Rulings on weak Hadith

Madhab	Use for Rulings	Use for Encouragement	Conditions/Requirements	Scholarly Authority
Hanafi	Reject	Generally reject	Must have stronger supporting evidence or consensus	Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf prefer authentic sources
Maliki	Reject	Accept with caution	Must not contradict Quran/authentic sunnah, supported by Medina practice preferred	Imam Malik emphasized amal ahl al-Madinah validation
Shafi'i	Reject	Conditionally accept	3 conditions: (1) Weakness not severe, (2) Falls under established principle, (3) Not believed to be from Prophet definitively	Al-Shafi'i, later codified by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani
Hanbali	Reject	Accept	Accept weak hadith for virtuous acts (fadail), good conduct (adab), and encouragement	Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Taymiyyah supported this approach