The Difference Between Tawatur (Mass Transmission) as Defined by the Earlier and Later Hadith Scholarsالفرق بين التواتر عند المتقدمين والمتأخرين

The definition of a mutawatir (mass-transmitted) report differs between the later scholars (al-muta'akhkhirun) and the earlier scholars (al-mutaqaddimun). The later scholars define tawatur by conditions such as: that it be narrated by a large number of narrators at every level of the chain, such that it is customarily impossible for them to have conspired upon a lie, and that their manner of narration be of the form "we heard" and "we saw."

The earlier scholars, however, defined the mutawatir report as one whose chain is authentically established back to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and which the scholars received with acceptance, regardless of the number of narrators at each level. On this basis, the majority hold that there are mutawatir hadiths within the Sahihayn (Bukhari and Muslim), even though such hadiths may not have a large number of narrators at every level in the technical sense used by the later scholars. Al-Dhahabi mentioned in his book al-'Uluw, in his ruling on the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami concerning the slave-girl — in which the Prophet ﷺ asked her, "Where is Allah?" and she said, "Above the heaven," and he asked her, "Who am I?" and she said, "You are the Messenger of Allah" — that this hadith is mutawatir, meaning that its chain has been authentically established and received by the scholars with acceptance, even though, strictly speaking, it may be a solitary (fard) report in terms of the number of its narrators. So a report is termed mutawatir on the consideration that its authenticity has been received by the scholars with acceptance and submission, and on that basis it becomes, in their usage, a mutawatir report.

A report may also be well known and widely acted upon among the people without being authentic; such a report is weak despite its fame, and this differs from what is meant by tawatur.

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