When narrators share the same name and the same father's name (and possibly further up the line), but are different persons, this is al-muttafiq wa-l-muftariq.1
Muttafiq refers to agreement in name; muftariq, to the fact that the persons themselves are different. An example of agreement in fathers' names is six different scholars all named Khalīl ibn Aḥmad; for agreement extending further up the line, two contemporary men named Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Yūsuf, both of whom al-Ḥākim narrates from. [tr.] ↩
When narrators' names are identical in writing but differ in pronunciation, this is al-muʾtalif wa-l-mukhtalif.
When the narrators' names are the same but their fathers' names differ, or vice versa, this is al-mutashābih; from it and the preceding categories various sub-types are formed.
If a narrator transmits from one of two persons who share the same name, without giving anything to distinguish him from the other, this is al-muhmal.
When the narrator is older, of an earlier generation, of greater standing than the one narrated from, or greater in both respects, this is riwāyat al-akābir ʿan al-aṣāghir.
