Riwāyat al-akābir ʿan al-aṣāghir (elders narrating from juniors): 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.1
It includes: fathers narrating from sons, Companions narrating from their tābiʿūn and a teacher narrating from his pupil.2
This summary is now complete, by Allāh's help and bounty.
May Allāh send blessings upon the Noble Prophet and upon his family and Companions all together; and all praise belongs to Allāh, Lord of the worlds.
The threefold division of ḥadīth study: ʿilm riwāyat al-ḥadīth, ʿilm dirāyat al-ḥadīth and ʿilm uṣūl al-ḥadīth (muṣṭalaḥ al-ḥadīth), as set out in the opening of al-Mulakhkhaṣ.
Five kinds of ʿuluww (elevation) in the isnād, with the related categories of muwāfaqah, badal, musāwāh and muṣāfaḥah under the third kind.
A ḥadīth in which a narrator has been replaced with another, whether one narrator, several, or even the entire chain, is al-maqlūb (literally, that which has been inverted).
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.
