-Sakhāwī said in Sharḥ al-Taqrīb (p. 159), and al-Ḥāfiẓ alluded to the same. ↩
Al-gharīb falls into two categories: al-fard al-muṭlaq (absolute solitary) and al-fard al-nisbī (relative solitary).
Al-mudraj is the mixing of what belongs to one speaker with what belongs to another without indication. It falls into mudraj al-matn (more common) and mudraj al-sanad.
When the disagreement is the addition of a narrator within the chain, and the one who did not include the addition is more proficient, the report is al-mazīd fī muttaṣil al-asānīd.
Al-mawḍūʿ is that which has been concocted and fabricated. It is known by four indications, and may not be narrated to one who knows its condition without disclosure.
