Mufti Abu Layth Archive: The School of Madinah

What is the difference between the Ash'ari and Athari (Hanbali) creeds?

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

What is the difference between the Ash'ari and Athari (Hanbali) creeds?

The core difference is that the Athari (Hanbali) creed attributes body parts to God and the Ash'ari creed does not. Mufti Abu Layth would broadly align himself with the Ash'aris, with reservations, and ranks the philosophers above all the theologians. Mufti Abu Layth dismisses the Athari (Hanbali) creed, which he says attributes body parts to God, says he would broadly align himself with the Ash'ari school while disagreeing with it on certain points, and ranks the philosophers above all the theologians.

Answer from 5 November 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The differences between the Ashari & Athari School | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on belief/god-and-attributes exists (4 March 2024): How much does Allah love me?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Why does Mufti Abu Layth follow the Maliki school rather than the Hanafi?

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Why does Mufti Abu Layth follow the Maliki school rather than the Hanafi?

Mufti Abu Layth follows the Maliki school of Madinah because it is built on welfare and rooted in evidence and made the most sense to him. He says the Hanafi school, despite Abu Hanifa's greatness, has been hijacked into a controlling school. Mufti Abu Layth says he follows the Maliki school of Madinah because it is built upon welfare and rooted in evidence and made the most sense, and that the Hanafi school, though Abu Hanifa was a legend, has long been hijacked and become a controlling school that is the antithesis of its founder.

Answer from 22 March 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Why did I Choose Maliki Fiqh? -Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:35)

A more recent answer on fiqh/maliki-school exists (19 April 2023): Why does the practice of Madinah matter more than a single hadith?

Watch on YouTube at 2:35 · Open the segment

What is fiqh, and is it the same as Shari'ah?

Fri, 22 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

What is fiqh, and is it the same as Shari'ah?

Fiqh is our understanding of what is expected of us towards God and towards people. It overlaps with Shari'ah, which people usually keep for the legal side, and it has different ways of deriving rulings. Mufti Abu Layth says fiqh is our understanding of what is expected of us towards God and towards people, partly synonymous with Shari'ah, a word people tend to reserve for the legal side.

Answer from 22 March 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Why did I Choose Maliki Fiqh? -Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on fiqh/legal-theory exists (18 October 2025): If reason helps us understand the Quran, does the reasoning of earlier scholars matter too?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Should loyalty to Sahih al-Bukhari outweigh how a report presents the Prophet?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Should loyalty to Sahih al-Bukhari outweigh how a report presents the Prophet?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says loyalty belongs to the Prophet, not to al-Bukhari, and cites the age-of-Aisha report, which he holds untrue and disrespectful since Arabs of the time did not marry girls that young, as an example of what must be re-examined. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the report of Aisha's age at marriage is untrue and presents the Prophet disrespectfully, since Arab culture of the time did not marry girls as young as six or seven, and that loyalty to the Prophet should outrank loyalty to al-Bukhari.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:23:36)

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 1:23:36 · Open the segment

If Mufti Abu Layth admires Qadi Iyad, must he accept everything in al-Shifa?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

If Mufti Abu Layth admires Qadi Iyad, must he accept everything in al-Shifa?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says al-Shifa was written to instil love of the Prophet in a context of insults and knowingly includes weak and fabricated reports, and that admiring Qadi Iyad, who himself disagreed with Malik, does not make him a clone. Mufti Abu Layth says that rating Qadi Iyad highly does not oblige him to accept every report in al-Shifa, which was written to instil love of the Prophet in a context of insults and knowingly includes weak and fabricated reports, and that Qadi Iyad himself disagreed with Malik on several matters.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:19:39)

A more recent answer on hadith/false-and-fabricated exists (18 October 2025): Why does Mufti Abu Layth see the Quran-only movement as a reaction of anger?

Watch on YouTube at 1:19:39 · Open the segment

Did a tree really cry for the Prophet, and why does Mufti Abu Layth reject the hadith?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Did a tree really cry for the Prophet, and why does Mufti Abu Layth reject the hadith?

Mufti Abu Layth does not hold the crying-tree reports to be established: their chains are problematic and Muslims cannot call other religions' miracle stories absurd while accepting their own; the Prophet's greatness does not depend on a tree. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the report of the tree crying for the Prophet is not established, that its chains are problematic and it clashes with the principle that such things do not happen, and that Muslims cannot dismiss other religions' miracle stories as absurd while accepting their own.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:17:02)

A more recent answer on belief/prophethood-and-miracles exists (18 October 2025): Can the Quran be used to call the Prophet the best of creation?

