Reject weak reports?

Question:

Do all scholars agree that one should not follow traditions whose chains have been classified as weak (Da’if)?

Answer:

Zain-ud-Din Al-Amili writes: “As for the weak report (Da’if), most of them tend towards the total prohibition to follow it, due to the intention to be certain of themselves when it comes to the reports of the wicked (Fasiq),whom we are ordered to reject, while others allow the following of such a tradition – which forms a large group of people and of which we have mentioned some – with the appeal to its widespread circulation, so that the mention of it occurs often and the traditions about it are the same in the text or appear in different wordings, whose meanings are similar or they appear as a legal opinion with the content in the legal works, because of the assumption of the truthfulness of the narrators under the aspect of its widespread circulation (of the reports) , because even if the chain is weak (Da’if), the report was accepted because of its frequency of its content (Thabit).” [Ar-Ri’ayah Fi Ilm Ad-Dirayah, page 92]

قال الشهيد الثاني زين الدين العاملي رحمه الله: وأما الضعيف فذهب الأكثر إلى منع العمل به مطلقا للامر بالتثبت عند أخبار الفاسق الموجب لرده وأجازه آخرون وهم جماعة كثيرة منهم من ذكرناه مع اعتضاده بالشهرة رواية بأن يكثر تدوينها وروايتها بلفظ واحد أو ألفاظ متغايرة متقاربة المعنى أو فتوى بمضمونها في كتب الفقه لقوة الظن بصدق الراوي في جانبها اي جانب الشهرة وإن ضعف الطريق فإن الطريق الضعيف قد ثبت به الخبر مع إشتهار مضمونه