Mufti Abu Layth Archive: history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread

Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Orthodoxy offered clarity, but its checklist was written by men from their own school and position, not by Allah and his Messenger. Mufti Abu Layth says the creedal list was taught not by Allah and his Messenger but by men, who wrote from their own perspective.

Answer from 13 February 2023 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Birth Of Islamic Orthodoxy And Institutionalisation | Mufti Abu Layth (at 30:09)

Watch on YouTube at 30:09 · Open the segment

Orthodoxy and power: adding to the checklist, ijma and cancel culture

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Orthodoxy and power: adding to the checklist, ijma and cancel culture

Once creed became a checklist, those in power could keep adding to it, as with ijma; everyone acts from power, even when sincere. Mufti Abu Layth says everybody acts from power and that doing so does not mean one is disingenuous.

Answer from 13 February 2023 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Birth Of Islamic Orthodoxy And Institutionalisation | Mufti Abu Layth (at 19:10)

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 19:10 · Open the segment

The created Quran controversy and the birth of a creedal checklist

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The created Quran controversy and the birth of a creedal checklist

In his research, orthodoxy began with the created-Quran controversy, which gave rise to the language of divine attributes and to growing creedal checklists. Mufti Abu Layth says that in his research he feels orthodoxy originates with the question of the creation of the Quran.

Answer from 13 February 2023 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Birth Of Islamic Orthodoxy And Institutionalisation | Mufti Abu Layth (at 10:49)

Watch on YouTube at 10:49 · Open the segment

Apophatic definition: the early main body defined by what it was not

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Apophatic definition: the early main body defined by what it was not

Early Muslims had no creed checklist: you belonged to the main body as long as you did not hold the positions of the known sects. Mufti Abu Layth says that in the time of the salaf the main body of Muslims was identified by contrast with outgroups, with no checklist of what to believe.

Answer from 13 February 2023 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Birth Of Islamic Orthodoxy And Institutionalisation | Mufti Abu Layth (at 5:46)

A more recent answer on belief/sectarianism-and-takfir exists (22 February 2023): Should Sunnis preach to Shia Muslims about what they get wrong?

Watch on YouTube at 5:46 · Open the segment

The birth of orthodoxy: a nameless main body and the hadith project

Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The birth of orthodoxy: a nameless main body and the hadith project

Orthodoxy means belief deemed correct by those with power. For two centuries the main body of Muslims had no name and was marked out by involvement in hadith. Mufti Abu Layth says the name Ahl al-Sunnah did not exist until over two hundred years after the Prophet.

Answer from 13 February 2023 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Birth Of Islamic Orthodoxy And Institutionalisation | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

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 0:00 · Open the segment

When should reason take priority over religious texts?

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

When should reason take priority over religious texts?

Reason always comes first, Mufti Abu Layth says, because every reading of scripture is already an interpretation; hadith dogmatism grew from Ibn Taymiyya's era and revived under colonialism. Mufti Abu Layth says reason necessarily comes first because scripture can only be understood through human interpretation, and that hadith dogmatism took shape in the era of Ibn Taymiyya and revived under colonialism, when attacks on religion amid instability pushed people towards fundamentalism.

Answer from 13 April 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #210 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:09:48)

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 2:09:48 · Open the segment

Did Yasir Qadhi say that majority scholarly opinion rests on socio-political factors?

Sun, 14 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Did Yasir Qadhi say that majority scholarly opinion rests on socio-political factors?

In the clip Qadhi says correct opinion is independent of the names and number of scholars and that dominant positions rest on socio-political factors such as the Ghaznavids, the Hanbalis of Baghdad and the Seljuks. Mufti Abu Layth says this is exactly what modernists say and contradicts Qadhi's appeal to the giants on the return of Jesus.

Answer from 14 March 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Reply to Yasir Qadhi's False Claims on 2nd Coming of Jesus | Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:01:57)

A more recent answer on hadith/mutawatir-and-epistemology exists (18 October 2025): Is the Quran-only position an argument from epistemology or from principle?

Watch on YouTube at 1:01:57 · Open the segment

Does the majority of scholars holding a view make it right?

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Does the majority of scholars holding a view make it right?

Mufti Abu Layth shows Qadhi saying that majority opinion rests on socio-political factors and that numbers do not make a view right, against his own appeal to the giants on the second coming.

Answer from 2 March 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #204 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:05:05)

A more recent answer on hadith/mutawatir-and-epistemology exists (18 October 2025): Is the Quran-only position an argument from epistemology or from principle?

Watch on YouTube at 2:05:05 · Open the segment

Was Islam spread by the sword?

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

Was Islam spread by the sword?

No: Islam spread by zeal, not the sword, he says; forced conversion rarely lasts, as British rule in India showed, though Islam is not pacifist. Mufti Abu Layth says Islam spread not by force but by zeal, and that the idea it was spread by the sword is absurd.

