We have many hadiths attributed to the Imams and the prophets and its such a blessing many have reached us today. I have a question about the narrator’s who attribute it to them. I know there is a book that confirms if there reliable or not. But how do we know if those are the exact words of the Imam for example in Al Kafi. Some sanads have 7, 8, or even 9 narrator’s. The words of the Imam had to go through many narrator’s to then be combiled in our books. How do we know if some narrator’s forgot something or understood it differently, or even some spelled words have different harakat and have a totally different meaning. How could they be the exact words attributed to the Imam.

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Scholars of hadith in the field of rijal study several points to determine whether a hadith is authentic or not. First and foremost is the truthfulness of a narrator. The faith and truthfulness determines the reliability.

Scholars of hadith say that as long the narrator is reliable, it is okay if there is some variance in the wording. Scholars acknowledge that some of the narrators have recorded narrations in meaning not in wording, and as long as the narrator is deemed reliable the hadith is accepted.