Mufti Abu Layth Archive: On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Were the angels at Badr actually Persian knights?

Tue, 31 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Were the angels at Badr actually Persian knights?

Mufti Abu Layth finds the theory that Persian knights summoned by Salman al-Farisi were taken for angels at Badr interesting but most likely untrue, and harmless even if true. Mufti Abu Layth says the theory that knights of the House of Karen helped at Badr is most likely not true, but that even if it were true it would not be problematic.

Answer from 31 December 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Did the angels assist in the Battle of Badr? | Mufti Abu Layth (at 7:42)

A more recent answer on history/sirah exists (9 May 2023): How did the Prophet balance gentleness and strength?

Watch on YouTube at 7:42 · Open the segment

Did angels really fight at the Battle of Badr?

Tue, 31 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Did angels really fight at the Battle of Badr?

Mufti Abu Layth says many take the angelic help at Badr as symbolic language for strengthened resolve, and the companions' later descriptions as storytelling or what they felt they saw. Mufti Abu Layth says the evidence suggests the Quraysh army at Badr was probably at least a thousand strong, outnumbering the believers.

Answer from 31 December 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Did the angels assist in the Battle of Badr? | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on quran/hermeneutics exists (18 October 2025): Does 3:188 mean everyone who likes praise will be punished?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Is it okay to criticise the companions of the Prophet?

Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Is it okay to criticise the companions of the Prophet?

Mufti Abu Layth advises most people to view the companions with veneration, but says anyone who chooses critical, academic study must apply it to every companion, Ali included, rather than selectively. Mufti Abu Layth says one may either venerate the companions or study them critically as fully human, that critical study must then apply equally to every companion including Ali, and that he personally advises people to take the venerating approach.

Answer from 19 September 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Can we criticise the companions of the Prophet (s) | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on dialogue/sunni-shia-dialogue exists (22 February 2023): Should Sunnis preach to Shia Muslims about what they get wrong?

Watch on YouTube at 1:19 · Open the segment

Why should Muslims reject the hadith that the Prophet died of poison?

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why should Muslims reject the hadith that the Prophet died of poison?

Following Imam Malik, a hadith that contradicts the overall message of the Quran is set aside; Mufti Abu Layth rules the poisoning report false on chain and content and says that calling the Prophet's death a poisoning insults Islam, God and the Prophet. Mufti Abu Layth holds that a hadith contradicting the overall message of the Quran must be set aside, as Imam Malik did, and that saying the Prophet died of poisoning insults Islam, God and the Prophet.

Answer from 17 September 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: False Hadith: The Prophet ﷺ Was Poisoned Before He Died (at 12:47)

A more recent answer on hadith/hadith-in-legal-reasoning exists (18 October 2025): Is there a middle way between rejecting all hadith and accepting every hadith?

Watch on YouTube at 12:47 · Open the segment

Does the hadith that the Prophet died of poison contradict the Quran?

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does the hadith that the Prophet died of poison contradict the Quran?

Yes, in Mufti Abu Layth's view: the Quran promises that Allah will protect the Prophet from the people, and it describes cutting the aorta as the punishment for one who forges revelation, so a report that the Prophet died that way humiliates him. Mufti Abu Layth says the poisoning report clashes with the Quran's promise to protect the Prophet from the people and makes the Prophet's death resemble the punishment described in the Quran for one who forges revelation.

Answer from 17 September 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: False Hadith: The Prophet ﷺ Was Poisoned Before He Died (at 10:31)

A more recent answer on hadith/authentication/text-criticism-and-reason exists (19 August 2022): What does the Quran say against the satanic verses story?

Watch on YouTube at 10:31 · Open the segment

How can the same poison kill one companion at once and the Prophet three years later?

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How can the same poison kill one companion at once and the Prophet three years later?

The story contradicts itself: the companion who ate the food died at once, so the same poison cannot have killed the Prophet three years later, and the Prophet in Muslim's version says Allah would not let the woman do it. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the poisoning story is internally contradictory, since the companion who ate the food died at once while the Prophet is said to have died from the same poison three years later.

Answer from 17 September 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: False Hadith: The Prophet ﷺ Was Poisoned Before He Died (at 6:49)

A more recent answer on history/sirah exists (9 May 2023): How did the Prophet balance gentleness and strength?

Watch on YouTube at 6:49 · Open the segment

Is the chain of the hadith that the Prophet died of poison reliable?

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Is the chain of the hadith that the Prophet died of poison reliable?

Mufti Abu Layth finds the chains unacceptable: the Bukhari version runs through Yunus, whom early critics faulted for his memory, and through al-Zuhri, who does not state that he heard it, while the Abu Dawud version has a narrator criticised for mistakes. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the chain of the poisoning report is unacceptable because Yunus was faulted by early critics for his memory and al-Zuhri does not state that he heard it.

Answer from 17 September 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: False Hadith: The Prophet ﷺ Was Poisoned Before He Died (at 3:26)

A more recent answer on hadith/bukhari exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth challenge hadith in BukhariGate, and can the Prophet be called the most beloved of creation?

Watch on YouTube at 3:26 · Open the segment

Was the Prophet Muhammad poisoned, and did he die from it?

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Was the Prophet Muhammad poisoned, and did he die from it?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet did not die of poisoning. The report in Bukhari that he felt the poison cutting his aorta in his final illness is, in his view, a fabricated story that contradicts itself and fails on its chain. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Prophet did not die of poisoning and that the report in which the Prophet says in his final illness that he feels the poison cutting his aorta is a fabricated story.

Answer from 17 September 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: False Hadith: The Prophet ﷺ Was Poisoned Before He Died (at 0:01)

A more recent answer on hadith/false-and-fabricated/about-the-prophet exists (19 August 2022): Recap: the novel, insult versus critique, and the false story summarised

Watch on YouTube at 0:01 · Open the segment

If the Safiyya story is in Sahih al-Bukhari, why question it?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

If the Safiyya story is in Sahih al-Bukhari, why question it?

Because Bukhari's own narrations of the incident conflict, all rest on Anas, and Anas himself says nobody witnessed a marriage and they only assumed one from her being veiled. Earlier scholars were great but shaped by their times, and loyalty to them should not come before the Prophet's honour. Mufti Abu Layth holds that a report being in Sahih al-Bukhari does not settle the matter when Bukhari's own narrations of it conflict and rest on one companion's assumption, and that Muslims are not bound by earlier scholars' understanding, shaped by their age, when the Prophet's honour is at stake.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 40:25)

A more recent answer on hadith/bukhari exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth challenge hadith in BukhariGate, and can the Prophet be called the most beloved of creation?

Watch on YouTube at 40:25 · Open the segment

How should Muslims judge hadith that say the Prophet took Safiyya on the night of Khaybar?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How should Muslims judge hadith that say the Prophet took Safiyya on the night of Khaybar?

Weigh them against the Quran and the Prophet's character: the story contradicts the widow's waiting period, the verse on no compulsion and everything known of his conduct, and all its versions come from one conflicting source. Mufti Abu Layth says relaying it is a lie against the Prophet and the picture it draws is rape. Mufti Abu Layth holds that conflicting historical hadith must be weighed against the Quran and the Prophet's character, that the story of Safiyya taken on the night of Khaybar fails both tests and amounts to a lie against the Prophet, and that Muslims who relay it are degrading his honour.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 35:13)

A more recent answer on history/sirah/defending-the-prophet exists (19 August 2022): Should loyalty to a scholar ever come before the honour of the Prophet?

Watch on YouTube at 35:13 · Open the segment

When and how did Safiyya actually marry the Prophet?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

When and how did Safiyya actually marry the Prophet?

She embraced Islam in the months after Khaybar, became interested in the Prophet herself and married him with her consent, not on the night of the battle. Abu Hurayra reported that nothing was taken from Khaybar but clothing, cattle and sheep. Mufti Abu Layth holds that Safiyya embraced Islam in the months after Khaybar and then married the Prophet with her consent, and that Abu Hurayra's report that no spoils but clothing, cattle and sheep were taken from Khaybar tells against the story of captives and slaves.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 32:35)

A more recent answer on fiqh/marriage-contracts exists (10 December 2022): How did Abu Hanifa solve the case of two brides sent to the wrong grooms?

Watch on YouTube at 32:35 · Open the segment

Where did Safiyya live when she first came to Madinah?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Where did Safiyya live when she first came to Madinah?

She did not live with the Prophet but was lodged with Umm Sulaym and others, and the Prophet rebuked Aisha and others who called her 'that Jew'. The feast on the road was a victory meal, not a wedding, and she embraced Islam in the months that followed. Mufti Abu Layth holds that no nikah took place on the road from Khaybar, since Safiyya was in her waiting period and had not embraced Islam, that the feast Anas took for a wedding was a victory meal, and that in Madinah she lodged in another household and embraced Islam in the following months.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 29:57)

A more recent answer on history/sirah exists (9 May 2023): How did the Prophet balance gentleness and strength?