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 1:38:37)

A more recent answer on history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread exists (13 February 2023): Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Watch on YouTube at 1:38:37 · Open the segment

Does traditional orthodoxy lead to extremism?

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Does traditional orthodoxy lead to extremism?

The guest says today's orthodoxy promotes reactionary conservatism that can mutate into groups like the Taliban and ISIS, and proposes reviving the philosophers, Mu'tazila and modernists; Mufti Abu Layth agrees some non-violent groups create a springboard for extremism.

Answer from 11 December 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Dr Javad T. Hashmi | Axis of Morality & Archetypal Myths in the Quran | MindTrap 46 |Mufti Abu Layth (at 19:28)

A more recent answer on society/extremism-crime-and-justice exists (29 September 2024): How scholars' rhetoric fed Pakistan's blasphemy killings, in Mufti Abu Layth's view

Watch on YouTube at 19:28 · Open the segment

Why don't madrasas teach the Islamic philosophers and the Mu'tazila?

Fri, 11 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Why don't madrasas teach the Islamic philosophers and the Mu'tazila?

The guest says traditionalists value only a narrow sliver of Islam's diverse intellectual heritage, ignoring the philosophers, the early Qadariyya and Mu'tazila, Shia thinkers and modernists, and that he found answers on religion and science in Ibn Rushd.

Answer from 11 December 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

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

Recording: Dr Javad T. Hashmi | Axis of Morality & Archetypal Myths in the Quran | MindTrap 46 |Mufti Abu Layth (at 15:30)

A more recent answer on history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread exists (13 February 2023): Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Watch on YouTube at 15:30 · Open the segment

What does Robert Hoyland's In God's Path say about how Islam spread?

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

What does Robert Hoyland's In God's Path say about how Islam spread?

Mufti Abu Layth recommends Hoyland's In God's Path as fair and well researched, and agrees that Islam's ability to integrate other peoples explains its rapid spread. Mufti Abu Layth says he accepts Hoyland's point that Islam's capacity to integrate is a key aspect explaining its spread.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #183 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:24:50)

A more recent answer on history/umayyads-and-abbasids exists (10 March 2023): Why was Imam Malik flogged?

Watch on YouTube at 1:24:50 · Open the segment

Does the guest think every hadith is fabricated?

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

Does the guest think every hadith is fabricated?

The guest says not every hadith is evil, but truth is mixed with falsehood and even genuine sayings cannot be a source of religion, since the Quran makes God the only source of law and limits the messenger's duty to delivery.

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 27:59)

A more recent answer on hadith/quran-only-movement exists (18 October 2025): How should Muslims engage people with very different views of the religion?

Watch on YouTube at 27:59 · Open the segment

Where does the claim that the Quran is preserved to the very dot come from?

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

Where does the claim that the Quran is preserved to the very dot come from?

Mufti Abu Layth says the slogan that the Quran is preserved to the very dot is not traditional but a creed cemented in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when religious people entrenched themselves in fundamentalism against modernity and colonialism. Early Muslims were comfortable with a Quran that was preserved while allowing variation.

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 1:21:11)

A more recent answer on quran/preservation-and-qiraat exists (29 September 2024): Why is lanasfa'an in Quran 96:15 written with an alif, and is it a mistake?

Watch on YouTube at 1:21:11 · Open the segment

What was the qira'a al-'amma, and why does Morocco recite a different reading?

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

What was the qira'a al-'amma, and why does Morocco recite a different reading?

The common reading of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and the companions, al-qira'a al-'amma, is the mushaf we have, while the other readings stayed in scholars' books; Morocco reads Nafi' only because a third-century ruler imposed it on account of Imam Malik's preference. Mufti Abu Layth adds that the early generations were more secure in their faith than later, institutionalised Islam.

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 47:15)

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 48:32 · Open the segment

If Islam was not forced on people, why did so many convert?

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

If Islam was not forced on people, why did so many convert?

Forced conversion was never the norm: Islam's power, trade and prestige drew people, and nobody could have policed the faith of a rural population. Some were surely forced, but not most. Mufti Abu Layth says he is sure that, over the whole of history, many people were converted by force, but that this was never the norm or the majority of how Islam spread.

Answer from 16 December 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: A Response to Yasir Qadhi: "Islam was spread by the sword" | Mufti Abu Layth (at 8:15)

A more recent answer on history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread exists (13 February 2023): Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Watch on YouTube at 8:15 · Open the segment

Why did people in the past convert to new religions so readily?

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Why did people in the past convert to new religions so readily?

People in the past were far more open to new gods than we are, adopting them in hope of good luck, so judging their conversions by today's identity-bound religion misleads. Mufti Abu Layth says people in the past were much more open to new gods and welcomed them if they felt they would bring them good luck.

Answer from 16 December 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: A Response to Yasir Qadhi: "Islam was spread by the sword" | Mufti Abu Layth (at 3:11)

A more recent answer on history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread exists (13 February 2023): Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Watch on YouTube at 3:11 · Open the segment

Was Islam spread by the sword?

