When the names are identical in writing but differ in pronunciation, this is al-muʾtalif wa-l-mukhtalif.12
Muʾtalif: from being similar (in writing). Mukhtalif: from being different (in pronunciation). [tr.] ↩
For example سَلَّام (Sallām) and سَلام (Salām) are written the same in unpointed Arabic, distinguished only by the shadda. Likewise عَقِيل (ʿAqīl) and عُقَيل (ʿUqayl): the same skeleton, but different vowelling. [tr.] ↩
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.
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.
An omission of two or more consecutive narrators at any point in the chain — this is al-muʿḍal.
An omission from the start of the isnād by the compiler's action — this is al-muʿallaq.
