(a.), pl. of rad̲j̲ul , a common Arabic word for “man”, used specifically in Arabic literature for transmitters of ḥadīt̲h̲ [ q.v.], i.e. Muslim tradition. When in the course of the second half of the 1st century of the hid̲j̲ra (the 690s) the isnād [ q.v.], i.e. the chain of transmitters of a tradition, had been introduced as the semi-official authentification device for it to be accepted or rejected, rather than that authentification was achieved by weighing the matn , i.e. its actual contents, the need to identify ḥadīt̲h̲ transmitters and to obtain detailed information on them,…