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Everyday questions › Poetry, books and ideas

Poetry, books and ideas

The lighter and deeper side of the channel: Urdu and Arabic poetry, Rumi, the book club, philosophy, science and the big questions.

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Latest answers

80 segments in 36 recordings, newest first
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
22 Feb 2023video LatestDid some Muslim scholars say homosexuality is not haram? Mufti Abu Layth says he described, not endorsed, a minority view that it is not haram; Islamic history holds diverse views, many scholars' poetry shows bisexual appreciation, and persecution is unacceptable. Question from a callerposition checkedal-Nawawi [?] (name garbled in the transcript) machine5 min 43 s16:33on YouTube
19 Aug 2022video LatestIdentity, Midnight's Children, the fatwa and the years in hiding Mufti Abu Layth says Rushdie's lack of a secure identity runs through his books, and recounts Midnight's Children, Khomeini's fatwa and the years in hiding before turning to The Satanic Verses. LessonSalman RushdieMidnight's ChildrenThe Satanic Verses (novel)Ayatollah Khomeini machine2 min 38 s25:03on YouTube
19 Aug 2022video What is The Satanic Verses actually about? Mufti Abu Layth summarises the novel's plot, including the Mahound episode and the brothel whose women bear the names of the Prophet's wives, and says this part, though short, shows the book's hostility to Islam. LessonThe Satanic Verses (novel)Salman Rushdie machine9 min 11 s32:57on YouTube
19 Aug 2022video Is The Satanic Verses a critique of Islam or an insult? Mufti Abu Layth says the novel is an insult rather than a critique, since it makes no argument and only portrays the Prophet and his wives offensively. LessonThe Satanic Verses (novel)Salman RushdieCopernicus machine2 min 40 s42:08on YouTube
30 Aug 2021Shorts LatestIs a DMT ego death the same as the Sufi idea of fana? Mufti Abu Layth says the ego death reported with 5-MeO-DMT is, he believes, what Ibn Arabi meant by fana fillah. Lessonposition checked5-MeO-DMTMike TysonJoe RoganIbn Arabi machine1 min0:00on YouTube
26 Apr 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth LatestDid Lupe Fiasco's way with words come naturally? The guest says words did not come naturally: he trained himself by copying words from magazine covers into raps until metaphors and images came easily. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechLupe Fiasco (guest) machine6 min 23 s19:40on YouTube
26 Apr 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Do we think in words or in images? The guest argues that shapes are more fundamental than words or pictures; Mufti Abu Layth says words are also reductive, forcing profound things into limited form. Discussionguest speechLupe Fiasco (guest) machine7 min 48 s26:43on YouTube
26 Apr 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth LatestIs the soul the same thing as consciousness? The guest describes storytelling as a syncing of minds; Mufti Abu Layth says he feels consciousness is synonymous with the ruh and links people weakly at a distance. Discussionguest speechLupe Fiasco (guest)ruh [?] (captioned 'rule') machine3 min 14 s35:08on YouTube
26 Apr 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth LatestDid everyone at the time of the Prophet accept Islam without questions? The guest says early Muslims, including poets, had real critiques; Mufti Abu Layth says the deen should complement life rather than complicate it. Discussionguest speechLupe Fiasco (guest)jahiliyyadeen machine5 min 51 s1:10:04on 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 humanity becoming more or less moral? The guest says morality is remade daily, with no overall rise or fall and no consistent definition; Mufti Abu Layth says he agrees. Discussionquoted view, not his positionguest speechLupe Fiasco (guest) machine5 min 13 s1:24:22on 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 What did Ibn Rushd mean by the 'double truth' of religion and philosophy? Mufti Abu Layth says it is not 'double truth', but he agrees fully with Ibn Rushd that the sharia is built for ordinary people while the gifted can find its deeper meanings. Question from live chatposition checkedIbn Rushd (Averroes)Sharia machine6 min 31 s2:35:57on YouTube
13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth LatestHow can I be sure my reason is not wrong? Mufti Abu Layth says al-Ghazali answered his doubt by relying on God; today, he says, the very existence of a consciousness that can doubt is itself the sign of God. Question from live chatposition checkedal-Ghazalial-Munqidh min al-Dalal (Deliverance from Error)Rene Descartes machine5 min 13 s2:52:58on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth LatestAn Urdu poem of living on after the beloved Mufti Abu Layth reads and explains an Urdu poem on living on after the beloved, a mix of despair and hope. Other machine6 min 59 s12:37on 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