Watch on YouTube at 1:17:02 · Open the segment

If reason judges religion, whose reason counts, and what about rituals?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

If reason judges religion, whose reason counts, and what about rituals?

The concept of ritual must make sense, not every detail; the shared judgement of a healthy mind is the standard; and, by Malik's rule that only the Messenger's words are beyond rejection, following a school is not belonging to a cult. Mufti Abu Layth says that the concept of ritual rather than its details must accord with reason, that the shared judgement of a healthy mind is the standard of reason, and that following the Maliki school does not make one a cult member, since Malik taught that everyone's words may be rejected except the Messenger's.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:14:24)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 1:14:24 · Open the segment

When should a hadith be rejected, and can a Muslim refuse a religious command that makes no sense?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

When should a hadith be rejected, and can a Muslim refuse a religious command that makes no sense?

A hadith is accepted only if it does not contradict reason, the transmitted sources or an established principle, as Ibn al-Jawzi wrote; the companion who refused an order to jump into a fire shows reason rightly judging a command. Mufti Abu Layth holds, following Ibn al-Jawzi, that a hadith is accepted only if it does not contradict reason, the transmitted sources or an established principle of Islam, and that the companion who refused an order to jump into a fire shows reason rightly judging a religious command.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:09:12)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 1:09:12 · Open the segment

Do miracles in the Quran break the laws of nature?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Do miracles in the Quran break the laws of nature?

No, in Mufti Abu Layth's understanding: Allah does not break the laws He set, so every event called a miracle in the Quran has an explanation within nature, as fish falling from the sky does; abandoning reason would make every religion's claims equally valid. Mufti Abu Layth holds that Allah never breaks the laws He set in nature, so everything called a miracle in the Quran has an explanation within those laws even if not yet known, and that abandoning reason would make every religion's claims equally valid.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:05:16)

A more recent answer on belief/prophethood-and-miracles exists (18 October 2025): Can the Quran be used to call the Prophet the best of creation?

Watch on YouTube at 1:05:16 · Open the segment

Does Ali's saying about wiping the socks prove that religion is not based on reason?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does Ali's saying about wiping the socks prove that religion is not based on reason?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says the 'if the deen were by opinion' wording has a weak chain and is absent from several versions, that Malik's Muwatta records wiping both sides of the khuff, and that rituals are practices rather than claims against reason. Mufti Abu Layth says the report attributed to Ali that the bottom of the khuff would deserve wiping if religion were by opinion is weak in its chain and absent from several versions, that Malik's Muwatta records wiping both top and bottom, and that rituals are practices rather than claims against reason.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:01:20)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 1:01:20 · Open the segment

Will using reason make me lose my faith?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Will using reason make me lose my faith?

No, Mufti Abu Layth says: fearing that reason leads out of Islam betrays a lack of belief that Islam is true, and doubt that leads to a more certain understanding is legitimate, as Ibrahim's request to see how Allah revives the dead shows. Mufti Abu Layth holds that fearing reason will lead people out of Islam betrays a lack of real belief that Islam is true, and that doubt which leads to a more certain understanding is legitimate, as Ibrahim's question and the hadith about his doubt show.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 58:44)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 58:44 · Open the segment

How did the Golden Age backlash and the clergy contribute to Muslim hostility to reason?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How did the Golden Age backlash and the clergy contribute to Muslim hostility to reason?

The philosophy and reason promoted in the Golden Age provoked a reaction that dumbed reason down, and institutionalised clergy found 'who said the deen is supposed to make sense' a useful tool of control. Mufti Abu Layth says the backlash against the philosophy of the Golden Age and the institutionalisation of religion among the clergy produced a culture in which the idea that the deen need not make sense became a tool of control.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 56:08)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 56:08 · Open the segment

Why did Muslims become hostile to reason?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why did Muslims become hostile to reason?

Mufti Abu Layth traces Muslim hostility to reason to the centuries-long sectarian conflict with the Mu'tazila, in which the mainstream answered the Mu'tazila's use of reason by disparaging reason itself and defending absurd narrations. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Muslim aversion to reason grew out of the sectarian cold war with the Mu'tazila, when the mainstream reacted to the Mu'tazila's use of reason by disparaging reason itself and defending absurd narrations as a method of control.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 49:33)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 49:33 · Open the segment

Does the Quran have to mention something for it to be true?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does the Quran have to mention something for it to be true?

