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It has been observed that many scholars in the field of narration have
confused the application of the term "dirayat al- hadtt", which is the comprehension of narration, with the term "fiqh al- Qa<.uf', the science of the laws of narration. The present article has undertaken to explain these two terms with due attention to the application of each in the history of narration. It gives a survey of the applicative transformation of dira-yat al- hadit in three different historical eras from its early appearance untill the present time, compares it with the present meaning offiqh al- h-adit, and defines the logical relationship between these tw.o in each era.