What is the ruling on a hadith whose chain of narration has been inverted, yet all its narrators are trustworthy?
The "inverted hadith" (حديث مقلوب) is a type of weak hadith, where the narrator replaces one narrator with another, either due to illusion (wahm) or intentional act (amd). This inversion (alb) renders the hadith flawed (all) and weak (daeef), unless the replacement of a trustworthy narrator with another trustworthy narrator does not affect the authenticity of the text (matn). This is then called a "non-impairing defect" (illah ghair qadihah). If the sound version, free from inversion, is established and meets the conditions of authenticity, then the presence of inversion does not harm it. However, inversion may give the illusion of the hadith's authenticity and conceal its defect, such as replacing a trustworthy narrator with another who conceals a break in the chain of transmission.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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