Watch on YouTube at 29:57 · Open the segment

Why did Safiyya ride with the Prophet on the way back from Khaybar?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why did Safiyya ride with the Prophet on the way back from Khaybar?

Because others were abusing her, the Prophet freed her and had her ride with him, laying out a cloth and offering his knee for her to mount, and covering her with his cloak when the camel fell. Mufti Abu Layth says this was kindness, not a marriage. Mufti Abu Layth holds that at Khaybar the Prophet freed Safiyya rather than marrying her, and that his having her ride with him, laying a cloth and offering his knee, and covering her with his cloak when the camel fell were acts of kindness to a woman being abused, not a marriage.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 27:21)

A more recent answer on history/sirah exists (9 May 2023): How did the Prophet balance gentleness and strength?

Watch on YouTube at 27:21 · Open the segment

Why was Safiyya bruised when she came to the Prophet after Khaybar?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why was Safiyya bruised when she came to the Prophet after Khaybar?

Safiyya had told her husband Kinana she dreamt a moon fell into her lap; he accused her of wanting Muhammad and beat her, leaving her eye bruised when she came before the Prophet. Her uncle was a long-standing Muslim and she had spoken well of the Prophet before.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 24:44)

A more recent answer on history/sirah exists (9 May 2023): How did the Prophet balance gentleness and strength?

Watch on YouTube at 24:44 · Open the segment

Could the Prophet have married Safiyya right after Khaybar?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Could the Prophet have married Safiyya right after Khaybar?

No: she was a widow and the Quran requires a waiting period of four months and ten days, so a marriage at Khaybar would contradict the Quran. The companions only assumed a marriage because they saw the Prophet veil her and took a victory meal for a wedding feast. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Prophet cannot have married Safiyya at Khaybar, since as a widow she owed the Quranic waiting period of four months and ten days, and that the companions' belief that he had married her rested on Anas's assumption from seeing her veiled and a feast held.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 19:29)

A more recent answer on fiqh/divorce exists (10 March 2023): Why was Imam Malik flogged?

Watch on YouTube at 19:29 · Open the segment

Why do the hadith about Safiyya's marriage contradict each other?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why do the hadith about Safiyya's marriage contradict each other?

Nearly all the reports come through one companion, Anas ibn Malik, who was a teenager at Khaybar and died decades later, and they contradict each other on almost every detail, so none can be taken as it stands. Only two facts are certain: Safiyya left with the Muslims and later became the Prophet's wife. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the narrations about Safiyya's marriage, almost all transmitted through Anas ibn Malik, conflict so heavily that none is reliable as it stands, though they contain truths distorted over a long chain of transmission by meaning.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 11:37)

A more recent answer on hadith/authentication exists (19 August 2022): Why did Ibn Hajar say the satanic verses story has some basis?

Watch on YouTube at 11:37 · Open the segment

What is the common story about how the Prophet married Safiyya?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What is the common story about how the Prophet married Safiyya?

The circulated story is that after Khaybar the Prophet executed Safiyya's husband and father, took her from Dihya al-Kalbi for her beauty, gave her the choice of slavery or marriage and consummated it that night. Mufti Abu Layth says every part of this is false. Mufti Abu Layth says the circulating account that the Prophet had Safiyya's husband and father executed, took her from Dihya al-Kalbi for her beauty, offered her marriage or slavery and consummated the marriage that night is untrue.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 9:06)

A more recent answer on history/sirah/defending-the-prophet exists (19 August 2022): Should loyalty to a scholar ever come before the honour of the Prophet?

Watch on YouTube at 9:06 · Open the segment

Who was Safiyya and why did the Muslims march on Khaybar?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Who was Safiyya and why did the Muslims march on Khaybar?

Safiyya was the daughter of Huyayy ibn Akhtab, a chief of Banu Nadir at Khaybar who had organised the coalition against Madinah, while her uncle was a Muslim. After Hudaybiyya the Prophet marched on Khaybar's fortresses, which fell after weeks of fighting in which about eighty Muslims died. Mufti Abu Layth says that nothing in Islamic history is concrete and that there is disagreement on everything, including whether Khaybar took place in 6 or 7 AH.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 5:12)

A more recent answer on history/sirah exists (9 May 2023): How did the Prophet balance gentleness and strength?

Watch on YouTube at 5:12 · Open the segment

Did the Prophet take Safiyya the night her husband was killed, as the Tommy Robinson clip claims?

Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Did the Prophet take Safiyya the night her husband was killed, as the Tommy Robinson clip claims?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says the story conceded by the Muslim debater is false and that, as described, it would be rape, so conceding it and arguing over the word is indefensible. Muslims who have not studied Islamic history should not debate these subjects. Mufti Abu Layth says that Muslims who have not studied Islam should not debate far-right figures, and that the scenario the debater conceded, killing Safiyya's husband and father and taking her that night, can only be described as rape and is not what happened.

Answer from 21 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Story of Safiyya: the Prophet's Jewish wife -Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on society/dawah-and-debate-culture exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet?

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet?

Mufti Abu Layth holds that the evidence shows Aisha married in her late teens, and warns that reports of a child marriage feed Islamophobes. Mufti Abu Layth says all the evidence demonstrates that Aisha was in her late teens when she got married.

Answer from 9 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Hadiths on Prophetic Miracles and Responding to Claims of Blasphemy - Mufti Abu Layth al Maliki (at 26:22)

A more recent answer on history/sirah/age-of-aisha exists (18 October 2025): Why does Mufti Abu Layth see the Quran-only movement as a reaction of anger?

Watch on YouTube at 26:22 · Open the segment

Are some hadith about the Prophet actually blasphemous?

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Are some hadith about the Prophet actually blasphemous?

Yes: Mufti Abu Layth says reports that the Prophet married a nine-year-old, was bewitched or became impotent are the real blasphemy, and urges scholars to denounce them. Mufti Abu Layth says that reports such as the Prophet having relations with a nine-year-old or becoming impotent are rubbish that should be denounced as blasphemy.

Answer from 9 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Hadiths on Prophetic Miracles and Responding to Claims of Blasphemy - Mufti Abu Layth al Maliki (at 18:41)

A more recent answer on history/sirah/defending-the-prophet exists (19 August 2022): Should loyalty to a scholar ever come before the honour of the Prophet?

Watch on YouTube at 18:41 · Open the segment

Is it blasphemy to say some companions exaggerated out of love for the Prophet?

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Is it blasphemy to say some companions exaggerated out of love for the Prophet?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says suggesting that companions may have exaggerated out of love is not blasphemy, noting he alone defended Mu'awiya when he was abused online. Mufti Abu Layth says that if the reports were authentic, his answer would be that maybe some companions exaggerated out of excessive love.

Answer from 9 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Hadiths on Prophetic Miracles and Responding to Claims of Blasphemy - Mufti Abu Layth al Maliki (at 16:30)

A more recent answer on dialogue/responses-to-critics exists (6 April 2021): Donors, deathbed remarks and 'no hatred': an invitation to the critic

Watch on YouTube at 16:30 · Open the segment

Is the hadith of the crying tree trunk authentic?

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Is the hadith of the crying tree trunk authentic?

No: Mufti Abu Layth finds weak narrators in each chain, including those in al-Bukhari, and says only the Quran is preserved in its entirety. Mufti Abu Layth says the stories of the tree crying for the Prophet are unreliable.

Answer from 9 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Hadiths on Prophetic Miracles and Responding to Claims of Blasphemy - Mufti Abu Layth al Maliki (at 7:38)

A more recent answer on hadith/bukhari exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth challenge hadith in BukhariGate, and can the Prophet be called the most beloved of creation?

Watch on YouTube at 7:38 · Open the segment

Is every hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari authentic?

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Is every hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari authentic?

Not necessarily: Mufti Abu Layth says al-Bukhari did an excellent job, a hundred unreliable reports among eight thousand would be no big deal, and great scholars disagreed in their rulings. Mufti Abu Layth says that if even a hundred of al-Bukhari's narrations were found unreliable it would be no big deal compared with the eight thousand he has.

Answer from 9 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Hadiths on Prophetic Miracles and Responding to Claims of Blasphemy - Mufti Abu Layth al Maliki (at 4:30)

A more recent answer on hadith/bukhari exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth challenge hadith in BukhariGate, and can the Prophet be called the most beloved of creation?

Watch on YouTube at 4:30 · Open the segment

Viral claims that Mufti Abu Layth insulted the companions

Fri, 09 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Viral claims that Mufti Abu Layth insulted the companions

Mufti Abu Layth explains that he called the crying-tree reports unestablished, and only suggested that, if accepted, some companions exaggerated out of love; that is not blasphemy.

Answer from 9 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Hadiths on Prophetic Miracles and Responding to Claims of Blasphemy - Mufti Abu Layth al Maliki (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on hadith/false-and-fabricated/about-the-prophet exists (19 August 2022): Recap: the novel, insult versus critique, and the false story summarised

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment