How does a student of knowledge know that a hadith is anomalous, even though it appears on its face to be free from this anomaly?

The questioner : How does a student of knowledge know that a hadith is anomalous, even though it appears on its face to be free from this anomaly?

The Shaykh : The student : He has no way of knowing that.

The questioner : The scholar, meaning the specialist in hadith; how does he know?

The Shaykh : You have corrected the question , but it still contains a flaw; is there a clarification in your possession that is more detailed than what you mentioned?

The questioner : This is the question.

The Shaykh : If he is a specialist, he will know how to eat the shoulder, but if he is a student of knowledge, he will not know until he becomes a specialist in this science. The path to knowing the anomalous hadith—we spoke, I think, recently in some sessions about distinguishing between the anomalous hadith and the acceptable addition of a trustworthy narrator—knowing this is done by tracing the narrations that revolve around a narrator of the hadith, the least that can be said about whom is that it is possible for it to be anomalous. I gave an example recently of a hadith said by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to complete its first sentence: , then he said, according to the detail mentioned in the narration: . This hadith came in "the two Sahihs" of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and it has many corroborating narrations. In a narration in "Sahih Muslim," instead of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , it came with the wording: . How does one know that the addition of: is anomalous? By tracing the exits of this hadith. I recall that this hadith is in "the two Sahihs" from many routes from Hisham ibn Bashir, one of the great preservers, who has a defect, which is concealment of a defect in a chain (tadlis). If he explicitly narrated it, his narration is of the utmost authenticity. Hisham ibn Bashir narrates this hadith from Abd al-Rahman, as I recall, ibn Abi Husayn, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Abdullah ibn Abbas. The routes to this Hisham multiplied in "the two Sahihs" and elsewhere. All the routes agreed on the first wording: . One route in "Sahih Muslim" said: Sa'id ibn Mansur narrated to me, he said: Hisham narrated to me, and he mentioned the hadith with the story, and added in the text: he said: . So the true researcher, when he traces these routes, is likely to conclude that Sa'id ibn Mansur singled out this addition, while all the trustworthy narrators who shared with Sa'id—Sa'id ibn Mansur—in narrating the hadith from Hisham contradicted him and did not mention the addition of: . Then the hadith came outside "the two Sahihs" in "al-Mustadrak" of al-Hakim, for example, from the narration of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. The hadith in "the two Sahihs" is from the narration of Abdullah ibn Abbas. The hadith came in "al-Mustadrak" of al-Hakim, also, from another route completely separate from the first route, and from Ibn Mas'ud, not from Ibn Abbas, with the wording: , and not with the addition of: .
By such tracing, the researcher knows the anomalous hadith. And this, as you see, means that not every researcher can do it, because it requires: First: knowledge of the principles of hadith to distinguish between the anomalous hadith and the acceptable addition of a trustworthy narrator. Second: it requires effort, patience, and struggle in tracing the narrations so that it becomes clear to him that the hadith is anomalous, and not from the category of the acceptable addition of a trustworthy narrator.
When is the addition acceptable?
Suppose that Sa'id ibn Mansur brought this addition, then another trustworthy and preserving narrator like Sa'id ibn Mansur came and did not add this addition; here we say: both are equal in trustworthiness, precision, and preservation. At that time, we say: the addition of the trustworthy narrator is acceptable, because the one who added it added to someone who is like him in precision and preservation. But if he added to those who are above him in precision and preservation and in number, then at that time it exits the circle of being from the category of the acceptable addition of a trustworthy narrator and enters the circle of being from the anomalous hadith. This is the answer.
Please proceed.