Editing Biographical evaluation (section)

===Methods of evaluation===
Hadith scholars of the past employed various methods by which to evaluate the narrating abilities of a narrator. From these means are the following:
# Observing that narrator's religiosity and asking others about it.
# Requesting the narrator in question to narrate from a particular living scholar and then returning to that scholar and comparing his narrations with those of the narrator under examination.
# If the narrator narrates from a deceased scholar, inquiring when he, the narrator in question, was born, when he met that scholar and where and then comparing the dates provided in his response to the recognized dates of that scholars death and travels. So, perhaps, the dates provided by the narrator may contradict the established dates, for example, claiming that he heard from a particular scholar after the recognized death of that scholar.
# Comparing the narrations of the narrator with those of narrators of established reliability, comparing them seeking any distinctions that might be unique to that narrator, in particular, while contradicting the others.
# Examination of the narrations either written or memorized by that narrator after the passage of time observing any discrepancies with their initial narrations.<ref>''Ilm al-rijāl wa Ihimmiyyatuh'', pp. 22–4.</ref>
# Deliberately altering the wording of a hadith or more for the purpose of examining the ability of the narrator being examined to detect those alterations. This is considered an acceptable practice as long as those alterations are brought to light following the examination process.<ref>''Nuzhah al-Nathar'', [ 127.</ref>