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Fatwa CenterThe stories in Al-kandahlawi's book Fadhaa'il Al-A'maal
Question
Assalamu alaykum. Is it true that Imaams Ibn Taimiyah and Ibn Al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy with them) also wrote similar stories to what is mentioned in Fadhaa'il Al-A'maal and that Sheikh Zakariya just copied these from them ? Is that true?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Perhaps you are referring to the book entitled Fadhaail Al-A’maal (Book of Virtues) authored by Muhammad Zakariyyah Al-Kandahlawi. Indeed, this book includes superstitions, lies, and many fabricated and weak ahaadeeth.
Shaykh Hammoud At-Tuwaijri said in Al-Qawl Al-Baleegh:
“The most important book of the Tableeghi group is the book entitled “Tableeghi Nisaab" written by one of their prominent scholars, named Muhammad Zakariyyah Al-Kandahlawi. They give great care to this book, they venerate it in the same manner that Ahlus-Sunnah honor the books of Saheeh Al-Bukhari and Saheeh Muslim and other books of hadeeth. The Tableeghi group consider this book as the foundation and a reference for the Indians and other non-Arabs who followed them. It contains much polytheism and many innovations and superstitions as well as many fabricated and weak ahaadeeth. In reality, it is a book of evil, misguidance and tribulation.”
Fatwa 21412 of the Standing Committee reads:
“It is not permissible to read Fadhaail Al-A’maal and other books that include superstitions and false stories for the people in mosques or else because this misleads the people and spreads superstitions among them.”
As regards what is said about Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Al-Qayyim 
then they are the farthest of people from that; they do not provide evidence except with what is confirmed authentic to them, but sometimes they mention a weak hadeeth when it corresponds to other authentic ahaadeeth.
Ibn Taymiyyah 
said in his response to Al-Bakri:
“This hadeeth (i.e. a weak hadeeth) is not mentioned to be relied upon as evidence; rather, it is mentioned along with other ahaadeeth to show that its meaning corresponds to the meanings known by the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the Prophet . Also, if a ruling is mentioned with a known evidence, its corresponding ahaadeeth attributed to the Prophet are mentioned as well as mursal narrations (i.e. ahaadeeth narrated by a Tabi'i [successor of the Prophet's Companions]) and the sayings of the scholars, and so on, as this gives more strength and support, but (it is) not that one of these ahaadeeth is relied upon in issuing a sharee'ah ruling. It is for this reason that the scholars agree that it is permissible to provide a hadeeth as strength and support while it cannot be relied upon because of criticism about some of its narrators due to bad memorization and so forth. The same applies to the statements of the Companions and the Taabi’is (the generation that followed them), and the statements of the Shaykhs and Israelites and visions (dreams) that are valid to be used as a support, so what is valid to be used as strength is one thing and what can be used as evidence is another.”
He clarified that the scholars mention the weak ahaadeeth, stories, (stories of the) Israelites and visions to support what is authentic in sharee'ah, and this is the view held by Shaykhs Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim .
As regards Shaykh Muhammad Zakariyyah Al-Kandahlawi he provided the weak ahaadeeth, lies, polytheism to support innovations and what has no foundation in sharee'ah, so there is a big difference between the two.
Allaah Knows best.
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