الحديث الضعيف
al-Ḥadīth al-Ḍaʿīf
A hadith that falls short of the standard of soundness in its text, its chain of reporters, or both; there are as many kinds as there are defects.
What it means
A ḥadīth ḍaʿīf, “weak report”, is a report attributed to the Prophet whose truth is not established beyond question. The doubt may lie in the matn, the text, or in the sanad, the chain of reporters, for example when a link is missing or a reporter is known for a poor memory or a doubtful character. Scholars named many types of weakness, such as mursal and munqaṭiʿ, according to the defect.
A weak report is not the same as a forged one. It stands below the ṣaḥīḥ and the ḥasan and above the mawḍūʿ. Scholars differ on its use: some allow it for encouragement to good deeds when it does not touch on creed or law and its weakness is slight, and others reject it altogether. It cannot establish a legal ruling.
Often misunderstood as
Equated with a false report; ḍaʿīf means a report not proven to the required standard, which is different from a fabrication.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 51, listed as AL ḤADĪTH AL ḌA'ĪF. The definition is restated here.