# A mufti's clip on ear piercing: 'decency', 'manipulation' and muthla - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/36/ - Date: 2021-02-16 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #202| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:53:05–2:00:50) - Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--PntsaR8ck&t=6785s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/ **Topics:** Jewellery, gold and silk for men; Views on contemporary scholars **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth mocks a mufti's argument that piercing beyond the earlobe is abnormal and amounts to muthla, saying muthla means disfiguring a body, not piercing it. ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth plays a clip of Mufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera answering what the limits of ear piercing are. In it the mufti says piercing any part of the body considered acceptable among decent people is permissible: one or two piercings at the bottom of the ear are normal, piercing higher up becomes abnormal, the nose is fine because many Muslim cultures allow it, and piercing every part is impermissible because it manipulates the body and because Islam forbids muthla. Mufti interjects with mockery, asking who is defining normality, whether indecency is not usually about nudity, and what 'manipulating' means. He explains that muthla means disfiguring someone, especially the dead after killing, as ancient Arabs did, and asks why, if piercing the lower ear is not muthla, the upper ear would be, saying this is why the ummah is where it is. ## Sources and names cited - Mufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera - muthla (mutilation) ## Transcript (machine tier, 1:53:05–2:00:50) [1:53:05] right so let's take a look people i brought up some other clips right this is uh it's for earp we've got mufti abdul rahman ibn yusuf al-mangera speaking people on piercing ear piercings ear piecing that is what are the limits for ear piercing can you pierce the top of your ear [1:53:45] or is it just the bottom and what is the reason for not piercing any other part of the body for example the ears and the nose etc it's permissible to pierce any part of the the body that is considered to be acceptable among decent people as are your decency ah people some of you have just noticed i've also figured out how to use the stop button on this [1:54:20] i just figured this out today we learn people we live we learn so we are seeing the amazing shaykh pouring the gems and anything that people seem decent you know decent this one what's the decent let's let's hear people let's see as a source of adornment for women sorry teasing you people i now know the function i know the function so for example pay attention people must be saying example if you are piercing the ears which means that if you're piercing [1:54:58] one or two at the bottom that's considered to be it facing the bottom the bottom the ear bottom listen properly to move this up quite normal one or two quite normal it's kind of acceptable to a certain degree but to pierce up and above then that gets a bit abnormal for more [Laughter] i want this up so one or two is normal and you pierce above it becomes abnormal [1:55:30] i'd love to see who's defining normality here who's cha-cha is sitting there saying that's abnormal most people most people don't do that right and also that would become problematic like and we're thinking things like colon can say is problematic piercing the nose is fine it's fine find this one people fine because again you have many muslim cultures which allow that and is considered to be quite normal and not indecent [Laughter] [1:56:11] isn't indecent usually to do with being nude i mean i don't know it's not indecent people it's not indecent the reason why it's not permissible to go around piercing every part of your body is because that's it why why move this up let's hear that again manipulating your body manipulating your [1:56:55] let's body what he's saying in a sense and there's no muthala in islam means there's no there is no mutilation of any part of your body to make a hole through it etc so that's that's one of the reasons for it oh that's one of the reasons for it oh so people as you heard right there the wise words of mufti mangerasap that you will enjoy [Laughter] so let me just clarify what uh mufti saab was saying [1:57:31] you see the problem with having you can have one piercing it's normal you can have two it's normal why is it normal because decent people say it's normal [Laughter] sharif people if you pierce on top it becomes abnormal [1:58:09] [Laughter] but why mufti why does it become abnormal right just hold your horses people i'm going to explain the wisdom is because you're manipulating [Laughter] what the hell does manipulating here mean i don't know whether it's the lack of caffeine today [1:58:44] what does manipulating you your body means so you're manipulating your body tk right so oh look at that magic there going a bit then mufti saab goes on to explain that the other wisdom is because we're not allowed to do musla in islam muthlaf for those of you that don't know means to what it's really used for is to disfigure uh to distort and disfigure someone [1:59:23] especially to the dead after they've been killed what they would do the ancient arabs would kind of disfigure them so they'd do things like i don't know maybe cut their tongue out and you know like maybe kind of do all weird stuff with their body parts cut it off and do hang it around and you know a bit like uh i suppose you get some of these cartels and the colombian necktie is which is not a tie you want to be wearing you know so this kind of stuff is muthla [2:00:11] but then because muthala is haram you're not allowed to pierce the upper part of the ear or body parts if you can do musla here then why can't you do it here [Laughter] i am you see this is the problem this is why the ummah is uh is where it is but i saw that and i thought well i have to share that now since it's so ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment --PntsaR8ck/s/36. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/--pntsar8ck/s/36/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.