Criticism about Ismā'īl ibn Marrār

The present study aims distinguishing Ismā'īl ibn Marrār from his namesakes among other hadith authorities, and intends to discover whether or not he is reliable. This way it will become clear for the experts (in hadith sciences) whether the numerous hadiths quoted from him in the Four Books, which amount to 200 hadiths, are authentic or not. Having applied an analytical-comparative method and having benefited from existing evidences this article deals with the identifying individuals having the same name. Despite the fact that no special authentication (tawthīq khāṣṣ) is available, his reliability was proved in the light of three general authentications (tawthīq `āmm). Other than them, two evidences denoting that his traditions are authentic were found.