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Was Islam spread by the sword?

Mufti Abu Layth says it is simply not true that Islam was spread by the sword, though there was surely compulsion in some places, and that it was wrong. Mufti Abu Layth says the claim that Islam was spread by the sword is simply not true, though he is sure there was compulsion in certain places.

Answer from 16 December 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: A Response to Yasir Qadhi: "Islam was spread by the sword" | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:01)

A more recent answer on history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread exists (13 February 2023): Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Watch on YouTube at 2:33 · Open the segment

Was the first qibla really Petra, as Dan Gibson claims?

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Was the first qibla really Petra, as Dan Gibson claims?

Mufti Abu Layth is not convinced that the first qibla was Petra: the statistical argument is a fallacy and Sunnis, Shia and Khawarij would never all have agreed on the Ka'bah. He still finds revisionist research compelling on some other matters and says Muslims should engage with it. Mufti Abu Layth says he is not convinced by Dan Gibson's thesis that the early qibla was Petra, since its statistical argument is a fallacy and Sunnis, Shia and Khawarij would never all have agreed on the Ka'bah, though he finds revisionist research compelling on some other matters and says Muslims should engage with it.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: My thoughts on Dan Gibson's Petra research | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread exists (13 February 2023): Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Was Abu Hanifa considered a deviant by the scholars of his time?

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Was Abu Hanifa considered a deviant by the scholars of his time?

Many leading scholars of Abu Hanifa's time considered him misguided. His school rose to dominance because his student Abu Yusuf became chief judge and appointed only Hanafis, which Mufti Abu Layth says shows that power, not evidence, often decides which views prevail. Mufti Abu Layth says Abu Hanifa was considered a deviant by many scholars of his time and that the Hanafi school became dominant because his student Abu Yusuf, as chief judge, appointed only Hanafi judges, so that its rise rested on power rather than evidence.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Imam Abu Hanifa was deemed a heretic/deviant by his contemporaries - Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread exists (13 February 2023): Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Why great scholars accepted it: sectarian turf war with the Mu'tazila

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why great scholars accepted it: sectarian turf war with the Mu'tazila

Mufti Abu Layth argues that belief in magic, even on the Prophet, hardened as a sectarian reaction against the Mu'tazila, just as other issues hardened against Salafis or Shia. Mufti Abu Layth says the narrative that the Prophet had magic done on him was retrospectively reinforced to support a sectarian turf war with the Mu'tazila.

Answer from 15 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Magic: Myth and Reality in Islam by Mufti Abu Layth (at 30:12)

A more recent answer on belief/sectarianism-and-takfir exists (22 February 2023): Should Sunnis preach to Shia Muslims about what they get wrong?

Watch on YouTube at 30:12 · 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 it matter that the second coming of Jesus is the majority opinion and Mufti Abu Layth's view a minority one?

Sun, 01 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does it matter that the second coming of Jesus is the majority opinion and Mufti Abu Layth's view a minority one?

If every detail of the second-coming hadith is a metaphor, Mufti Abu Layth asks why Jesus himself is not. Majority and minority opinions are decided later by power and politics, as Abu Hanifa's case shows: condemned as a deviant by his contemporaries, his school spread when Abu Yusuf appointed only Hanafi judges. Mufti Abu Layth says that if the details of the second-coming hadith are metaphors then the whole account could be one, and that which opinion counts as majority or minority is decided later by power and politics rather than by contemporaries, as the case of Abu Hanifa shows.

Answer from 1 April 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Reflections on Sh. Hassan Ali's video of Jesus Christ's 2nd coming - Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 5:13)

A more recent answer on history/orthodoxy-and-how-islam-spread exists (13 February 2023): Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist

Watch on YouTube at 5:13 · Open the segment

Why is the report that Aisha was six and nine so much better known than the others?

Wed, 11 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Why is the report that Aisha was six and nine so much better known than the others?

The six-and-nine report became prominent as a by-product of hadith absolutism and the later sanctification of Bukhari and Muslim. Ordinary Muslims historically knew only that Aisha was young. Mufti Abu Layth says the prominence of the six-and-nine report is a by-product of hadith absolutism and the later sanctification of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, not the view of the earliest Muslims.

Answer from 11 January 2017 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Age of Aisha (ra)- Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:27:41)

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 1:27:41 · Open the segment

Apostasy: execution as divine policy, tribal loyalty and treason in wartime

Tue, 15 Mar 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Apostasy: execution as divine policy, tribal loyalty and treason in wartime

The speakers present the execution of apostates as tied to wartime treason and tribal loyalty in early Arab society rather than to belief alone, and say the Quran should be the primary reference in the discussion.

Answer from 15 March 2016 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

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

Recording: Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan & Mufti Abu Layth - A Discussion on Contemporary Issues (at 0:06)

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 0:06 · Open the segment