Criterion for Judging a Hadith Containing a Prophecy

And if there is a hadith containing a prophecy which is considered inauthentic by experts of Hadith, but the prophecy contained in it is fulfilled—either in your lifetime or before—then consider such a hadith to be true and consider the scholars and narrators of the hadith—who judged it weak and fabricated—as being mistaken or liars. Hundreds of ahaadeeth which contain prophecies are considered doubtful, fabricated, or weak by Hadith scholars. If any such hadith happens to come true, and you refuse to accept it on the grounds that it is weak, or one of its narrators lack in piety, you will only establish your own faithlessness for having rejected a hadith which was shown to be truthful by God. Reflect: Should there be a thousand of such hadith adjudged to be weak in the view of Hadith scholars, yet a thousand prophecies contained within them were proven true, would you then declare all these ahaadeeth to be weak, thereby depriving Islam of thousands of its testimonies? Thusly would you become enemies of Islam. Allah Almighty says:

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Thus, true prophecies can only be attributed to truthful Messengers. In such instances, is it not closer to piety to suggest that a Hadith scholar has mistakenly declared an authentic hadith as weak, than to say that God has erroneously authenticated a false one?

Even if a hadith is deemed inauthentic, it ought to be followed as long as it does not contradict the Quran and Sunnah, and other ahaadeeth which corroborate the Quran. But, one should take great care when following the Hadith because many of them are fabricated as well and have created discord within Islam. Every sect possesses narrations which are consistent with their own beliefs, so much so that, even an institution as firm and well established as the Islamic prayer, has been given various guises because of conflicting accounts found in the Hadith. Some recite aameen loudly, while others recite it silently. Some recite Surah Faatihah behind the Imam, while others think that this invalidates the prayer. Some fold their arms over their chests, others fold them over their navel. It is actually from the Hadith that these differences emanate…