Is a weak hadith considered authentic if it matches reality, as some people say?

Abu Malik: The first question is: Is a weak hadith considered authentic if it matches reality, as some people say? We hope, meaning from our Shaykh, and the truth is that this question is raised frequently, that the answer contains some detail so that we may clarify our positions as we address people in defending the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with such sayings or hadiths?

The Shaykh : If a hadith comes with a weak chain of narration that does not establish a proof according to the scholars of hadith, and it is not permissible to attribute a saying to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) based on it, then it is not permissible for us to believe that he (peace be upon him) said it merely because it matches reality. This is because reporting something about an event before it occurs, whether for a short or long period, does not necessarily mean that it is from the category of informing about some of the unseen. There is knowledge known among the scholars through practice, experience, and observing events that scholars of sound observation study, from which they deduce certain matters and speak about them as wisdom, not as a report from the Messenger (peace be upon him). So this hadith that they spoke of occurs. It is also possible that some narrators made a mistake in narrating this report and attributed it to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by oversight and error, or it may have been intentional in order to display a scientific, unseen miracle for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, the method of knowing the authenticity of a hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not that it is correct in its reality, because this correctness may be stated by scholars and people of wisdom. I told you earlier, incidentally, that hadith This meaning is sometimes true, so it is possible that a person said it from himself, deducing it from the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him), such as those hadiths that you know in great number, the good ones among them, which focus on praising many of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), especially the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the rest of the ten promised Paradise. In the hadiths narrated regarding their praise and commendation, there is what makes us certain that this praise for these believers would truly have affected them, otherwise the Messenger (peace be upon him) would not have praised them highly while they are affected by such praise. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So when we find the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) certifying the ten promised Paradise and other Companions, we know that there is a certification that does no harm. The criterion for this is that the one certifying is a believer who fears Allah and is afraid of Him, as you see in the history and biography of these Rightly Guided Caliphs who were promised Paradise. The promise of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is undoubtedly and without doubt established and will certainly be realized. Despite this, one of them would wish to be a tree that is bitten or thrown on the ground, and so on, out of their fear of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), despite hearing such sweet praise from their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). A wise, intelligent person can deduce from the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and from some events that occur on this earth a statement whose meaning is correct, but an error occurs in its narration, intentionally or by oversight, and it is attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, it is not permissible, merely because we see a hadith that the scholars of hadith have said is weak and its attribution to the Messenger (peace be upon him) is not established, to believe that the Messenger said that hadith because it matches reality, for there is no necessary connection between this and that. So the way to know what the Messenger (peace be upon him) said is the way followed by the scholars of hadith. And there may be a hadith that matches the Qur'an, but even so, they do not say the Messenger (peace be upon him) said such and such, but rather they say this hadith has a weak chain and is supported by such and such a verse, unless the hadith is part of the verse, in which case, without doubt, it is an authentic hadith even if its chain is weak. However, if the sentence differs in Arabic style from what came in the Qur'an as a witness to this sentence, it is not permissible to attribute this word to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), even if its meaning is found in the Noble Qur'an, due to what came in some words of the hadiths warning against speaking on behalf of the Messenger (peace be upon him), such as his saying: And any hadith, as we say on any occasion, any hadith that relates to specifying the permissibility of something included in the general text of the Noble Qur'an, its meaning is correct even if it is a newly fabricated matter, if it is a new matter, if the Qur'an witnesses to it, we say this meaning is correct, but the attribution of this sentence to our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not established, but the Qur'an suffices us for that. If someone said, for example: "Eating bread is lawful" or "Eating bread is lawful," without doubt this meaning is correct and matches texts from the Book and the Sunnah, and so on, indeed it matches a hadith that came through many very different routes, some abbreviated and some extended, and from the total of those routes, only this short sentence was authenticated: If we say the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: We understand it immediately, why? Because it is the basis of human life and its continuation. But if it is said to us that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Eating bread is lawful," this meaning is correct, but this is not what is established from the Messenger (peace be upon him), so we would have spoken on behalf of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) what he did not say, even if this meaning contained in this saying matches the Noble Qur'an and some authentic hadiths. So the criterion, I repeat, in knowing the authentic hadith and the permissibility of attributing it to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the chain of narration, not merely looking at the meaning, for looking at the meaning may result in the meaning being correct while the saying attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not correct. This is what I have as an answer to this question.

The questioner : This, may Allah bless you, leads us to a question we extract or derive from this question and the extensive answer you have graciously provided.