He says: When I read in the books of the Sunnah, I find in them authentic, weak, and fabricated hadiths. Is it permissible to cite them as evidence and act upon them, or not?
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The questioner : He says: When I read in the books of the Sunnah, I find in them authentic, weak, and fabricated hadiths. Is it permissible to cite them as evidence and act upon them, or not?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. The Sunnah, as the brother said,
The Shaykh : what is attributed to it is divided into three categories: authentic, good, and weak, and the fourth is fabricated.
As for the authentic and the good, they are cited as evidence and acted upon, meaning by what they indicate of reports, meaning by what they indicate of rulings, and the reports contained in them are accepted as true.
As for the weak, if it is strengthened by the multiplicity of its chains and corroborating narrations, it becomes good for other reasons and is treated like the good, and it is cited as evidence.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And if it is not strengthened by that, it is not a proof, but some scholars have cited it as evidence in the virtues of deeds or in warnings against prohibitions, subject to three conditions. The first is that it has a correct basis that supports it.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The second is that the weakness is not severe.
The third is that one does not believe it to be authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), meaning that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said it.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : An example of this is if a hadith comes regarding the virtue of congregational prayer, and it is weak, but the three conditions we mentioned apply to it, then it is permissible to cite it as evidence, because congregational prayer is obligatory and the basis of its virtue is established.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So if the three conditions are met, the basis here is present. If the other two conditions are found, which are that the weakness is not severe and that one does not believe it to be authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then it is permissible to cite it as evidence.
As for the fabricated, which is the fourth category, it is not permissible to attribute it to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) under any circumstances.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Rather, it is not permissible to mention it except with clarification, or except accompanied by an explanation of its fabrication, so that people are not deceived by it. Likewise, the weak one we mentioned earlier is not permissible to mention except accompanied by an explanation of its weakness, even if we say that it is permissible to cite it as evidence, its weakness must be clarified.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : This is a message that came from Muhammad Hamid Yusuf in Afeef, Saudi Arabia.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. The Sunnah, as the brother said,
The Shaykh : what is attributed to it is divided into three categories: authentic, good, and weak, and the fourth is fabricated.
As for the authentic and the good, they are cited as evidence and acted upon, meaning by what they indicate of reports, meaning by what they indicate of rulings, and the reports contained in them are accepted as true.
As for the weak, if it is strengthened by the multiplicity of its chains and corroborating narrations, it becomes good for other reasons and is treated like the good, and it is cited as evidence.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And if it is not strengthened by that, it is not a proof, but some scholars have cited it as evidence in the virtues of deeds or in warnings against prohibitions, subject to three conditions. The first is that it has a correct basis that supports it.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The second is that the weakness is not severe.
The third is that one does not believe it to be authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), meaning that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said it.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : An example of this is if a hadith comes regarding the virtue of congregational prayer, and it is weak, but the three conditions we mentioned apply to it, then it is permissible to cite it as evidence, because congregational prayer is obligatory and the basis of its virtue is established.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So if the three conditions are met, the basis here is present. If the other two conditions are found, which are that the weakness is not severe and that one does not believe it to be authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), then it is permissible to cite it as evidence.
As for the fabricated, which is the fourth category, it is not permissible to attribute it to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) under any circumstances.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Rather, it is not permissible to mention it except with clarification, or except accompanied by an explanation of its fabrication, so that people are not deceived by it. Likewise, the weak one we mentioned earlier is not permissible to mention except accompanied by an explanation of its weakness, even if we say that it is permissible to cite it as evidence, its weakness must be clarified.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : This is a message that came from Muhammad Hamid Yusuf in Afeef, Saudi Arabia.