Hadis mursal ialah hadis yang mana sahabi telah digugurkan. Contohnya apabila seorang tabi'in berkata bahawa Rasulullah ﷺ berkata atau melakukan sesuatu, atau sesuatu telah dilakukan di hadapan baginda ﷺ. Contohnya ialah hadis daripada seorang tabi'i yang telah bertemu dengan beberapa orang sahabat dan telah duduk untuk belajar daripada mereka, seperti 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Iddi ibn al-Khayyar, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab dan yang seumpama mereka, apabila mereka berkata (secara langsung) bahawa:

The mursal hadīth is the hadīth from which the Sahābi has been omitted. Such as when the Tabi’says that the Messenger of Allah  said or did such and such a thing, or such and such thing was done in his presence. An example would be the hadīth of a tabi'i who has met a number of companions and has sat down to learn from them like 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Iddi ibn al-khayyar, Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab and their likes when they say (directly) that:

Adalah diketahui secara meluas bahawa semua tabi'in dilayan sama rata, iaitu apa yang diriwayatkan oleh seorang tabi'i daripada Nabi ﷺ tanpa menyebut sahabat. Tidak ada perbezaan antara tabi'in yang senior dan yang junior, kerana sudah masyhur bahawa mereka dilayan sama rata. Para muhaddithin, ulama usul (usuliyyin) dan para imam berbeza pendapat mengenai penggunaan hadith mursal sebagai hujah. Ada yang tidak menggunakannya dan menganggapnya tertolak seperti hadith munqati', dan ada yang menerima penggunaannya. Mereka yang tidak menerimanya menolaknya kerana suatu sebab, iaitu bahawa seorang perawi yang tidak dikenali telah digugurkan daripada isnad, yang mungkin tidak dipercayai. Pertimbangan dalam periwayatan ialah kebolehpercayaan dan kepastian; perawi yang tidak diketahui bukanlah hujah. Inilah sebab menolak hadith mursal. Sebab ini adalah betul, dan penolakan hadith berdasarkannya juga betul, tetapi ia tidak terpakai kepada hadith mursal kerana perawi yang digugurkan itu ialah seorang sahabi. Walaupun identitinya tidak diketahui, dia dikenali sebagai sahabi, dan para sahabat semuanya adalah 'udul (dipercayai). Mereka tidak mungkin tidak boleh dipercayai, bahkan mereka pasti dipercayai. Oleh itu, sebab yang digunakan untuk menolak hadith itu tidak terpakai kepada hadith mursal, dan tiada sebab lain untuk menolaknya. Memandangkan ia memenuhi syarat matan, sanad dan perawi, tiada kemudaratan dengan menggugurkan sahabi selagi diketahui bahawa dia seorang sahabi, dan dengan itu dia dipercayai. Ini menunjukkan bahawa hadith mursal adalah hujah dan wajar dijadikan dalil. Mungkin dikatakan bahawa sebabnya ialah kemungkinan seorang tabi'i meriwayatkan daripada tabi'i seperti dirinya yang meriwayatkan daripada para sahabat. Penggugguran seorang sahabi tidak bermakna penggugguran hanya seorang perawi sahaja. Tetapi terputusnya rantaian itu bermakna bahawa mungkin dua orang periwayat telah digugurkan, salah seorang daripadanya memenuhi syarat keadilan, iaitu seorang Sahabi, manakala keadaan periwayat yang lain itu meragukan, iaitu seorang Tabi'i. Terdapat kemungkinan dalam hadith tersebut berlaku jarh (pendustaan atau pencacatan) atau kekurangan ketepatan (dabt), dan oleh itu ia ditolak. Boleh jadi perkara sedemikian dikatakan. Jawapannya ialah bahawa takrif hadith mursal ialah:

