Mufti Abu Layth Archive: fiqh/public-law-and-governance/hudud-and-punishments

Was the murdered man in the story of the cow brought back to life?

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Was the murdered man in the story of the cow brought back to life?

The verse of the heifer does not say the dead man was revived; like 'in retaliation there is life', it refers to lives saved when a ritual of justice averted tribal war.

Answer from 6 April 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #209 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 3:33:04)

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 3:33:04 · Open the segment

Does Mufti Abu Layth have any scholarly precedent for his views?

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Does Mufti Abu Layth have any scholarly precedent for his views?

His views have respected precedents: al-Burzuli, a Maliki Shaykh al-Islam, held that punishments change with the age, and the subcontinent scholars he quotes were Ahl al-Hadith, not heretics. Not every untrue statement is a sin punished with hell.

Answer from 6 April 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #209 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 3:10:56)

Watch on YouTube at 3:10:56 · Open the segment

Does an Islamic judge always give the maximum punishment for theft?

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Does an Islamic judge always give the maximum punishment for theft?

Mufti Abu Layth says a qadi would weigh the circumstances, much as courts in England do today, and that this is how the Sharia would work; the hudud would be different now. Mufti Abu Layth says a qadi's judgement would be not unlike how the courts work in England today, and that is how the Sharia would work, more or less.

Answer from 16 February 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:39:59)

A more recent answer on fiqh/public-law-and-governance exists (26 April 2021): Why does China try to control who becomes the Dalai Lama?

Watch on YouTube at 2:39:59 · Open the segment

Are children held accountable in Islam for bullying or hurting others?

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Are children held accountable in Islam for bullying or hurting others?

Children are accountable, he says, in a way suited to their age: the laws for them are lighter, but a child who harms another does not get a free pass. Mufti Abu Layth says children are still accountable in their own way, commensurate with being a child, so the laws for them are more relaxed and less stringent than for adults.

Answer from 16 February 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:38:10)

A more recent answer on relationships/parents-and-children/raising-children exists (10 March 2023): How did Imam Malik come to study religion?

Watch on YouTube at 2:38:10 · Open the segment

Did Maliki scholars really allow fines instead of hudud punishments?

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Did Maliki scholars really allow fines instead of hudud punishments?

Mufti Abu Layth says the Maliki fatwa allowing punishment through wealth was the work of a major scholar and was practised as law for centuries, not a forgotten opinion. Mufti Abu Layth says the fatwa on punishing with wealth that he cites was acted upon as the law and understood as the sharia for hundreds of years.

Answer from 9 February 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #201| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 3:05:51)

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 3:05:51 · Open the segment

Clips: three critics' videos attacking Shabir Ally

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Clips: three critics' videos attacking Shabir Ally

Mufti Abu Layth plays and mocks videos in which three critics attack Shabir Ally's views, including his view on hudud.

Answer from 9 February 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #201| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:48:08)

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 2:48:08 · Open the segment

Was Sudan right to drop its alcohol and apostasy laws and end flogging?

Tue, 14 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Was Sudan right to drop its alcohol and apostasy laws and end flogging?

Mufti Abu Layth welcomes Sudan's reforms: flogging today only damages Islam's message, FGM should be outlawed, and alcohol was never prohibited for non-Muslims. Mufti Abu Layth says flogging in this day and age is nothing but damaging to Allah, His Messenger and their message.

Answer from 14 July 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth 173 (at 2:08:00)

A more recent answer on fiqh/public-law-and-governance/apostasy-and-blasphemy exists (29 September 2024): Is someone who says something wrong about the Prophet guilty of blasphemy?

Watch on YouTube at 2:08:00 · Open the segment

How does the guest translate the verses on cutting off the thief's hand, jizya and polygamy?

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

How does the guest translate the verses on cutting off the thief's hand, jizya and polygamy?

The guest's translation renders the thief's punishment as cutting off the means, the tax on non-Muslims as war reparations, sa'ihat as women active in society, and polygamy as permitted only for widows with orphans in exigent circumstances.

Answer from 26 June 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Prof. Edip Yuksel | Rejecting Hadith, Rashad Khalifa & Realizing '19' | MindTrap with Mufti #27 (at 2:12:32)

A more recent answer on fiqh/polygamy-and-mutah exists (22 February 2023): Is there an LGBTQ push in media and schools?