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth LatestDoes Ibn Hazm contradict himself in The Ring of the Dove? Mufti Abu Layth knows of no contradiction; he describes The Ring of the Dove as Ibn Hazm's mature study of the psychology of love and retells one of its bawdy stories. Question from live chatIbn HazmTawq al-Hamama (The Ring of the Dove)Hajj machine9 min 05 s28:09on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth An Urdu poem: if anyone asks who I am, say nobody special Mufti Abu Layth reads and briefly explains an Urdu poem about being nobody special and about a companion whose absence empties life. Other machine3 min 05 s11:06on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Who is the Mufti's favourite Western philosopher? Mufti Abu Layth names no single favourite but likes Wittgenstein, Nietzsche and Diogenes, and feels Muslims have been left out of philosophy in recent centuries. Question from live chatposition checkedLudwig WittgensteinFriedrich NietzscheOn the Genealogy of MoralsDiogenes machine1 min 45 s1:23:18on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Can atheism explain consciousness? Mufti Abu Layth says atheists have strong points, but their case collapses at consciousness and quantum physics; atheism only works against Newtonian, institutional religion. Question from live chatposition checkedProfessor Mir Faizal [?]Lawrence Krauss machine4 min 28 s1:42:23on YouTube
9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth A sung Andalusian Arabic poem shared from YouTube Mufti Abu Layth plays a sung classical Arabic poem and calls it majestic. Other machine3 min 48 s20:02on YouTube
9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Why does every spiritual awakening story have a time of withdrawal? Mufti Abu Layth agrees that the ascetic phase in awakening stories is an archetype, like Tolstoy's two plots. Question from live chatposition checkedMusa (Moses)Isa (Jesus)the BuddhaLeo Tolstoy machine1 min 20 s2:04:12on YouTube
2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth A modern Arabic love poem: choosing honour over a friend's wife Mufti Abu Layth reads an Arabic love poem in which the poet turns down his friend's wife, preferring honour to betrayal. Other machine8 min 02 s55:20on YouTube
2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Clip: a raven mimicking human speech Mufti Abu Layth shows a raven mimicking speech and says crows and ravens are equally intelligent corvids. Otherguest speech machine4 min 50 s2:10:08on YouTube
2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Why names intrigue Mufti Abu Layth: a name that sounds rude in Urdu Mufti Abu Layth jokes about a name that sounds rude in Urdu and says he finds names intriguing. Other machine3 min 01 s2:45:28on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Could the hadith tradition evolve like a living organism? As food for thought, he suggests that the hadith system, like other belief systems, behaves like an evolving organism that drives people to standardise and preserve it. Lessonposition checkedDavid Sloan WilsonDarwin's CathedralRichard DawkinsPlato machine10 min 28 s2:12:03on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth A classical Arabic love poem on how the prophets' attributes are shared out Mufti Abu Layth recites a classical Arabic love poem in which the beloved gets the prophets' beauty and the poet their sorrows. OtherYusuf (Joseph)Dawud (David)Maryam (Mary)Ya'qub (Jacob) machine3 min 46 s7:57on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Who was Ibn Rushd (Averroes)? Mufti Abu Layth presents Ibn Rushd as a Maliki judge, physician and the great commentator on Aristotle, honoured in Europe but exiled and neglected by Muslims. Lessonposition checkedIbn Rushd (Averroes)Ibn Rushd al-JaddAristotleIbn Tufayl [?] machine12 min 46 s1:56:13on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth How did Ibn Rushd answer al-Ghazali's attack on the philosophers? Mufti Abu Layth explains that Ibn Rushd answered al-Ghazali by showing that what he refuted was mostly neoplatonism, not Aristotle. Lessonposition checkedal-GhazaliIbn Rushd (Averroes)Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers)Tahafut al-Tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence) machine3 min 52 s2:16:37on YouTube

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