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Death and grief

Losing someone and facing your own death: funerals and burial, what helps the dead, mourning customs, the grave and what comes after, and living with loss.

Example phrasings, not quotations. Each one runs a search.

Latest answers

33 segments in 28 recordings, newest first

18 Oct 2025MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth LatestIf most people love praise and are punished, how is God the most merciful? The guest says most people are mushrikun according to the Quran and that God is merciful in giving them messengers and exits, so those who refuse to reason deserve punishment; guidance follows the attributes God has set, not chance. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechBr Muhammad (MFG, MuhammadFromGod channel)Quran 12:106 (most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him)shirk machine3 min 14 s2:10:46on YouTube

2 Jun 2023video LatestWhat can the death of a parent teach us? Mufti Abu Layth says death is the greatest admonition and grief brings families together; one lesson may be to serve those who have no one around them. Lessonposition checkedreport: no one alive on earth tonight will be alive a hundred years from nowQuran 36:68 (whoever We grant long life, We reverse in creation) machine4 min 28 s0:01on YouTube

26 May 2023video LatestWhat is the funeral prayer and what do you say in it? The funeral prayer is in essence a sincere du'a for the deceased; many scholars allow any du'a, in any language, across its four takbirs. Lessonposition checkedQuran 67:2 (He created death and life to test which of you is best in deeds)Quran 3:185 (every soul shall taste death)Quran 89:27-30 (O soul at peace, return to your Lord)janazah (funeral prayer) machine4 min 48 s3:14on YouTube

22 Feb 2023video Will gay people around us make Muslims gay? Mufti Abu Layth says people being gay does not make others gay and the fear of it is an unnecessary insecurity; like Imam Malik on others' customs, their way of life is theirs. Discussionposition checkedMatt WalshImam MalikMajus (Zoroastrians) [?]Jared Diamond machine3 min 51 s24:50on YouTube

29 Nov 2021video LatestIs it wrong to joke about people who are seriously ill with covid? Do not make fun of people who are ill with covid: it is a roll of the dice, as a neighbour's sudden death showed, and it should make us grateful. Lessonposition checkedthe coronavirus pandemicshifa (cure) machine5 min 17 s0:14on YouTube

25 Oct 2021video Will Allah judge someone who follows only the Quran by the Quran alone? Mufti Abu Layth will not speak on who is saved: he finds it arrogant for a human to presume where anyone ends up, since Allah's mercy encompasses everything. We should concern ourselves with our own path. Question from a callerposition checkedQuranist (Quran-only)sunnahSalafiShia machine4 min 30 s2:36on YouTube

26 Apr 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth LatestWhat inspired the story of Lupe Fiasco's album The Cool? Mufti Abu Layth describes a classical tale of a poet's journey through paradise; the guest explains the resurrection story behind his album The Cool and the slave-ship myth of Drogas Wave. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechLupe Fiasco (guest)Abu al-Ala al-Ma'arri [?] (described, not named on air)Risalat al-Ghufran [?]al-A'sha [?] machine7 min 47 s1:17:52on YouTube

26 Apr 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Is life just a dream in the mind of God? The guest says life is real and material, the unseen is part of nature, and ordinary people do not need the supernatural. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechLupe Fiasco (guest) machine3 min 15 s2:02:07on YouTube

13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Can I pray for a non-Muslim who has died? Yes: Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims may pray for a non-Muslim like DMX who touched many lives, since no one has a monopoly on salvation, and that music is not haram. Lessonguest speechDMXreport: the prophet stood for the funeral of a jewish woman and said is it not a soul (as told by the host; unresolved)dua machine5 min 15 s2:18:55on YouTube

6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Is it haram to believe the universe will never end? It is not haram: creation, including the afterlife, once brought into being remains forever in some form while still being other than God. Question from live chatposition checked machine1 min 24 s1:34:16on YouTube

9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Are the Prophet's parents in heaven or hell? Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet's parents are unquestionably among the saved. Question from live chatposition checked machine45 s2:14:22on YouTube

19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth LatestWhy does Islam describe Paradise in such sensual terms? Paradise is described sensually because that imagery works for people, Mufti Abu Layth says, meaning it functionally rather than cynically. Question from live chatposition checked machine1 min 18 s1:32:09on YouTube

12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Is it unfair that some are born Muslim, and is God's throne literal? Mufti Abu Layth says the throne is a literary expression meaning the kingdom is God's, and that salvation in the hereafter is not the exclusive property of Muslims. Question written questionposition checkedQuran 11:7 (His throne was upon the water)Quran 20:5 (the Most Merciful established Himself over the throne) [?] machine1 min 58 s2:52:39on YouTube

5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Can a Christian really speak with God? Anyone can have a direct line to God whatever they call Him; he says the atheist one-god-further argument is a fallacy. Question from live chatposition checkedRichard Dawkins machine5 min 22 s1:52:12on YouTube

11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth If blind following in faith is forbidden, why must I accept a school's creed without question? Mufti Abu Layth finds it paradoxical that schools forbid blind following in faith but demand blind acceptance of their creeds; the guest says traditionalists use reason only to reach revelation and then discard it, whereas reason must stay in continuous use. Discussionguest speechDr Javad T. Hashmi (guest)report: i heard the people saying something so i said it (unresolved; the questioning in the grave)taqlid (blind following)Ash'ari machine7 min 03 s24:25on YouTube