Watch on YouTube at 2:12:32 · Open the segment

Can hadith be sifted with criteria, or must the whole corpus be rejected?

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Can hadith be sifted with criteria, or must the whole corpus be rejected?

Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet's practice survives as a living tradition in fiqh and that he accepts a hadith only if it passes reason, the texts and the principles. The guest replies that narrators who fabricated a stoning verse forfeit all credibility, like a false witness in the Quran.

Answer from 26 June 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Prof. Edip Yuksel | Rejecting Hadith, Rashad Khalifa & Realizing '19' | MindTrap with Mufti #27 (at 48:57)

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 48:57 · Open the segment

Was Ibn Mas'ud's Quran different from the Quran we have?

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Was Ibn Mas'ud's Quran different from the Quran we have?

No: the guest says the reports that Ibn Mas'ud rejected al-Fatiha or the last two surahs are wrongly ascribed to him, and the major companions vouched for the same Quran, the only traceable dispute being over the word 'qul'. Mufti Abu Layth also says he would not advocate cutting the hand today, since for him the hudud have already changed with the age.

Answer from 19 June 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Dr. Shehzad Saleem | the Preservation of the Quran & the Problem of Qira'at | MindTrap with Mufti#26 (at 1:37:31)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

Watch on YouTube at 1:37:31 · Open the segment

Was there ever a verse of stoning in the Quran, and does stoning still apply?

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Was there ever a verse of stoning in the Quran, and does stoning still apply?

The guest says Umar's 'verse of rajm' refers to the muharaba verse 5:33, from which exemplary punishment including stoning derives, and that it still applies to extreme crimes under strict conditions. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Prophet only condoned stoning from Jewish practice until the lashing verse, and that under Maliki scholars like al-Burzuli the hudud change with the age.

Answer from 19 June 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Dr. Shehzad Saleem | the Preservation of the Quran & the Problem of Qira'at | MindTrap with Mufti#26 (at 1:31:11)

A more recent answer on dialogue/guest-conversations exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

Watch on YouTube at 1:31:11 · Open the segment

Should a person accused of magic be killed?

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Should a person accused of magic be killed?

Mufti Abu Layth says calls to kill the 'magician' show the sorry state of Muslims and why they are a laughing stock. Mufti Abu Layth says that this is unfortunately the state of Muslims and why they are a laughing stock.

Answer from 1 June 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: A mufti, a convert & hanky panky! | Mufti Abu Layth (at 8:54)

A more recent answer on arts/arabic-poetry-and-letters exists (22 February 2023): Did some Muslim scholars say homosexuality is not haram?

Watch on YouTube at 8:54 · Open the segment

Can hudud punishments such as stoning or hand-cutting change with the times?

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Can hudud punishments such as stoning or hand-cutting change with the times?

Mufti Abu Layth holds that stoning was a pre-Quranic practice abrogated by the Quran and that the Sharia's punishments reflect their age, as Maliki scholars and the Ottomans applied. The guest agrees that the spirit of the law can require departing from its letter, as Umar did when he suspended hand-cutting in a famine.

Answer from 22 April 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Shaykh Dr. Shabir Ally | Juxtaposing the Quran, Jumbling Aisha's age & Jinn Possession | MindTrap#16 (at 18:08)

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 18:08 · Open the segment

Does the Quran prescribe stoning for adultery?

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Does the Quran prescribe stoning for adultery?

The Quran's penalty for adultery is flogging, not stoning, which the guest says entered Muslim law from hadith and is biblical in origin, so explaining Islam to the public must start from the Quran. Mufti Abu Layth says he agrees completely that the Quran must have primacy.

Answer from 22 April 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Shaykh Dr. Shabir Ally | Juxtaposing the Quran, Jumbling Aisha's age & Jinn Possession | MindTrap#16 (at 6:20)

A more recent answer on hadith/sunnah-versus-hadith exists (18 October 2025): Does the Muwatta show that the Companions' practice had already changed by Malik's time?

Watch on YouTube at 7:38 · Open the segment

Did Abu Hanifa hold that there is no hadd punishment for sodomy?

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Did Abu Hanifa hold that there is no hadd punishment for sodomy?

The guest says Abu Hanifa held there is no hadd for sodomy, that Salafis attack Hanafis for it, and that a Salafi mufti used the same view to shield one of their own scholars.

