Unfortunately, many Muslim individuals, groups and organisations use quotations of weak Ahadith to support an argument or a position.

There are sincere Muslims who due to ignorance, choose unchecked Hadith and feel so proud and so confident that the prophet (PBUH) has supported their arguments.

There are also many sincere Muslims who refrain from employing weak narrations once they are made aware of the seriousness of attributing a lie to the Prophet.

The Ahadith are classified as Sahih (Authentic), Hasan (Acceptable), Da’eef (Weak) and Mawdoo’ (Fabricated). Fabricated traditions (Mawdoo') are not considered to be Hadith.

An ordinary Muslim very rarely, if at all, reads a compilation of the Tradition. Therefore, he or she accepts as true the claim by religious leaders that the Tradition is actually a collection of the Messenger of Allah without any check-over. Even the religious Scholars, for the most, do not read these compilations at first hand. In reality, therefore, they support and defend something about which they have no information. Their initial response to a questionable piece of Tradition is to deny its existence. Then, even after having read it themselves, they keep quiet or refuse to alter their stance. Such inflexibility cannot be justified logically and rationally.

Generally in Islamic law only the authentic (Sahih) and good (Hasan) Ahadith are used in deriving the rules. The weak (da'if) Ahadith have no value for the purpose of Shari'ah. However, the scholars of Hadith sometimes differ among themselves in the determination of some Ahadith whether they are weak or not weak. The 'Ulama have sometimes used weak Ahadith for moral and spiritual (fada'il) matters. It is important that when one uses a weak Hadith for any reason then one should explain it to the people that this is weak Hadith and it is being used for this particular reason.

We must also keep in mind that according to the scholars of Hadith (Muhadditheen) the Ahadith are counted according to the number of the chain of narrators (Isnad) and not according to the text (matn) of the Hadith. Thus one text of a Hadith is often found reported through many chains of reporters. Normally the authenticity or weakness of the Hadith is checked ,not on the basis of its text (matn), but on the basis of its chain (Isnad)only. The weakness in a Hadith could be due the lack of continuity in the chain of transmitters or due to the lack of integrity ('adalah) of its narrators.

There are various categories of Weak Ahadith depending on what part of the chain of transmitters was interrupted and what lack of integrity is detected in a transmitter or transmitters of that particular Hadith.

No Muslim should accept everything and anything presented as the Messenger of Allah’s word. I do not reject an utterance of the Messenger of Allah. If I do it, I will not remain a Muslim. All I say is that a given report is not acceptable as the Messenger of Allah’s utterance, because the Qur’an testifies that he never followed anything but the Qur’an. This is not Rejection of Hadith. However, to attribute something anti-Qur’anic to the Messenger of Allah is a grave offense.

Shaikh Nasir ul-Dean Al Albani (RH) wrote a series of books called "Silsilat Al Ahadith Addaeefa" the series of weak narrations. These four volume books contain about 2,000 weak Ahadith. Every Hadith's weakness is explained in details. When one goes through, one will be amazed and astonished to realize that how Muslims have unwittingly used so many weak narrations in the past to support an argument or a wrong practice.
The following 52 weak Ahadith are taken from that series and numbered them as a reference to their locations in the book of Albani.

