If a ḥadīth of slight weakness comes through multiple routes,1 it becomes al-ḥasan li-ghayrihi (the fair by virtue of something other than itself).2
This refers to a ḥadīth in which there is an unidentified narrator (mastūr), or one of weak retention, or one with an instance of irsāl or tadlīs; as distinct from one in which there is a liar, one accused of lying, an evildoer (fāsiq), or which is shādhdh or muʿallal. As for the absent-minded narrator (mughaffal) and the one of frequent error, there is disagreement between Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ and Ibn Ḥajar. An example: that which al-Tirmidhī narrated through Shuʿba, from ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿa, from his father, who said: a woman from Banū Fazāra was married for [a dower of] two sandals; the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: "Have you accepted, in your own person and property, two sandals?" She said: yes; and the Prophet ﷺ sanctioned it. Al-Tirmidhī said: this ḥadīth is ḥasan, and there are reports on the subject from ʿUmar, Abū Hurayra, ʿĀʾisha and Abū Ḥadrad, may Allāh be pleased with them. Al-Ḥāfiẓ said: ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUbayd Allāh has been deemed weak by the majority and described as of poor retention. ↩
Drawn from Muqaddimat Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, pp. 33–34, and Sharḥ Nukhbat al-Fikr, p. 24. ↩
When the routes of a ḥasan li-dhātihi narration multiply, the ḥadīth is upgraded to al-ṣaḥīḥ li-ghayrihi (the sound by virtue of something other than itself).
Khabar al-wāḥid is categorised, with respect to acceptance and rejection, into al-ṣaḥīḥ, al-ḥasan, and al-ḍaʿīf.
If the retention (ḍabṭ) is light while the other attributes of ṣaḥīḥ remain present, it is al-ḥasan li-dhātihi (the fair in itself).
If any one of the attributes of the ṣaḥīḥ or the ḥasan is missing, the ḥadīth is ḍaʿīf (literally, weak).
