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The ruling of a text that is found with a broken chain in one book, and a full chain elsewhere

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by HadithAnswers.com

1. There are narrations in books like Muwatta of Imam Malik which have discontinuity in the chain, however, in other books the same Hadith is mentioned with a continuous chain. An example is the Hadith: إن وليتموها أبا بكر

Will the narration in Muwatta still be classed as Mu’dal or will it be classed as Sahih because it has another full chain outside of Muwatta? Will the same principle apply to all disconnected narrations that have another Muttasil chain?

2. What is the ruling of Mu’allaq narrations in Sahihayn, more specifically, Sahih Bukhari? I have read that Hafiz Ibn Hajar has mentioned Muttasil chains for all of them.

Answer

As a rule, if a narration appears with a broken chain, it is considered weak.

The reason for this is due to the missing link being unknown.

However, if the identity of that missing link can be ascertained, and if he is proven as reliable, that text will no more be ruled as weak.

(Al-Amalil Mutlaqah, pg.62)

Therefore, whether it be the mu’dal in Muwatta or the ta’liq in Bukhari, when the missing links are located and then verified, that text is then accepted as reliable.

The ta’liqs in Sahih Bukhari, have been expertly sorted and graded by Hafiz Ibn Hajar (rahimahullah) in his Taghliqut Ta’liq as well as in Fathul Bari.

Hafiz saheb (rahimahullah) has also provided a synopsis of this in Hadyus Sari, pg.21-24  and in his Nukat on Ibnus Salah, vol.2 pg.599-601

Lastly, the chain in Muwatta or Bukhari will still remain labelled as mu’dal or mu’allaq. It’s the text that gets graded as acceptable in the case explained above.

(Footnotes of Shaykh ‘Awwamah on Tadrib, vol.3 pg.193.)

And Allah Ta’ala Knows best,

Answered by: Moulana Muhammad Abasoomar

Checked by: Moulana Haroon Abasoomar

This answer was collected from HadithAnswers.com. The answers were either answered or checked by Moulana Haroon Abasoomar (rahimahullah) who was a Shaykhul Hadith in South Africa, or by his son, Moulana Muhammad Abasoomer (hafizahullah), who is a Hadith specialist. 

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