In the words of the early scholars in their critique of narrators, combining terms of authentication with terms of criticism; such as their saying: “He was prone to many errors”

The questioner: Our esteemed Shaykh, in the words of the early scholars in their critique of narrators, there is a combination of terms of authentication and terms of criticism; for example, they say: “He was prone to many errors, and he is acceptable” ; how is it possible to reconcile these two contradictory parts? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh: It is not a problem; because the source differs. The one who says: “He was prone to many errors” is not the same one who says: “He is acceptable”; because the first term means weakening the narrator and weakening his hadith if he narrates it alone, whereas the other expression - which is “he is acceptable” - means that the man’s hadith is to be handled with some caution; there may be some error in his hadith; it should be graded as hasan (good) and not as sahih (authentic) nor as da'if (weak), and there is no issue if each of these two sentences comes from two different persons, or hadith scholars, or imams; indeed, it is not strange for each of these two expressions to come from a single imam, and there are many examples of this which we often see in the biographies of some narrators, where two completely contradictory expressions are reported from the same imam; sometimes he authenticates him regardless of the specific term of authentication, and sometimes he weakens him - likewise - regardless of the specific term of weakening; because the point now is how can we conceive of two contradictory expressions, a contradiction that cannot be reconciled, coming from a single imam?
This is a very easy matter if you recall such cases in the science of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), for you will find some imams reported to have two different opinions on the same issue, and the imam among the four who is most characterized by having multiple opinions on the same issue is Imam Ahmad; does this diminish the value of the imam? The answer is: No.
What is the reason for these contradictory opinions? The difference in ijtihad (independent legal reasoning), just as we say this regarding the jurists whose contradictory opinions reach us on the same issue, so we say the same regarding the imams of hadith if two contradictory opinions reach us from one of them; one authenticates and the other weakens; nevertheless... it is that his opinion and ijtihad differed regarding this single narrator, and here it is useful for tarjih (preference) to look at the position of the other imams; if they joined him in authenticating, we prefer the narration of authentication over the narration of weakening, and if they opposed him in authenticating and leaned toward weakening, we prefer his weakening or the narration of weakening over the narration of authentication; this is the answer to this question.

The questioner: Our esteemed Shaykh - may Allah protect you and care for you - .

The Shaykh: A moment, by Allah, let us see what is there.

Another questioner: I mean in it that... in the same moment from a single imam and at the same time in the critique of a specific narrator... he was prone to many errors, and he is acceptable?

The Shaykh: This is the answer I gave you; “he is acceptable” is authentication, “prone to many errors” is weakening, so he said this once, and said that once.

The questioner: The same sentence, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner: He says it at the same time.

The Shaykh: Ah, may Allah bless you... in the same sentence he says: he is acceptable, prone to many errors; in that case, one of the expressions must be qualified by the other; because the word “he is acceptable,” if isolated, gives what I said earlier that his hadith would be hasan (good), but now the question is specified by the second form; one of the hadith scholars says of a single narrator: “he is acceptable, prone to many errors”; prone to many errors means that he is truthful in himself but prone to many errors, and whoever is like that is not relied upon as evidence due to his many errors, so his saying: “he is acceptable” here should be interpreted as if he said: truthful but prone to many errors; because the word “truthful” in their general usage, with the exception of some imams like Abu Hazm al-Razi, the word “truthful” when said of a narrator means that his hadith is hasan (good), unlike when it is said: “thiqah (trustworthy),” which means that his hadith is sahih (authentic), likewise when it is said: “he is acceptable,” it means that his hadith is intermediate, neither sahih (authentic) nor da'if (weak), but rather hasan (good), so when this expression is coupled with the other expression: “he is acceptable, prone to many errors,” it means as if he said: truthful but prone to many errors, and the benefit of that is that he is not accused in his person, rather he is truthful in himself, but prone to many errors.
Yes.