The effects of using weakHadeeth

The term "weak hadeeth" refers to any narration which does not fulfill
the conditions of authenticity. The scholars of Hadeethagree that a
"weak hadeeth" must not be attributed to the Prophetby saying: "The
Prophetsaid …".
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 Allaah.
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 'Arabisaid: "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-Haafith Ibn Hajar Al-'Asqalaani
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
Allaah; 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,
Muhammad Naassir Ad-Deen Al-Albaaniwho said:
"The earlier scholars used to mention the Hadeeth with their full
Isnaad )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.