Answer from 19 April 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Shaykh Kashif Khan | Policing thought, Pornography & Pandora's box | MindTrap with Mufti #15 (at 2:28:54)

A more recent answer on fiqh/madhhabs-and-following/hanafi-school exists (10 December 2022): What did Abu Hanifa say about Imam Malik?

Watch on YouTube at 2:28:54 · Open the segment

Is homosexuality haram in Islam, and why were the people of Lut destroyed?

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Is homosexuality haram in Islam, and why were the people of Lut destroyed?

Mufti Abu Layth accepts the majority view that homosexual acts are haram, but says the punishments scholars assigned were variable public-order measures that changed over time, that the people of Lut were destroyed primarily for rejecting their prophet, and that the ruling does not require hatred of homosexual people. Mufti Abu Layth says the overwhelming majority of scholars held homosexual acts to be haram and he accepts that they are haram, while saying that the punishments scholars assigned varied between places and changed over time, that the people of Lut were destroyed primarily for rejecting their prophet, and that the ruling does not require hatred.

Answer from 20 December 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Homosexuality and Islam -Mufti Abu Layth (at 18:27)

A more recent answer on relationships/sexuality-and-orientation exists (22 February 2023): Is it okay for adults or children to change gender?

Watch on YouTube at 18:27 · Open the segment

Does Islam say homosexuals should be thrown off buildings or executed?

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does Islam say homosexuals should be thrown off buildings or executed?

There is no sahih hadith in which the Prophet spoke about homosexuals, the reports of Ali ordering executions are not authentic in Mufti Abu Layth's view, and the early jurists disagreed, with the Hanafis holding it is not a hadd offence. The claim of a consensus that homosexual acts deserve death is false. Mufti Abu Layth says there is no sahih hadith in which the Prophet spoke about homosexuals, that he does not believe the reports of Ali ordering executions to be authentic, and that the claim of a consensus that anyone who commits homosexual acts deserves death is false, since the jurists disagreed and the Hanafis held it is not a hadd.

Answer from 20 December 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Homosexuality and Islam -Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on relationships/sexuality-and-orientation exists (22 February 2023): Is it okay for adults or children to change gender?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Why did some classical scholars rule that apostates be executed?

Thu, 10 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why did some classical scholars rule that apostates be executed?

Where classical scholars ruled that apostates be executed, they were dealing with what would now be treason or armed rebellion in a very different world; those rulings do not apply today, and their prevalence then did not make them right. Mufti Abu Layth says that where classical scholars prescribed capital punishment they were addressing what would today be treason or rebellion in a very different world, that those rulings do not apply today, and that the whole world doing the same then does not make them right.

Answer from 10 May 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Apostasy has NO punishment in Islam: A Qur'an & Sunnah Analysis by Mufti Abu Layth (at 7:52)

A more recent answer on fiqh/public-law-and-governance/apostasy-and-blasphemy exists (29 September 2024): Is someone who says something wrong about the Prophet guilty of blasphemy?

Watch on YouTube at 7:52 · Open the segment

Would the Prophet really call a woman wearing perfume a fornicator?

Fri, 04 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Would the Prophet really call a woman wearing perfume a fornicator?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says calling a woman a fornicator is the crime of qadhf under Quran 24:4, punished by the Malikis whatever the intention, and the Prophet was never obscene, so the report insults him. Mufti Abu Layth says the report slanders the Prophet, since calling a woman a fornicator is qadhf punishable under the Quran and, for the Malikis, regardless of intention, and the Prophet was never obscene and would not have labelled women this way to deter them.

Answer from 4 May 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: On Women Wearing Perfume: Debunking Weak and Blasphemous Hadith -Mufti Abu Layth (at 10:32)

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 10:32 · Open the segment

Can Islamic punishments like stoning and cutting off hands change with time?

Thu, 14 Sep 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Can Islamic punishments like stoning and cutting off hands change with time?

Yes, in his understanding: the Sharia itself asks for punishments fitting the age, so today they would be replaced by penalties such as prison, following Maliki and other precedents. Mufti Abu Layth says that in his understanding the hudud would today be substituted, by demand of the Sharia, with penalties relevant to the age such as custodial sentences.

Answer from 14 September 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Can Hudood Punishments change? Mufti Abu Layth & Shaykh Akram Nadwi (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