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Health and the body

Medicine, surgery, fertility, mental health and fitness; what the tradition asks of a sick body and what it forgives it.

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

Latest answers

84 segments in 50 recordings, newest first

18 Oct 2025MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth LatestWhy does the guest's prayer have no fixed number of units, and what counts as wudu? The guest's prayer is about duration and connection rather than numbers of units, with an imam supplying structure only in congregation; prostration, kneeling and standing are components without a set order, and wudu is as 5:6 describes it, without the tradition's additions. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechBr Muhammad (MFG, MuhammadFromGod channel)Quran 5:6 (wash your faces and hands, wipe your heads and your feet)Quran 96:19 (prostrate and draw near)salah machine5 min 07 s1:36:54on YouTube

10 Mar 2023video LatestCan a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth? No: reports of years-long pregnancies are best explained by phantom pregnancies followed by real conception, not dismissed as lies or taken literally. Lessonposition checkedImam Malikphantom pregnancy (pseudocyesis)Matt Walshnifas (postnatal bleeding) machine7 min 07 s6:54on YouTube

10 Mar 2023video LatestIs it haram for men to wear earrings? Early imams including Malik wore earrings as boys; Malik disliked golden earrings for boys because of the gold, not the earring. Lessonposition checkedImam MalikSufyan [?]makruhsalaf machine4 min 57 s13:23on YouTube

22 Feb 2023video Is it okay for adults or children to change gender? Mufti Abu Layth says gender transition is an adult's own choice after professional advice, but children should not be put through it until they can decide for themselves. Discussionposition checked machine6 min 27 s28:41on YouTube

13 Feb 2023video Language embeds power: 'inconvenience' versus 'hardship' in tayammum The words scholars choose, such as 'inconvenience' or 'hardship', already decide the ruling, embedding power even when used sincerely. Lessonposition checkedrukhsah (dispensation)tayammumwuduHanafi school machine3 min 52 s26:17on YouTube

10 Dec 2022video Did Abu Hanifa allow wudu with nabidh when there was no water? In the early school of Abu Hanifa, someone without water could make wudu with nabidh, a weak fermented date drink, and he helped people out of rash conditional divorce oaths, unlike the sterner Imam Malik. LessonAbu HanifaImam Maliknabidhwudu machine3 min 54 s28:48on YouTube

26 Apr 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth LatestAre young people today facing an existential crisis? The guest says most people face a crisis of purpose rather than of existence, urges anyone with suicidal thoughts to seek expert help, and says young people can find value without conventional success. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechLupe Fiasco (guest) machine7 min 48 s1:37:14on YouTube

13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth LatestCan I fast for a fixed 12 hours when the days are very long? Follow any timetable you like; Mufti Abu Layth endorses the al-Azhar-derived fatwa that a fast of twelve hours or more is valid for anyone who needs it. Question from live chatposition checkedal-Azhar machine6 min 31 s3:21:50on YouTube

13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth LatestCan I skip fasting because of work, exams or health, and what do I do instead? It is your call: make the fast up later if you can, or give fidya if your situation will not change, which Mufti Abu Layth bases on the plain wording of Quran 2:184. Question from live chatposition checkedQuran 2:184 (those who are able to fast may give fidya)al-Shatibifidyaqada (making up a missed fast) machine6 min 38 s3:28:21on YouTube

6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Are disgusting sexual fetishes between spouses haram? Such fetishes are not haram, however disgusting most people find them: contact with impurity is unclean but not forbidden, and what a consenting couple do in private is their own business. Nobody is obliged to do them. Question from live chatposition checkedTariq RamadanharamHanafi schoolno one may declare haram what Allah has not declared haram machine8 min 30 s1:04:21on YouTube

10 Mar 2021video Reply to Mufti Mangera on ear piercing: who defines normal and decent? A played clip of Mufti Mangera allowing one or two ear piercings as 'normal' among decent people but not higher ones, which Mufti Abu Layth mocks for leaving undefined who decides what is normal. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechMufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera machine3 min 40 s0:00on YouTube

10 Mar 2021video Reply to Mufti Mangera: does the ban on muthla forbid piercing? The clip cites the ban on muthla (mutilation) against piercing; Mufti Abu Layth explains that muthla means disfiguring bodies, especially of the dead, and mocks applying it to ear piercing. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechMufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangeramuthla (mutilation)haram machine3 min 57 s3:40on YouTube

16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Did the Prophet tell people to drink camel urine as medicine? Mufti Abu Layth says camel urine is not medicine and the Prophet never really told anyone to drink it; the report is weak in its chain and, if taken at all, reads as a rebuke. Question from live chatguest speechMohammed Hijabreport: the prophet told the sick to drink camel urinereport: the people of uraynah had their hands and feet cut off and their eyes brandedAnas ibn Malik machine6 min 30 s1:26:20on YouTube

16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth A mufti's clip on ear piercing: 'decency', 'manipulation' and muthla Mufti Abu Layth mocks a mufti's argument that piercing beyond the earlobe is abnormal and amounts to muthla, saying muthla means disfiguring a body, not piercing it. Lessonquoted view, not his positionguest speechMufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangeramuthla (mutilation) machine7 min 45 s1:53:05on YouTube

