Some others said...

Some others said: Rather, the hearer should relate it, if being aware of the Arabic Language grammar, in an Arabicized, correct, rectified manner, on the basis of an evidence accepted by us. That is, the fact that the Messenger of Allah (may God’s peace and benediction be upon him and his Progeny) was verily the most eloquent of all the Arabs with the best Arabic tongue...besides being protected by Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, against error.

Thus being the case, so it would be more proper to relate his hadith as rectified and free from any solecism or grammatical mistake. Our Shaykh Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qattan used to record the hadith with its mistakes exactly as he heard it, with writing a note on the margin of his book: “he said so”, indicating that it is narrated in this way, with saying: And the correct hadith is so and so. This is verily the best of whatever I heard in this respect. Beside many other examples.

Advancing, Putting off, Addition and Omission in Hadith: Furthermore, the narrators found no trouble in misplacing the hadith words, bring some forwards and some backwards. Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah is reported to have said: Hafs related to us on the authority of Ash’ath, as saying that al-Hasan and al-Shi’bi were disdaining from bringing forwards and backwards the expressions of the hadith.

169 Jabir ibn Abd Allah quoted Abd Allah ibn Hudhayfah as saying: We are Arab people,...we cite the hadith with bringing forwards and backwards (its words). 170 They exaggerated in doing a bad turn to the narration of hadith to the extent that one of the narrators daring to add some words to the hadith that can’t be found in another’s narration.

They (narrators) even laid down a rule for this calling it: “addition from the memorizer is accepted.” To Narrate Part of Hadith and Shortening it: Among other practices permitted by the narrators being to shorten the hadith and relate a part of it. In Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Mujahid is reported to have said: Delete whatever you like from the hadith but never add to it.

171 Ibn Hajar, in Sharh al-Nukhbah, said: In regard of shortening the hadith, the majority of traditionists permit it, provided that epitomizing it should be a learned man (‘alim). In Sharh Muslim, al-Nawawi says: The correct notion held by the multitude and investigators among scholars of hadith, being permission of narrating a portion of the hadith on the authority of a gnostic.