Importance Of Weak Ahadith
Without understanding the methods of the Mutaqaddimin ( early scholars ), some of the hadith scholars view that it is absolutely acceptable to practice weak hadith and they rely heavily on expressions made by a few Mutaqaddimin hadith scholars, in particular Ahmad bin Hambal. However, the application of weak hadith by Imam Ahmad was not the rejected weak hadith, instead, it refers to hasan hadith . According to Ibn-e-Qaiyyam as quoted by Ibn-e-Badran : الأَصْل الرَّابِع الْأَخْذ بالمرسل والْحَدِيث الضَّعِيف إِذا لم يكن فِي الْبَاب شَيْء يَدْفَعهُ وَهُوَ الَّذِي رَجحه على الْقيَاس وَلَيْسَ المُرَاد بالضعيف عِنْده الْبَاطِل وَلَا الْمُنكر وَلَا فِي رِوَايَته مُتَّهم بِحَيْثُ لَا يسوغ الذّهاب إِلَيْهِ فَالْعَمَل بِهِ بل الحَدِيث الضَّعِيف عِنْده قسيم الصَّحِيح وَقسم من أَقسَام الْحسن وَلم يكن يقسم الحَدِيث إِلَى صَحِيح وَحسن وَضَعِيف بل إِلَى صَحِيح وَضَعِيف وللضعيف عِنْده مَرَاتِب فَإِذا لم يجد فِي الْبَاب أثرا يَدْفَعهُ وَلَا قَول صَحَابِيّ وَلَا إِجْمَاع على خِلَافه كَانَ الْعَمَل بِهِ عِنْده أولى من الْقيَاس “ The fourth principle (of Ahmed Bin Hambal when issuing Fatwa): accepting mursal hadiths and daef hadiths as evidence, if there is no other text concerning the matter that would contradict them. This type of hadith is given precedence over analogy (qiyaas). What is meant by daef, in his view, is not that which is batil (false) or munkar (odd), and not that of which any of the narrators was accused of lying, so that the report is rendered unacceptable and cannot be used as evidence. Rather the daef hadith, in his view, is a counterpart of that which is sahih, and that which is hasan comes under the heading of that which is daef. He did not divide hadiths into sahih, hasan and daef. In his view, the daef hadiths are of various levels, so if he could not find a sound report to contradict the daef hadith, or the view of a Sahabi, or consensus that was contrary to the daef hadith, it was more appropriate to refer to this daef hadith and use it as evidence, rather than turning to analogy . “ ( Writes Ibn-e-Badran in Al-madkhal ila madhhab al-imam ahmad bin hanbal, Muassah al-Risalah, Beirut, Second Edition, Page 116 ) Similarly, Ibn-e-Rajab Al-Hambali Concludes: وكان الإمام أحمد يحتج بالحديث ‌الضعيف الذي لم يرد خلافه، ومراده بالضعيف قريب من مراد ‌الترمذي بالحسن “ Imam Ahmad used as evidence the weak hadith, which was not contradicted, and what was meant by weak is close to what al-Tirmidhi meant by Hasan “. ( Sharah ilal al-tirmidhi, 2/576 [Maktaba Al-Minar, Jordan, First Edition] ) Therefore, the term weak hadith used by Mutaqaddimin scholars such as Imam Ahmed bin Hambal (d. 241 H) is a more general term that also includes hasan hadith which were called weak hadith during their time. The later scholars had then termed these weak hadiths as hasan hadiths.