9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Should I use water or toilet paper after going to the toilet? Mufti Abu Layth says a person should always clean with water after the toilet where possible, with paper only as a fallback. Question from live chatposition checked machine5 min 31 s1:22:52on YouTube

2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Can men wear gold? Men can wear gold, in Mufti Abu Layth's understanding; the Prophet discouraged it because Medina needed to stay on a war footing. Question from live chatposition checkedthe coalition against Madinah (al-Ahzab)a prohibition tied to the circumstances of its time machine2 min 56 s16:35on YouTube

2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Is it haram to have an anal swab test for COVID? An anal-swab COVID test is not haram, Mufti Abu Layth says, any more than a colonoscopy, if that is the test. Question raised by Mufti Abu Laythposition checkedCOVID-19 pandemic machine6 min 11 s53:23on YouTube

2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth How can God be timeless and still perceive time? Linear time is our perspective, Mufti Abu Layth says, not necessarily how God sees events; he also says tattoos are not haram for men. Question from live chatposition checked machine2 min2:48:56on YouTube

29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth LatestIs growing a beard obligatory in the Hanafi school? The guest says Hanafi principles act as a constitution before which everyone is equal, and that by them keeping the beard is mubah, not wajib as subcontinent scholars concluded. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechShaykh Atabek Shukurov (guest)Abu HanifaIbn AbidinMaliki school machine5 min 45 s18:37on YouTube

26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Can I do tayammum instead of wudu if water makes my cough worse? Yes: tayammum is allowed for anyone with an excuse, and whether the excuse applies is for the person to judge. Question from live chatposition checkedtayammumwudu machine1 min 17 s39:55on YouTube

19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Does a bald woman have to wear hijab? Mufti Abu Layth gives no ruling: he jokes about the wording and muses on hair loss in women and men. Question from live chathijab machine1 min 07 s24:30on YouTube

19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Does smoking break my wudu? Smoking does not break wudu, Mufti Abu Layth says; only relieving oneself and meaningful sexual activity do, not a peck on the cheek or eating. Question from live chatposition checkedwudu machine1 min 57 s38:30on YouTube

19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Will I go to hell for not shaving my pubic hair? Nobody goes to hell for not shaving pubic hair, Mufti Abu Layth says; it is a matter of hygiene, which religion tied to reward and closeness to God. Question from live chatposition checked machine3 min 34 s1:03:44on YouTube

12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Do I have to be in a state of purity to say verses of the Quran? Mufti Abu Layth says religion should be natural, not ritualistic: the menstrual state is not impure, and revelation came to the Prophet while in bed with Aisha. Lessonposition checkedreport: the prophet did not return the greeting until he wiped on the wall i disliked to mention allah except in a state of purityhayd (menstruation)report: revelation came to me while i was under the blanket of aishaAisha machine5 min 14 s39:18on YouTube

5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Can I take a mortgage, and can I urinate standing up? Bank interest is not the Quran's riba in his understanding, and urinating standing up is fine, with care over splashing. Question from live chatposition checkedribaHanafi schoolImam Malik machine3 min 42 s37:40on YouTube

5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth LatestDo I lose good deeds if I keep a dog as a pet? No, owning a dog does not cost you reward; he reads the dog hadith as hygiene measures against diseases like rabies, citing Ibn Rushd al-Jadd. Question from live chatposition checkedIbn Rushd al-Jaddal-Muqaddimat al-Mumahhidat (Ibn Rushd al-Jadd)al-Mudawwanaal-Mazari machine8 min 27 s40:54on YouTube

9 Dec 2020video Is it haram for men to wear necklaces, rings or earrings? Mufti Abu Layth disagrees with Yasir Qadhi that men's jewellery is effeminate, saying men have always worn it and Western executives are no benchmark for Islamic etiquette. Discussionguest speechYasir QadhiJay Smithkohladab (etiquette) machine8 min 38 s1:15on YouTube

21 Nov 2020video What did classical scholars say about whether jinn can harm or possess people? Imam al-Shafi'i rejected the testimony of anyone claiming to see jinn, Ibn Hazm forbade adding to what Allah said about them, and al-Tahawi held that Satan can only insinuate, not harm; what is called possession is mental illness, and accepting it would void responsibility. Lessonposition checkedImam al-Shafi'ial-BayhaqiIbn Hazmal-Fisal fi al-Milal (Ibn Hazm) machine7 min 46 s26:14on YouTube

27 Oct 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Mufti Abu Layth's chat round: Sunni and Maliki, beards and quick answers Quick answers: Mufti Abu Layth says he is Sunni and Maliki, and that the din is not in the beard. OtherSunniMaliki machine2 min 06 s1:10:06on YouTube

27 Oct 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Does God really care whether I have a beard? Mufti Abu Layth says the Sharia exists to preserve life and order, and that picturing God as obsessed with beards shrinks God into a child throwing tantrums. Lessonposition checkedmaqasid (aims of the Sharia)Sharia machine6 min 28 s1:12:12on YouTube

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