Is it permissible to act upon a weak hadith in the virtues of actions?
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The questioner : As you have been kind enough to explain, what does it mean when a scholar says: "This hadith has a weak chain of narration"? If the chain of this hadith is weak, and the hadith itself has no difference... between a mass-transmitted report and a famous one and every individual report, there is no difference between one hadith and another; the difference lies only in the chain of narration.
The Shaykh : Yes, there is no difference in terms of the obligation to act upon it...
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: All right.
The questioner : So we have seen some hadiths that have weakness in their chains... among them are actions of some good deeds that have an apparent good, not establishing a creed or... rather, it is a good deed and the hadith exists.
The Shaykh : And the hadith exists, but its chain of narration is weak.
The questioner : And there is weakness in its chain of narration.
The Shaykh : And it contains the establishment of a good deed.
The questioner : Yes, how do we do that?
The Shaykh : Yes, the answer is that any hadith that reaches us with a weak chain of narration, in which there is an exhortation to do good, either the reality of the matter in this hadith is that the good mentioned in it is established by this hadith or established by something else. If it is established by something else, then the action at that time is not based on this hadith.
The questioner : It is based on something else.
The Shaykh : On something else. And if the other case is the case—that is, if the claim of the one who claims that this hadith, yes, its chain of narration is weak, but it contains an exhortation to do a good deed or to do one of the good deeds—then it is said to him: "And what makes you know that this action mentioned in this hadith is good? Is it this hadith or another hadith?" If it is the other hadith, there is no problem with the permissibility of acting upon it at that time, but the action is not directly by this hadith itself, but by that one. And if you assume that we do not know that this good deed contained in this hadith except through its path, then your saying that it is a good deed is of no benefit whatsoever.
The questioner : ... .
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes?
The Shaykh : Yes, there is no difference in terms of the obligation to act upon it...
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: All right.
The questioner : So we have seen some hadiths that have weakness in their chains... among them are actions of some good deeds that have an apparent good, not establishing a creed or... rather, it is a good deed and the hadith exists.
The Shaykh : And the hadith exists, but its chain of narration is weak.
The questioner : And there is weakness in its chain of narration.
The Shaykh : And it contains the establishment of a good deed.
The questioner : Yes, how do we do that?
The Shaykh : Yes, the answer is that any hadith that reaches us with a weak chain of narration, in which there is an exhortation to do good, either the reality of the matter in this hadith is that the good mentioned in it is established by this hadith or established by something else. If it is established by something else, then the action at that time is not based on this hadith.
The questioner : It is based on something else.
The Shaykh : On something else. And if the other case is the case—that is, if the claim of the one who claims that this hadith, yes, its chain of narration is weak, but it contains an exhortation to do a good deed or to do one of the good deeds—then it is said to him: "And what makes you know that this action mentioned in this hadith is good? Is it this hadith or another hadith?" If it is the other hadith, there is no problem with the permissibility of acting upon it at that time, but the action is not directly by this hadith itself, but by that one. And if you assume that we do not know that this good deed contained in this hadith except through its path, then your saying that it is a good deed is of no benefit whatsoever.
The questioner : ... .
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes?
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.