The term “weak Hadeeth” refers to any narration which does not fulfill the conditions of authenticity. The scholars of Hadeeth  agree that a “weak Hadeeth” must not be attributed to the Prophet  by saying: “The Prophet  said …”.

Applying weak Hadeeth in excellent deeds.

Very often when you point to the weakness of a Hadeeth you hear being cited, someone will immediately say: “But this Hadeeth is talking about (the reward of) excellent deeds, and it is alright to refer to unauthentic Hadeeth when talking about excellent deeds.”

It has become a norm amongst the majority of a good number of scholars and students of Islamic learning that it is alright to use weak Hadeeth when it refers to the reward of excellent deeds. They consider it a fully accepted rule that should not be argued. They also would quote the words of great scholars to support their point.

Before going into detail to refute the arguments of these people, let me point out that they have, in general, misunderstood the sayings of the great scholars of Islam they quote, relative to weak Hadeeth and how it should be used.

This serious misunderstanding has led to the great epidemic of freely using weak narrations; which certainly may involve lying against the Messenger of Allah .

Refutation of the claim:

First, we should mention that the rule cited earlier (that weak Hadeeth can be used in excellent deeds) is not accepted by all the scholars of Hadeeth. For instance, Abu Bakr Ibn ‘Arabi  said: “The weak Hadeeth should be absolutely avoided and not dealt with.”

Second, we should know that the scholars of Hadeeth who permitted the use of weak Hadeeth have set very strict rules applying to their use. Al-Hafith Ibn Hajar Al-‘Asqalani  said: “There are three conditions that must be fulfilled in order to use the weak Hadeeth:

a. It is well accepted that the weakness should only be slight. This will help to exclude Hadeeth reported by liars or accused reporters (of lying) who are known to commit big mistakes.

b. The weak Hadeeth should be used under already well-established principles and should not bring in ideas of its own.

c. When a weak Hadeeth is used (after it fulfills the above two conditions), it should not be believed to be said by the Messenger of Allah ; to do so we would be crediting him with that which he did not say.

For the above conditions to be satisfied, people planning to use the weak Hadeeth should have the ability to:

1. Distinguish between the weak and the authentic Hadeeth in order to fulfill condition (c) above, otherwise they may fall into lying about the Messenger .

2. Distinguish between the slightly weak Hadeeth and those which are very weak or fabricated, in order to fulfill condition (a) above.

What should be very clear to Muslims is that the ability to make the above two distinctions is not possessed except by a very small category of the scholars of Hadeeth (who can be counted on the fingers).

In particular with reference to item (2) above, only a few of the scholars of Hadeeth in all of the history of Islam have dealt with it.

Someone might justifiably ask: “Why are we so strict in this matter (of using weak Hadeeth), when some scholars of Hadeeth have permitted it?”

The answer to this question was given by a great scholar of Hadeeth, Sheykh Muhammad Nasiruddeen Al-Albani  who said:

“The earlier scholars used to mention the Hadeeth with their full Isnad (chain of narrators), so that any other scholar reading their treatise could know from the chain of narrators the degree of authenticity of the Hadeeth.”

We pray that this small introduction to the subject of weak Hadeeth and using it as proof has helped in clarifying how dangerous this is.

 

The narrators of Hadeeth are the most honourable and respectable Muslims, as they are keepers and preservers of Sunnah. Most of them are the companions of the Prophet  who witnessed the acts and learnt the sayings of the Prophet . Others are the successors of the companions. Who were blessed by Allah and they are highly respected by all Muslims. They are shinning stars of Islam.

Their hearts were free from worldly desires. Reading their biographies will increase love and devotion towards them and develop more interest to be faithful and obedient in the heart of the Muslim who reads their biography.

Allah Almighty Says (what means): "Verily, We have sent down the Reminder, and surely, We will guard it (from corruption)." [Quran; 15:9] The above promise made by Allah is obviously fulfilled in the undisputed purity of the Quranic text throughout the fourteen centuries since its revelation.





However, what is often forgotten by many Muslims is that the above divine promise also includes, by necessity, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad  for it is the practical example of the implementation of the Quranic guidance, the Wisdom taught to the Prophet  along with the Scripture, and neither the Quran nor the Sunnah can be understood correctly without recourse to the other.





Allah preserved the Sunnah by enabling the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and their followers, may Allah have mercy on them, to memorize, write down and pass on the statements of the Messenger of Allah  and the descriptions of his way, as well as to continue the blessings of practicing the Sunnah. Later, as the purity of the knowledge of the Sunnah became threatened, Allah caused the Muslim nation to produce outstanding individuals of incredible memory-skills and analytical expertise, who journeyed tirelessly to collect hundreds of thousands of narrations and distinguish the true words of precious wisdom of their Messenger  from those corrupted by weak memories, from forgeries by unscrupulous liars, and from the statements of the enormous number of scholars, the Companions and those who followed their way, who had taught in various centers of learning and helped to transmit the legacy of Muhammad  - all of this achieved through precise attention to the words narrated and detailed familiarity with the biographies of the thousands of reporters of Hadeeth. Action being the best way to preserve teachings, the scholars of Islam also revived the practice of the blessed authentic Sunnah.

Unfortunately, however, statements will continue to be attributed to the Prophet  although the person quoting them may have no idea what the people of knowledge in the field of Hadeeth science have ruled regarding those hadeeths, thus ironically being in danger of contravening the Prophet's  widely-narrated stern warnings about attributing incorrect/unsound statements to him.


 

The methodology of the expert scholars of Hadeeth in assessing narrations and sorting out the genuine from the mistaken, fabricated etc., forms the subject-matter of a wealth of material left to us by the scholars of Hadeeth (traditionists).