Mufti Abu Layth Archive: history/sirah/wives-of-the-prophet

Did the Prophet fall in love with Zaynab bint Jahsh?

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Did the Prophet fall in love with Zaynab bint Jahsh?

No: he says the early hadith collections do not carry the love story, and it makes no sense given the Prophet had known Zaynab all his life. Mufti Abu Layth says that many of the major early muhaddithun, including Malik, do not transmit the love story of the Prophet and Zaynab.

Answer from 5 January 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #196 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:38:27)

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 2:38:27 · Open the segment

Why is Yasir Qadhi saying the Prophet was infatuated with Zaynab?

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Why is Yasir Qadhi saying the Prophet was infatuated with Zaynab?

Mufti Abu Layth finds Yasir Qadhi's recent claim, that the Prophet's infatuation with Zaynab was the early normative account, baffling and harmful, and plays clips to show it.

Answer from 5 January 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #196 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:29:10)

A more recent answer on dialogue/responses-to-critics/yasir-qadhi exists (13 April 2021): Where are the answers to the questions on the Jesus debate?

Watch on YouTube at 2:30:24 · Open the segment

Writers who place Aisha in her teens, and how narrators exaggerated ages

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Writers who place Aisha in her teens, and how narrators exaggerated ages

Several modern writers conclude that Aisha was in her teens at marriage, and the speakers explain the hadith's figures as numbers garbled and exaggerated downwards by narrators. Khadija's age, by contrast, was exaggerated upwards from about twenty-eight to forty.

Answer from 12 October 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

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

Recording: Aisha was not a child Her age at the time of Marriage | Mufti Abu Layth (at 5:13)

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 5:13 · Open the segment

Why the circumstances of the marriage rule out a six-year-old Aisha

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Why the circumstances of the marriage rule out a six-year-old Aisha

Aisha cannot have been six when the Prophet married her, because the marriage was meant to give him companionship, household help and support after the year of sorrow, which a child could not provide. Her engagement of several years before that, and the fear that she would convert her fiance, point the same way.

Answer from 12 October 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Aisha was not a child Her age at the time of Marriage | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

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 0:00 · Open the segment

Why did only Mariya bear the Prophet a child in Medina?

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Why did only Mariya bear the Prophet a child in Medina?

Mufti Abu Layth shares Yasmin Amin's theory that Mariya conceived because, living outside Medina, she did not follow the other wives' ascetic diet, and says he is still researching it.

Answer from 24 August 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

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

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #179 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:32:34)

A more recent answer on history/sirah/wives-of-the-prophet exists (5 January 2021): Did the Prophet fall in love with Zaynab bint Jahsh?

Watch on YouTube at 2:32:34 · Open the segment

Was the ifk in Surat al-Nur really about Aisha?

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Was the ifk in Surat al-Nur really about Aisha?

Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran's ifk verses were revealed about rumours concerning Mariya, though he believes an earlier incident with Aisha also happened. Mufti Abu Layth says he definitely feels that the ifk mentioned in the Quran refers to an incident with Mariya, not the incident to do with Aisha.

Answer from 24 August 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #179 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:26:25)

A more recent answer on quran/tafsir exists (18 October 2025): Why are two of the daily prayers recited silently when 17:110 says not to be silent?

Watch on YouTube at 2:26:25 · Open the segment

Was Aisha a feminist?

Tue, 04 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Was Aisha a feminist?

Yes, if a feminist means someone who stands up for women's rights, says Mufti Abu Layth; Aisha did, including by rejecting misattributed hadith. Mufti Abu Layth says Aisha unquestionably stood up for women's rights.

Answer from 4 August 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth #176 *Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted!* 🤣 (at 36:32)

A more recent answer on society/women-and-gender exists (10 March 2023): Who carried on Imam Malik's teaching after him?

Watch on YouTube at 36:32 · Open the segment

Was Aisha really 48 when she married the Prophet?

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

Was Aisha really 48 when she married the Prophet?

No: he has never heard of 48, but says it is clear Aisha was in her late teens to about twenty when she married, not six or nine. Mufti Abu Layth says it is very clear that Aisha was probably between her very late teens and twenty when she married the Prophet, and by no means a child.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth 173 (at 52:19)

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 52:50 · Open the segment

What does the Quran mean by 'what your right hands possess', and did the Prophet have a concubine?

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

What does the Quran mean by 'what your right hands possess', and did the Prophet have a concubine?

The guest reads the Quran's 'right-hand possessions' as a category of wife who was not free, since 4:25 speaks of marrying slave girls, and thinks Mariya al-Qibtiyya may have been a wife misunderstood as a concubine. Mufti Abu Layth says Mariya was a wife, as he has taught, and that under trajectory hermeneutics slavery would have become haram.

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 1:42:42)

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 1:42:42 · Open the segment

Why do the circumstances of the Prophet's marriage rule out a six-year-old Aisha?

