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What is the definition of the commonly used terms of disparagement, and what are some examples of them?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The science of al-Jarh wa al-Ta'dil (discrediting and accrediting) is a discipline concerned with distinguishing the conditions of Hadith narrators in terms of acceptance or rejection, with the aim of protecting the Sharia from distortion. Al-Jarh (discrediting) is describing the narrator with what necessitates the rejection or weakening of his narration, while al-Ta'dil (accrediting) is describing him with what entails its acceptance. Scholars have established precise criteria for evaluating narrators. Among the phrases indicating al-Ta'dil are "thabat hujjah" (a firmly established authority) and "thiqa" (trustworthy), and among the phrases indicating al-Jarh are "kadhab" (a liar) and "matruk" (abandoned). There are also intermediate ranks indicating degrees of weakness, such as "da'if" (weak) or "munkar al-hadith" (narrator of rejected Hadith). Scholars of al-Jarh wa al-Ta'dil focus on the narrator's precision and trustworthiness. Examples of al-Jarh include their saying "weak due to poor memory," or "he accepted تلقين (prompting)," or "a liar," or "a mudallis" (one who practices tadlis - concealing defects in the chain of narration).

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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