1." The Deen is the brain, and he who has no religion has no brain." Batil No.1
2."Whose prayer does not stop him from evil and sins he will only get further away from Allah." Batil No.2
3."Work for this life as if you are living forever and the Hereafter as if you will die tomorrow." Hadith No.8
4."I have been sent as a teacher." Da'if No.11
5." Two types of people from my Ummah, if they are good my people will be good: the leaders and scholars." Fabricated No.16
6." I don't need to ask Him for He knows my affair."
This saying is attributed to prophet Ibrahim (AS). It's alleged he said it before he was thrown into the fire. Fabricated. No.21
7. "Adam (AS) saw the Kalima (La ilaha illallah Muhammad dur Rasoolullah) written on the Arsh (Allah's throne)." Fabricated No.25
8. "There is goodness in me and my Ummah until the day of Judgment." Fabricated No.30
9. "To love ones own country is a sign of Iman." Fabricated No.36
10." Who sleeps after 'Asr and losses his mind should blame none but himself." Da'if No.39
11. " Whoever performs Hajj and does not visit me has boycotted me." No.45
This Hadith and all the other Ahadith about visiting the Prophet (pbuh) after his death are Fabricated.
12. "Disagreement amongst my Ummah is a mercy." Fabricated No.57
13. "My Sahabah are like stars..." This and other Hadith with different endings are all fabricated. No.58
14. "My household (Hal al Bait) are like stars...." Fabricated No.62
15. "My Lord has disciplined me well." Da'if No.72
16."To rub the eyes when hearing the Adhan..." Fabricated No.73
17. "All people are dead except the Scholars, and all the Scholars are punished except the workers, and all the workers are drowned except the sincere, and the sincere are in great danger." Fabricated No.76
18. "There is no Mahdi except Isa (AS)." Munkar No.77
19. “Prayer with the Aamama (head clothing) is equivalent to 25 prayers than without it....” Fabricated No.127
20. “Get married and do not divorce because divorce shakes the Arsh." Fabricated No.147
21. "Love the Arabs for three reasons; because I am an Arab, the Qur'an is in Arabic and the language of Jannah is Arabic." Fabricated No.160
22. "For everything there is a heart, and for the Qur'an this is Surah Ya Sin and who reads it, it is as if he has read the Qur'an ten times." Fabricated No.169
23."Contemplation for one hour is better than worship for sixty years." Fabricated No.173
24." Hajj is Jihad and Umrah is optional." Da'if No..200
25. " The neighbor’s rights are up to forty houses away..." Da'if No.274
26." I was a Prophet before Adam (AS) and before the water and the mud...." Fabricated No.302
27."Who does not care for the Muslims affairs is not one of them..." Da'if No.309
28. "As you are, so will be your leaders." Da'if No.320
29. "Who abides by my Sunnah at the time of corruption of my Ummah he will get the reward of a hundred martyrs..." Da'if No.326
30. "The Prophet (pbuh) kissed a Sahabah by the hand and said that this hand will not be touched by fire." Batil No.391
31. "Seek knowledge even in China." Batil No.416
32. "People will be called on the Day of Judgment by their mothers names." Fabricated No.433
33. " A Sultan (The Ruler) is the shadow of Allah on the earth..." Fabricated No.475
34. "Exaggerate in remembering Allah until others call you mad." Da'if No.517
35. "The son of Adam (AS) does not do a dearer deed than on the Day of Nahaar (sacrifice during Eid ul Adha) than spilling blood of the sacrifice. It will come on the Day of Judgment with its horn, wool and huffs and Allah accepts the sacrifice before its blood reaches the ground..." Da'if/ Fabricated No.526
36. "He used to pray in Ramadan twenty rakahs Taraweeh and the Witr." Fabricated No.560
37. "When the Prophet (pbuh) came into Medina the women and children were singing Ta la al badroo aalaynaa....." Da'if No.598
38. " The believer is courteous, clever and alert." Fabricated No.760
39." Who honors the women is noble and who humiliates them is mean." Fabricated No.845
40."O my Uncle if they placed the sun in my right and the moon in my left to give up this matter (Islam) I would not do so, until Allah makes it prevail or I perish in the process." Da'if No.909
41."Do not urinate standing up." Da'if No.934
42."He used to stand on the mimbar leaning on a stick while giving the Khutbah." Da'if No.964
43."Ali (RA) missed the 'Asr prayer and the Prophet (pbuh) prayed for the sun to reappear until Ali (RA) had prayed." Fabricated No.971
44."One day from a Imam 'Adl (Just Ruler) is better than sixty years of worship." Da'if No.989
45."Whose prayer does not stop him from evil and sins, will not be accepted." Munkar No.985
46."He used to pray four Rakat before Jumuah and four after." Batil No.1001
47."Any women who leaves her house without her husband's permission will be in Allah's displeasure until she returns to the house or her husband becomes happy with her." Fabricated No.1020
48."The dearest women to the Prophet (pbuh) is Fatima (RA), and from the men is Ali (RA)." Batil No.1124
49."Who has died has met his Qiyamah." Da'if No.1166
50."I recommend the two cures, honey and Qur'an." Da'if No.1514
51."If someone backbites his brother then you should seek forgiveness for him as this is a kaffarah" Fabricated/Da'if No.1518
52. “The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr” Fabricated (Source book "100 Fabricated Ahadith" by Shaikh Abdullah Faisal).