The Difference Between Anomalous Narration and the Addition of a Trustworthy Narrator

The questioner : In a section of the chapter on the addition of clarification, which means to make clear, to be thorough, and to be exhaustive, as they say. This issue is one of the issues of the science of 'illah (defects), which is the most subtle of the sciences of hadith. If it is permissible for me to say that the most subtle of the discussions in the science of 'illah is the distinction between shadhdh (anomalous narration) and the addition of a trustworthy narrator, then it is so. Therefore, I say that no one should be surprised to find in the takhrij (tracing of hadiths) of our Shaykh a hadith in which he cites such an addition as a defect. Yes, indeed. Why? Because this thing arises in the heart of the critic and hadith scholar by virtue of his experience, observation, knowledge, and handling of texts, defects, and chains of narration. He tells you, "This is shadhdh." That is why it is said of 'Ali ibn al-Madini: "If a hadith scholar cites a defect in a hadith and you ask him for his evidence, he says, 'I do not know.'" It is brief in it, so this is a matter of...

The Shaykh : ...practice in every science, not just the science of hadith. Practice in every science suggests to the practitioner theories that others consider ignorance. What is special in my possession, O Abu al-Mar? Oh.

The questioner : Therefore, the Shaykh, in many places in his books al-Sahih and al-Da'if, and so on—I have seen it compiled for me in papers specific to him—says, "This man, perhaps in such-and-such a book, he finds that in such-and-such a book, and I expect to find a corroborating narration for it in such-and-such a book." He finds it, and the books are not in front of him, but through experience, practice, and observation. Yes, indeed. I am from this conclusion of the topic: this is an addition by Shuhayr.