11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Are paradise and hell in the Quran meant literally? The guest, following Ibn Rushd against al-Ghazali, says belief requires accepting the afterlife, not literal readings of its details; Mufti Abu Layth agrees the afterlife is symbolic but says the prophets' stories are of this world. Discussionguest speechDr Javad T. Hashmi (guest)al-GhazaliTahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers)Ibn Rushd (Averroes) machine4 min 28 s1:15:55on YouTube

13 Oct 2020video Why do some Muslims struggle to accept that Adam might have had parents? Mufti Abu Layth says nothing in Islam falls apart if Adam had parents, so the resistance must come from something other than Islam, and God keeping His own rules is no limitation. Discussionposition checkedAdamakhirahbarzakhsunnat Allah (God's unchanging way) machine7 min 30 s43:06on YouTube

22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth LatestCan we appreciate good in paradise if there is no evil there? Mufti Abu Layth says nobody knows how appreciation will work in the afterlife, because it is beyond what the human mind can comprehend. Question from live chatposition checkedjannahImmanuel Kant machine2 min 31 s38:48on YouTube

19 Aug 2020video Can non-Muslims be saved according to Sunni scholars? Mufti Abu Layth says broad views on salvation for non-Muslims and on hell, while not necessarily right, are all part of the Sunni tradition. Lessonposition checkedal-Baydawi [?]MaturidiAsh'arikafir machine4 min 47 s0:03on YouTube

14 Jul 2020live stream What do Illiyyin and Sijjin mean in the Quran? They refer to a record or place of the righteous and the wicked; he takes afterlife imagery as symbolic and promises more next week. Question from live chatposition checkedIlliyyinSijjinmufassirun machine2 min 32 s39:04on YouTube

14 Jul 2020live stream What was al-Ash'ari's argument against the Mu'tazila about God always doing what is best? Mufti Abu Layth tells the debate attributed to al-Ash'ari, in which a disbeliever asks why he was not allowed to die as a child, and says this is where the Mu'tazili view of a God bound to do the best crumbles. Lessonposition checkedAbu al-Hasan al-Ash'ariMu'tazilaAsh'ari machine2 min 34 s49:45on YouTube

10 Jul 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Does the Quran motivate people through self-interest? Mufti Abu Layth suggests, tentatively, that even the Quran motivates through self-interest; the guest distinguishes healthy from harmful selfishness. Discussionguest speechShaykh Omar Balochjannahzakat machine5 min 09 s1:59:04on YouTube

10 Jul 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Are the descriptions of paradise in the Quran literal? Mufti Abu Layth says he takes the Quran's imagery of paradise as symbolic, a motivation for people, rather than literal. Discussionguest speechShaykh Omar BalochMalcolm Xjannahreport: ma la aynun raat wa la udhunun samiat wa la khatara ala qalbi bashar machine1 min 58 s2:04:13on YouTube

26 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Is al-kitab the same book given to every prophet? The guest says owning a slave is shirk, that kawthar means abundance rather than a pool, and that al-kitab is the one divine law sent to every prophet, whose goal, peacemaking, is secular while iman is distinct. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechEdip YukselQuran 108:1 (we have given you al-kawthar)kawtharal-kitab machine2 min 37 s2:29:34on YouTube

26 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Is consciousness in the brain, or is the brain a receiver for the soul? Mufti Abu Layth holds that consciousness is non-local and the brain a receiver like a radio; the guest disagrees, describing a human as matter plus information that is backed up in God's record and restored to a new body at the resurrection. Discussionguest speechEdip YukselGeorge BerkeleyRene Descartesruh machine7 min 51 s2:53:05on YouTube

19 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Does Islam teach us to feel guilty? Mufti Abu Layth says guilt-tripping is not an Islamic concept but one taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the guest says forbidding evil applies only to what the texts clearly prohibit. Discussionguest speechShaykh Kashif Khan (guest)al-Ghazali [?]al-amr bil-ma'ruf wa al-nahy an al-munkar (commanding good and forbidding evil)nabidh machine5 min 14 s2:36:00on YouTube

28 Feb 2020From the Mind of a Mufti Do Muslims believe in reincarnation? No: he does not believe in past lives in this world, though he feels souls are connected to each other and to God, which may explain the feeling of having lived before. Question from live chatposition checkedruh (soul) machine1 min 57 s31:30on YouTube

21 Aug 2019From the Mind of a Mufti Is the Quran's description of paradise and hell literal or symbolic? Mufti Abu Layth reads the Quran's imagery of the afterlife as symbolic, chosen to resonate with the people it was revealed to, while holding that life continues after this world. Allah also describes himself in imagery, and people are free to disagree. Lessonposition checkedQuran 24:35 (Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth)report: not a single human could ever conceptualise the afterlifeIbn Rushd (Averroes)Ibn Arabi machine6 min 32 s2:38on YouTube

1 Aug 2019On Current Events Is it wrong to judge someone who has become an atheist or left Islam? A person's atheism or doubts are their own choice and he does not judge them; what he objects to, he says, is staged exorcisms and charity money taken under false pretences. Lessonposition checkedruqyajinnQuran 2:256 (no compulsion in religion), alluded to machine5 min 43 s10:45on YouTube

8 Oct 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran Do Muslims really get 72 virgins in Paradise? The number 72 or 73 has no basis and comes from a fabricated or very weak report that became an old wives' tale. The Quran does mention women and virgins in Paradise in modest terms, and some non-sahih reports speak of sexual relations there. Question source not recordedposition checkedreport: seventy two virgins in paradise (number called fabricated or extremely weak)report: will we have intercourse in paradise dahman dahman [?]jannah (Paradise) machine4 min 49 s0:00on YouTube

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