No: the Quran tells people to explore how creation began and never claimed to exhaust knowledge; its statement that everything is created in pairs is a general truth, not a taxonomy that rules out creatures which reproduce without a male. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran is not an exhaustive scientific textbook: its statement that everything is created in pairs is a general truth, and it tells people to explore how creation began rather than to reject knowledge absent from scripture.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 45:39)

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 45:39 · Open the segment

Was Zakir Naik right to dismiss evolution as 'just a theory'?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Was Zakir Naik right to dismiss evolution as 'just a theory'?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says Naik's mocking reply to an ex-Muslim did Islam a disservice, and that in science a theory can be an established fact, as with gravity, not merely a hypothesis.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 41:47)

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 41:47 · Open the segment

Does Islam stand the test of reason, and why should Muslims not fear examining it?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does Islam stand the test of reason, and why should Muslims not fear examining it?

Mufti Abu Layth says he has certainty that Islam has stood the test of reason as well as time, that the hadith of the grave condemns faith that merely repeats what people say, and that Muslims must take reason back rather than shy away. Mufti Abu Layth says he has certainty that Islam has stood the test of reason as well as of time, that Muslims owe it to Islam to measure it openly, and that the hadith of the grave in which the dead person says he merely repeated what people said is evidence that reason is required in faith.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 36:33)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 36:33 · Open the segment

How do we know the Quran is the word of God, if not by reason?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How do we know the Quran is the word of God, if not by reason?

Arguments that the Quran is true because it says so, is unlike other books, is eloquent or flawless, or speaks of rain and fruit are no stronger than a spiderweb, Mufti Abu Layth says; without reason one only believes Islam is true because one was told. Mufti Abu Layth says that arguments for the Quran's truth which rest on the book asserting its own truth, its uniqueness, its eloquence, its lack of mistakes or its verses about rain and fruit are no stronger than a spiderweb, and that revelation can only be known to be true through reason.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 28:45)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 28:45 · Open the segment

Why are so many Muslims and scholars opposed to using reason in religion?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why are so many Muslims and scholars opposed to using reason in religion?

Opposition to reason comes from insecurity, Mufti Abu Layth says; God is not unreasonable and would not give people reason and then command what clashes with it, and Muslims have ceded reason, once called hikmah, to atheists and scientists. Mufti Abu Layth says God is not unreasonable and would not give people reason to discover Him and then command what clashes with reason, and that reason, which Muslim scholars once called hikmah, has been ceded to atheists and scientists.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 23:41)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 23:41 · Open the segment

Is blind faith (taqlid) in creed acceptable in Islam?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Is blind faith (taqlid) in creed acceptable in Islam?

The theologians held that blind-following in creed is haram and that faith must rest on reasoning; later scholars tolerated inherited faith as a lower level while holding that Islam aspires to faith that knows God to be one. Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran's command to know that there is no god but Allah requires reasoning and comparison rather than mere assertion, and he presents the theologians' view that blind-following in creed is impermissible alongside later scholars' distinction between a tolerated and a richer level of faith.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 15:54)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 15:54 · Open the segment

How do Muslims know Islam is true and other religions are not?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How do Muslims know Islam is true and other religions are not?

Muslims reject Hinduism and the Trinity by reason, relying on a shared human intersubjectivity that judges by practical facts; Mufti Abu Layth says the same standard of reason must therefore be applied to Islam. Mufti Abu Layth holds that Muslims use reason to reject Hinduism and the Trinity, that a shared human intersubjectivity lets a healthy mind judge such claims absurd, and that the same standard of reason must be applied to Islam.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 9:20)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 9:20 · Open the segment

Why do Muslims need reason if they already have the Quran and Sunnah?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why do Muslims need reason if they already have the Quran and Sunnah?

Mufti Abu Layth asks why reason matters once Islam has reached us, hears audience suggestions, and says the most important answer still lies before all of them, in the prequel he is about to give.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 5:13)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 5:13 · Open the segment

What does reason mean in religion, and what does the Quran say about it?

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

What does reason mean in religion, and what does the Quran say about it?

Reason is the ability of a healthy mind to think and make judgements based on practical facts, broader than formal logic; Mufti Abu Layth takes the Surah al-Hajj verse that the hearts, not the eyes, are blind as the backdrop of the talk. Mufti Abu Layth says reason is the ability of a healthy mind to think and make judgements based on practical facts, broader than formal logic, and that the Quran in Surah al-Hajj urges people to travel and perceive so as to gain hearts that reason.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on belief/reason-and-revelation exists (18 October 2025): Why did Mufti Abu Layth bring up 3:188 against the Quran-only position?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment