The Shaykh’s clarification that a weak hadith is not acted upon in matters of the virtues of deeds and noble character.

The Shaykh : ... There is a claimed rule mentioned in some books on hadith terminology as an established principle with no doubt in it, which is that it is permissible to act upon a weak hadith in the virtues of deeds. This is a statement that, although it is a matter of disagreement among hadith scholars—whether it is established or rejected—we hold, and we have mentioned this in more than one book or treatise, that a Muslim is not permitted to draw near to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, with a hadith whose weakness he knows. This is our position. However, those who adopted this rule set conditions for acting upon it. When the majority of the later adopters of this rule neglected these conditions, weak and fabricated hadiths spread. We have had many, and very many, experiences with those who claim to be scholars. When one of them narrates a hadith, and we know for certain that he does not know where this hadith came from, nor does he know whether it is authentic or weak, but when he is confronted with its rejection and told, "My brother, you are narrating this hadith, and this hadith is weak," he responds with the claimed rule: "But it is permissible to act upon a weak hadith in the virtues of deeds." But this rule is not absolute. Do you know that the hadith you just narrated is a weak hadith? He knows nothing of that. Thus, he has violated the rule, because conditions were set for it, including that he must know that this hadith is weak, so that the weak does not get mixed up with the authentic in his mind. This rule helps the preachers, storytellers, and orators today not to be careful in narrating hadiths from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), because if the hadith is authentic, praise be to Allah, and if the hadith is weak, it is acted upon in the virtues of deeds. SoThe Shaykh : the one mentioned does not have knowledge of hadith, and therefore he narrates in his stories and sermons whatever comes to mind from hadiths. So do not be surprised if he narrates things that have no basis at all from reports that have no connection to the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), such as the story of wine and vinegar. This is a calamity of the age, and the discussion of this is long, especially since some scholars permit narrating what is more dangerous than such a narration, namely that this person called upon Allah to transform the forbidden wine into permissible vinegar ... .