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

Why do the circumstances of the Prophet's marriage rule out a six-year-old Aisha?

The marriage after the year of sorrow was meant to give the Prophet a companion, a carer for his children and a support in the da'wah, which a six-year-old could not provide, and Aisha had been engaged for years to a man whose mother feared she would convert him. Mufti Abu Layth suggests her age was exaggerated downwards after the ifk slander to defend her purity.

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 41:29)

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 41:29 · Open the segment

How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet?

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

How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet?

Writers such as Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood and Jamal Badawi conclude that Aisha was in her teens, and the report that her sister Asma died at a hundred in the year 73 puts her at about eighteen when she moved in with the Prophet. The guest explains the hadith's six and nine as numbers exaggerated downwards, as Khadija's forty was exaggerated upwards.

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

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

Recording: Shaykh Dr. Shabir Ally | Juxtaposing the Quran, Jumbling Aisha's age & Jinn Possession | MindTrap#16 (at 32:34)

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 33:52 · Open the segment

Did the Prophet marry his cousin?

Sun, 08 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Did the Prophet marry his cousin?

Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet's marriage to Zaynab bint Jahsh, a relative only through her mother, is unlike families where everyone marries cousins; he also says marriage without a wali is valid. Mufti Abu Layth says he believes that a person can get married without a wali.

Answer from 8 March 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Genetics and marrying relatives | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on relationships/marriage/choosing-a-spouse exists (10 December 2022): What is the story of the woman who tricked Abu Hanifa into a marriage proposal?

Watch on YouTube at 2:16 · Open the segment

Why was a marriage suggested to the Prophet after the year of sorrow?

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Why was a marriage suggested to the Prophet after the year of sorrow?

After the year of sorrow, Khawla suggested the Prophet marry and named Aisha and Sawda. Mufti Abu Layth says a wife was meant to help him with the home and children, companionship, intimacy and his mission. Mufti Abu Layth says that the marriage was suggested by Khawla to support the Prophet after the year of sorrow, and that a wife could help him with the home and children, companionship, intimacy and his mission.

Answer from 30 November 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Shaykh Omar Suleiman & the Yaqeen Institutes On Age of Aisha (r.a.) -Mufti Abu Layth (at 6:33)

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 6:33 · Open the segment

Does Sahih al-Bukhari say the Prophet pointed to Aisha's house as the source of fitna?

Sat, 01 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Does Sahih al-Bukhari say the Prophet pointed to Aisha's house as the source of fitna?

The Bukhari report in which the Prophet points to Aisha's house and says the fitna and the horn of Shaytan will rise there is, Mufti Abu Layth says, disrespectful to the Prophet and to Aisha, and Muslims should question what they pass off as authentic. Mufti Abu Layth says the Bukhari report in which the Prophet points to Aisha's house as the place where the fitna and the horn of Shaytan will rise is disrespectful to the Prophet and to Aisha, and that Muslims need to question what they present as authentic.

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

Kind: general teaching

Recording: BukhariGate Part 2: Sahih Bukhari is NOT so Sahih -Mufti Abu Layth (at 28:43)

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 28:43 · Open the segment

Do Muslim women have to wear the niqab?

Thu, 08 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Do Muslim women have to wear the niqab?

Mufti Abu Layth does not consider the niqab part of the religion: it is a cultural measure, sensible only where a woman's safety requires it, and in the West he thinks it should not be worn. The screen rules for the Prophet's wives were specific to them. Mufti Abu Layth says that, as far as religion is concerned, he does not consider the niqab to be part of the religion at all.

Answer from 8 March 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Should women wear the Niqab? - Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 0:00)

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 0:37 · Open the segment

Did the Prophet marry Safiyya on the same night she was captured?

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Did the Prophet marry Safiyya on the same night she was captured?

No: Mufti Abu Layth says Safiyya was a Muslim when the Prophet married her and so had to observe a waiting period, which rules out a marriage on the night of her capture. Mufti Abu Layth says the claim that the Prophet took Safiyya and married her on the same night cannot stand, since as a Muslim she was bound by the waiting period, and even a single menstrual cycle could not have passed in one or two nights.

Answer from 28 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: A response to Hamza Maqbool (Deobandi/Maliki) - Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 2:28)

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 2:28 · Open the segment

Reactions to his Safiyya narrative, and the parable of the wife who is never pleased

Wed, 28 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Reactions to his Safiyya narrative, and the parable of the wife who is never pleased

Mufti Abu Layth notes that his account of Safiyya was mostly well received, but some critics still found fault, which he illustrates with the story of a wife who cannot be pleased.

Answer from 28 February 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Recording: A response to Hamza Maqbool (Deobandi/Maliki) - Mufti Abu Layth al-Maliki (at 0:01)

A more recent answer on history/sirah/wives-of-the-prophet exists (5 January 2021): Did the Prophet fall in love with Zaynab bint Jahsh?

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

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