✅Answer: Please pay attention to the following narrations:

1 عن أَبِی بَصِیر قال: قُلْتُ لِأَبِی عَبْداللَّه قَوْلُ اللَّهِ جَلَّ ثَنَاؤُهُ الَّذِینَ یَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَیَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ قَالَ هُوَ الرَّجُلُ یَسْمَعُ الْحَدِیثَ فَیُحَدِّثُ بِهِ کَمَا سَمِعَهُ لَا یَزِیدُ فِیهِ و لَا یَنْقُصُ مِنْهُ

📚 Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 51

Abu Basir said: I said to Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him: What is meant by the saying of Allah, glorified be His praise (in Surah Al-Zumar, verse 18): 'Who listen to the word and follow the best of it'? The Imam said: This is a person who hears a hadith and narrates it exactly as he heard it, neither adding to it nor subtracting from it!

2 عن داود بن فرقد قال: قُلْتُ لِأَبِی عَبْداللَّه إِنِّی أَسْمَعُ الْکَلَامَ مِنْکَ فَأُرِیدُ أَنْ أَرْوِیَهُ کَمَا سَمِعْتُهُ مِنْکَ فَلَا یَجِیءُ قال فَتَعَمَّدُ ذَلِکَ قُلْتُ لَا قال تُرِیدُ الْمَعَانِیَ قُلْتُ نَعَمْ قَالَ فَلَا بَأْس

📚 Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 51

Dawud ibn Farqad said: I hear a saying from you and I want to narrate it as I heard it, but (the exact words) do not come to my mind! The Imam said: Is this intentional?! I said: No! He said: Do you intend its meanings and purpose? I said: Yes! He said: There is no problem with that!

3 عن ابن المختار أَو غیره رَفَعَهُ قال: قُلْتُ لِأَبِی عَبْداللَّه أَسْمَعُ الْحَدِیثَ مِنْکَ فَلَعَلِّی لَا أَرْوِیهِ کَمَا سَمِعْتُهُ فَقَالَ إِذَا أَصَبْتَ الصُّلْبَ مِنْهُ فَلَا بَأْسَ إِنَّمَا هُوَ بِمَنْزِلَةِ تَعَالَ و هَلُمَّ و اقْعُدْ و اجْلِسْ

📚 Wasa'il al-Shia, vol. 27, p. 105

Ibn Mukhtar or someone else narrated in a 'marfu'' narration that I said to Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him: I hear a hadith from you, but I might not narrate it as I heard it. The Imam said: As long as you reach the essence and the exact meaning of it, there is no problem! Indeed, this is like the words 'ta'ala' and 'halumma' (both have the general meaning of 'come') and 'uq'ud' and 'ijlis' (both have the general meaning of 'sit down')!

4 عن محمد بن مسلم قال: قُلْتُ لِأَبِی عَبْداللَّه أَسْمَعُ الْحَدِیثَ مِنْکَ فَأَزِیدُ و أَنْقُصُ قال إِنْ کُنْتَ تُرِیدُ مَعَانِیَهُ فَلَا بَأْس

📚 Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 51

Muhammad ibn Muslim said: I said to Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him: I hear a hadith from you, and (sometimes) I add to it or subtract from it! The Imam said: If your intention is to convey its meanings and concept, there is no problem!

5 عن بعض أَصحابنا یَرْفَعُهُ إِلَی أَبِی عَبْداللَّه قال: إِذَا أَصَبْتَ مَعْنَی حَدِیثِنَا فَأَعْرِبْ عَنْهُ بِمَا شِئْتَ...

📚 Al-Sara'ir, p. 476

Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: If you reach the meaning and purpose of our hadith, then explain and state it in a good and correct way however you want!

6 كتاب حسين بْنِ عُثْمَان عن بَعْضِ أَصْحَابِنَا عن أَبي عبداللَّه قال: إِذَا أَصَبْتَ الْحَدِيثَ فَأَعْرِبْ عَنْهُ بِمَا شِئْتَ

📚 Mustadrak al-Wasa'il, vol. 17, p. 288

Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: If you reach the (exact purpose of the) hadith, then explain and state it in a good, correct, and flawless way however you want!

✅ Based on the above narrations and others, our duty regarding the narration of a hadith is to state its exact words and to avoid subtracting, adding, or changing its words.

✅ However, there are several conditions for the permission to narrate a hadith by meaning:

1 The words do not come to mind.

2 It is not intentional.

3 We have reached the meaning and purpose of the hadith accurately, correctly, and with certainty.

4 The words we want to substitute for the words of the hadith are good, correct, and consistent with it, without any errors, and are in fact an explanation and statement of the Imam's words.

✅ It is clear that the conditions for the permissibility of narrating a hadith by meaning are such that this is available for a very, very small number of individuals and cases!

✅ The excessive and conditionally flawed use of this permission even by scholars has caused damage to the concepts of some of the existing hadiths, and today, especially some preachers who consider memorizing narrations a source of pride, in many cases, convey wrong concepts to the audience by narrating the narrations by meaning, and this has caused a wrong understanding of some narrations among the common people.

Therefore, it is appropriate that if we do not have the necessary conditions for the permissibility of narrating by meaning, which we usually and for the most part do not, we should refrain from narrating by meaning and present the exact words from the book so that we do not cause a change in the Imam's intent.

✅ In accordance with trustworthiness, if we narrate by meaning, we should inform the listener about it.

https://feghh14.com/en