Explaining the Methods of Utilizing Technically Weak Narrations in the Process of Deriving Islamic Rulings on Acts of Worship

In the process of deriving Islamic legal rulings utilizing the valuable collection of hadiths plays a significant role. This role is even more pronounced/more prominent  in the set of rulings related to acts of worship ('ibādī), because finding the precedents (origins or basis) of these rulings requires textual evidence (adilla-ye lafzī). Considering the classification of Hadith into four categories: sahih (authentic), hasan (good), muwaththaq (reliable), and da'if (weak), a significant number of the narrational heritage containing  Islamic rulings on acts of worship will fall under the category of technically weak hadiths. This research, using a descriptive-analytical method and drawing upon documentary sources, after precisely defining weak hadiths and explaining the approaches of Islamic jurists in evaluating narrations, presents the criteria for accepting weak narrations to incorporate them in the process of deriving legal rulings. And after demonstrating the inadequacy of relying solely on the approach of trusting the narrator's trustworthiness, it has introduced four strategies for utilizing weak narrations in the process of deriving legal rulings: 'utilizing widespread practice (practical acceptance) , utilizing the principle of leniency in the evidences for recommended act, inclusion in accepted books and elevated content of the hadith . The justifications for the permissibility of utilizing each of these strategies and responses to the alleged and potential shortcomings of them have also been explained by using the disciplines of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and Usul (principles of jurisprudence).