(Whoever stands in prayer for two nights, his heart will not die when hearts die), this hadith is weak, containing the concealment of defects (tadlis) by al-Walid ibn Muslim

The questioner : Here is a question: , this hadith is weak, containing the concealment of defects (tadlis) by al-Walid ibn Muslim, but do we say that it is accepted because it is in the category of encouraging good deeds, and because the original ruling is the permissibility of standing in night prayer without exception?

The Shaykh : What is the wording of the hadith?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : Is it permissible to act upon it, he saysThe questioner ؟

The questioner : He says this hadith is weak, containing the concealment of defects (tadlis) by al-Walid ibn Muslim, but do we say that it is accepted because it is in the category of encouraging good deeds, and because the original ruling is the permissibility of standing in night prayer?

The Shaykh : This is a question, and it is purely a repetition; we have spoken about it many times on many occasions in this country. This hadith is one of the worst weak hadiths, which confirms for us the correct principle that we adopt; and that is that it is not permissible to act upon a weak hadith in the virtues of deeds. The evidence for this is abundant, but I will limit myself now to one thing that clarifies the contradiction of this phrase and the inconsistency of its beginning with its end, and its end with its beginning; because when we say: act upon the weak hadith in the virtues of deeds, if the intention is to establish the virtues of deeds by this hadith, this is contrary to what the scholars of the Muslims have agreed upon, as transmitted by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah in "Majmu' al-Fatawa." As for the weak hadith, it does not establish a legal ruling... the recommendation (mustahabb), and this is in addition to what... with the weak hadith in the virtues of deeds; that is: acting... he estimated it to be recommended (mustahabb). So if the intention of this phrase is to act upon the weak hadith in the virtues of deeds; that is: to establish the virtues of deeds by the weak hadith, this is contrary to what we mentioned earlier and we affirm... And if the intention is other than this, which is the apparent meaning, and which Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah referred to, and he said: If a hadith of this type, it can be said: it is acted upon in the virtues of deeds; that is: that the virtue of the deeds is established by other than the weak hadith. And every legal act of worship, there is no doubt that it has a virtue, even if we know its virtue in a general way; that is: that it is an act of worship, there is no doubt that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) rewards the one who performs it and gives him a great reward.
So if the virtue of a certain act of worship has been established by other than this hadith, then at that time, acting upon this hadith is not the case, but rather acting upon what established the legality of that act of worship. However, the act of worship may have its legality established by an authentic hadith, but this hadith does not have a specific explanation of the virtue in that act; as is the case with this hadith; what is the virtue of the one who keeps the night of the festival alive? He said: . Here, I must assume that the practical Sunnah has proceeded to keep the night of the festival alive, only we have from the practical Sunnah, and if that is established, it means that it is prescribed (mashru'). The hadith came, in this case, we can say: it is acted upon; because it is in the virtues of deeds. Where did we know the virtue of this act? Not from this hadith, but we knew, for example, from another hadith. But the reality here, and this is one of the errors of weak hadiths, is that they... weak hadiths are evidence as if they were authentic hadiths, establishing acts whose legality was not established by other than these weak hadiths. And this is the example hadith before us. It was not the way of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to keep the night of the festival alive, especially when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the Farewell Pilgrimage and came to Muzdalifah, he combined that known combination, the combination of delay, then... he did not keep the night of the festival alive! So how do we say now that keeping the night of the festival alive is a virtue, and we have only this weak hadith?
So, it is not acted upon with the weak hadith, and it is acted upon with the weak hadith; ... this phrase is on two sides; it is not acted upon with the weak hadith in the virtues of deeds if the intention is to legislate an act by the weak hadith; then it is not acted upon with the weak hadith in the virtues of deeds. But if the virtue of the deeds is established by other than this hadith, it is hoped that this hadith, which has an explanation of a specific virtue, is that with Allah (Mighty and Majestic) the matter is so. But what follows from it is not legislation, unless it is not a law or a belief, it is permissible to build upon a weak hadith. So, the existence of this hadith, practically, and its non-existence are the same!
And I give an example of this in what is discussed in this topic. It happened in the practical Sunnah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to, when he entered the gathering, throw three handfuls of dirt, then return... to the grave. It came in the hadith of Wa'il that in the first handful he said: , in the second: : , and in the third: .
Some of the distinguished scholars of the past said: This hadith, although it is weak, but it is acted upon with the weak hadith in the virtues of deeds. Look now; this means we established a specific manner in throwing these three handfuls by dividing the noble verse into three parts... and by this manner of reciting the verse from the virtues of deeds, therefore... with the people by the weak hadith a legal ruling, at least the recommendation (mustahabb). And therefore... it is said that it is not acted upon with the weak hadith in the virtues of deeds except if we imagine the previous picture, at that time, and we returned in the end to the fact that the existence of the weak hadith in this last picture and its non-existence are the same.
Then, this principle was in fact a justification for the proliferation of religious innovations (bid'ah) in Islam, and among the scholars of Islam who adopted this principle. Some of those who went to it imposed conditions that are very precise; they imposed, for example: that the weakness not be severe, and that the one who acts upon the hadith is aware of its weakness, and that it falls under a general rule. But practically, none of these scholars apply these things... because it is merely that he sees a hadith with a virtue of something, he clings to it without researching whether it is authentic to know and distinguish between what is established in the Sunnah and what is not established in the Sunnah.
And we used to find a Shaykh bringing something; O Shaykh, where did you get this from? He says: In a hadith about this. Okay; ... acts upon the weak hadith in the virtues of deeds, after a while, after... he tells you: acts upon the weak hadith or does not act? But he does not know if it is authentic or if this hadith is weak. And when he does not know, it means that the authentic and the weak have become mixed up for him, and the winnowing fan and the sieve have become mixed up, as they say. Therefore, the reality that I touch with my hand is that closing the door by saying: the weak hadith is acted upon in the virtues of deeds, especially with this generality that the general public understands, was a great danger to the Muslims, and it was opening a door to innovation in the religion. In addition to this, the virtues of deeds established by authentic hadiths, and these many acts, most people cannot act upon them, so they are content to act upon some of them; so they do not need to add another burden to what is authentic from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
Okay, what else is there?