The scholars have long cautioned against disseminating weak reports, failing to distinguish between sound and unsound narrations, and the harm that follows—especially for ordinary people who cannot tell the difference.

Imam Muslim—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

“Now then, may Allah show you mercy. Had it not been for the deplorable conduct we have witnessed from many who style themselves ḥadith scholars—men who are duty-bound to discard weak ḥadith and discredited reports, restrict themselves to the well-known sound narrations transmitted by trustworthy transmitters renowned for honesty and probity, and who, after acknowledging with their own tongues that much of what they fling at the simple-minded masses is objectionable and traced through unreliable individuals whose narrations were denounced by the leading scholars of ḥadith such as Mālik ibn Anas, Shuʿbah ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī and others—were this not the case, it would have been easy for us to excuse ourselves from answering your request for clarification and verification. But because, as we have explained, those people are circulating spurious reports with feeble, unknown chains of transmission and casting them before the laity who are unaware of their defects, our hearts have been moved to comply with your request.”