It is well known that all of the Tabi’een are treated equally i.e, what the tabi'i narrated about the Prophet  without mentioning the Sahabah. There is no difference between the senior or junior tabi'i because it is well known that they are treated equally. The muhaddithin, scholars of usul (usuliyyin) and the imams have differed over the use of the mursal hadīth as proof. There were those who did not use it and considered it to be rejected like the munqati' hadīth and there were those who did accept its use. Those who do not accept it reject it for a reason, which is that a transmitter who is not known has been omitted from the isnād who might not be trustworthy. The consideration in narration is reliability and certainty, an unknown transmitter is not a proof. This is the reason for rejecting the mursal ahadīth. The reason is correct and the rejection of a hadīth according to it is correct but it does not apply to the mursal hadīth because the transmitter who has been omitted is a Sahābi. Even though he is not known in terms of his identity but he is known as a Sahābi. And the Sahabah are all trustworthy ('udul). They cannot be unreliable. Rather, they are definitely trustworthy. Thus, the reason by which they reject the hadīth does not apply to the mursal and nor is there any other reason to reject it and since he fulfils the conditions of the matn, sanad and transmittor, no harm is done by omitting the Sahābi as long as it is known that he is a Sahābi and so he is trustworthy. This indicates that the mursal hadīth is a proof and should be educed as an evidence. It might be said that the reason is that there is a possibility that a tabi'i narrated from a tabi'i like himself who narrated from the Sahabah. The ommision of a Sahābi does not mean the ommision of only one narrator. But the break in the chain means that it is possible that two narrators have been omitted, one of them satisfies the condition of integrity, which is the Sahābi and the case of the other narrator is dubious, who is a tabi'i. There is a possibility in the hadīth of a jarh (invalidation) or lack of accuracy (dabt) and therefore it is rejected. Such a thing might be said. The response is that the definition of the mursal hadīth is that:

Riwayat seorang Tabi'in daripada seorang Tabi'in yang tidak dikenali tidak termasuk dalam definisi ini. Sekalipun kita menerima ilustrasi ini, iaitu kemungkinan Tabi'in itu menggugurkan (menghilangkan) penyebutan Sahabi, kemungkinan pengguguran tersebut hanyalah berdasarkan syak wasangka. Bahkan ia adalah syak wasangka yang tidak sampai ke tahap kemungkinan. Ini kerana dia mengesyaki bahawa Tabi'in tersebut meriwayatkan daripada Tabi'in lain yang tidak disebutnya, dan tidak pula disebut Sahabi itu, iaitu dia menganggap bahawa seorang Tabi'in telah digugurkan. Tiada bukti bagi andaian hipotesis ini. Ia semata-mata satu syak wasangka. Syak wasangka tidak mempunyai nilai, dan hukum hadis tidak dibina atasnya. Tidak boleh dikatakan bahawa seorang perawi yang tidak dikenali (majhul) telah meriwayatkannya, kerana riwayat tersebut tidak bersandar kepada sesuatu yang membolehkan dikatakan bahawa perawinya majhul. Oleh itu, hadis mursal tidak dianggap sebagai hadis yang ditolak, sebaliknya ia diterima dan dijadikan hujah.

The narration of a Tabi’ from a Tabi’ who is not known does not come under this definition. Even if we accept this illustration i.e the possibility of the Tabi'i's ommision without mentioning the Sahābi, the possibility of his ommision is by way of suspicion. Rather it is a suspicion which does not reach the level of possibility. Because he suspects the tabi'i of narrating from another tabi'i who he did not mention and nor did he mention the Sahābi i.e, he assumes that a Tabi'i has been ommited. There is no evidence for this hypothetical assumption. It is merely a suspicion. A suspicion has no value and the hukm (value) of hadīth is not based on it. It should not be said that an unknown narrator (majhul) has transmitted it since the narration is not predicated on anything such that it can be said that the narrator is a majhul (unknown). Therefore, the mursal hadīth is not considered to be from the rejected ahadith, rather it is accepted and used as proof.