According to al-Nawawī, if a report is **known to be fabricated or strongly presumed to be fabricated on the available evidence**, it must not be presented without qualification as a genuine statement of the Prophet. It may be quoted for criticism or warning only with a clear disclosure of its known or strongly suspected fabricated status; probability must not be confused with certainty, nor confirmed fabrication with ordinary weakness.
For a weak report, scholars distinguish cautious non-assertive attribution from declaring categorically قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ (“the Messenger said”); fabrication demands still greater caution. A hadith reader needs sufficient **Arabic grammar, language and knowledge of narrator names** to avoid silently changing an attribution. Where a manuscript reading is demonstrably mistaken, the reading and correction should be distinguished in recitation or marginal notes rather than quietly rewriting the source.