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• Ahmad ibn Hanbal said about Yahya al-Qattān: "I saw no one less wrong than Yahya ibn Sa'īd, and he erred in hadiths," then he added: "And who is above error and being corrected."

• In Al-'Ilall al-Sughra, vol. 6, pp. 240, Al-Tirmidhi said: "No major imam escaped without an error or lapse of memory, in spite of their memorization."

• Ahmad ibn Hanbal said about Yahya al-Qattān: "I saw no one less wrong than Yahya ibn Sa'īd, and he erred in hadiths," then he added: "And who is above error and being corrected."

• In Al-'Ilall al-Sughra, vol. 6, pp. 240, Al-Tirmidhi said: "No major imam escaped without an error or lapse of memory, in spite of their memorization."

As for mutawātir and ahād hadiths, there is a clear agreement between scholars of hadith and jurisprudence. When it comes to mashhūr hadiths, Sharaf al-Dīn al-Rahāwi said in the footnotes of his book Hāshiyat al-Rahāwi 'ala Sharh al-Manār (Arabic: حاشية الرهاوي على شرح المنار), Al-Matab'a al-'Utmaniyya, 1315 AH, pp. 619, that the use of the word mashhūr is not what is classified by scholars of hadith as having there narrators or more, but rather on the acceptance of its applicability by the companions and the following generation, and the extension of its practice among them.

As for mutawātir and ahād hadiths, there is a clear agreement between scholars of hadith and jurisprudence. When it comes to mashhūr hadiths, Sharaf al-Dīn al-Rahāwi said in the footnotes of his book Hāshiyat al-Rahāwi 'ala Sharh al-Manār (Arabic: حاشية الرهاوي على شرح المنار), Al-Matab'a al-'Utmaniyya, 1315 AH, pp. 619, that the use of the word mashhūr is not what is classified by scholars of hadith as having three or more narrators, but rather on the acceptance of its applicability by the companions and the following generation, and the extension of its practice among them.

In Al-Fusūl fi al-Usūl (Arabic: الفصول في الأصول) by Abu Bakr al-Rāzi al-Jassās, vol. 2, pp. 68, he said that an ahād hadith, when accepted and practiced by concensus (ijmā', Arabic: اجماع) of the companions, elevates that hadith is elevated in terms of jurisprudence to that of a mutawātir hadith.

Here, we can look at some examples to see how Hanafi shcolars applied their concept of well-known sunnah.

The well-established judicial rule of the burden of the proof lies on the one making the claimm, and whoever denies has to do so under oath, according to Al-Jassās relies on an ahād hadith that is well accepted, adopted, and practiced by the Islamic nation, which elevates its stance as a hadith:

Another example is related to the permissibility of a Muslim's blood (see Sunan an-Nasa'i 4057) in three cases only (married committing adultery, intentionakl murder, and apostasy), versus another hadith of killing someone who is caught four times drinking alcohol (see Sunan Abi Dawud 3680) as the Prophet ﷺ did not come across a situation to put into practice the latter.

In Al-Fusūl fi al-Usūl (Arabic: الفصول في الأصول) by Abu Bakr al-Rāzi al-Jassās, vol. 2, pp. 68, he said that an ahād hadith, when accepted and practiced by consensus (ijmā', Arabic: اجماع) of the companions, elevates that hadith in terms of jurisprudence to that of a mutawātir hadith.

Here, we can look at some examples to see how Hanafi scholars applied their concept of well-known sunnah.

One well-established judicial rule is that the burden of the proof lies on the one making the claim, and whoever denies has to do so under oath. According to Al-Jassās, this rule relies on an ahād hadith that is well accepted, adopted, and practiced by the Islamic nation, which elevates its stance as a hadith:

Another example is related to the permissibility of a Muslim's blood (see Sunan an-Nasa'i 4057) in three cases only (married committing adultery, intentional murder, and apostasy), versus another hadith of killing someone who is caught four times drinking alcohol (see Sunan Abi Dawud 3680) as the Prophet ﷺ did not come across a situation to put into practice the latter.