Mawdoo (fabricated) Hadeeth No:17 "Whatever you are given from the Book of Allaah is to be acted upon; there is no excuse for anyone to leave it. If it is not in the Book of Allaah, then (act upon) a previous example (sunnah) of mine. If there is no previous example (sunnah) of mine, then (act upon) what my Companions say: verily, my Companions are of the station of the stars in the sky, so whichever of them you take, you will be guided, and the disagreement of my Companions is a mercy for you."

Mawdoo` (Fabricated). Collected by Khateeb in al-Kifaayah fi `Ilm ar-Riwaayah [p.48] and also by Abul-`Abbaas al-Asamm in the his Hadeeth (no. 142), & Ibn ''''Asaakir [7/315/2] by way of:

Sulaimaan ibn Abi Kareemah from Juwaibir from ad-Dahhaak from Ibn `Abbaas from The Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam).

This isnaad is da`eef jiddan (very weak).

About Sulaimaan ibn Abi Kareemah, Ibn Abi Haatim [2/1/138] reported from his father about him, "He is weak in hadeeth."

Juwaibir is Ibn Sa`eed al-Azadee, and is matrook (abandoned) as Daaraqutnee, Nasaa`i and others have said, and Ibn al-Madeeni declared him to be very weak.

Dahhaak is Ibn Muzaahim al-Hilaalee, and he did not meet Ibn `Abbaas.

`Iraaqi quoted the last part of the hadeeth in his Takhreej of Ghazaali''''s Ihyaa'''' `Uloom ad-Deen [1/25] and then said, "Its isnaad is da`eef."

The isnaad is actually very weak due to what we have mentioned about Juwaibir, as Sakhaawi said in al-Maqaasid . In meaning, however, the hadeeth is fabricated, as is clear from what has preceeded and what will follow.

Suyooti quoted the hadeeth in its entirety at the begining of his treatise Jazeel al-Mawaahib fi Ikhtilaaf al-Madhaahib from the narration of Bayhaqi in al-Madkhal, and Dailami related it from this route, as occurs in al-Mawdoo`aat of `Ali al-Qaari [p.19]. Once you know this, then the saying of Suyooti in his aforementioned treatise is very strange: "... and this hadeeth contains several points to note; among them his (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam) informing of the disagreements between the madhaahib in non-fundamental matters, and that is one of his miracles, since it is information about the Unseen; also, his being pleased with that and approving of it, since he described it as a mercy, and that the burdened person may choose whichever of them he wishes."

It could be said to him: first establish the throne, and then sit. What he has mentioned about the choice is false: it is not possible for the Muslim to cling to it and act upon its generality, since it leads to breaking away from the restrictions of the Sharee`ah, as is not hard to see. See also the discussion of next hadeeth.