# Should religious leaders be held to a higher standard than everyone else? *Should leaders face greater scrutiny? Selective modern ethics and the slips of people of standing* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/6_dmojl-_bi/s/7/ - Date: 2017-09-29 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Propaganda against Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan - Mufti Abu Layth (19:37–23:33) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_dmOJl-_bI&t=1177s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/6_dmojl-_bi/ **Topics:** Legal theory and method; Islam and modernity; Individual hadith explained **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The claim that leaders deserve greater scrutiny is a modern Western ethic that its proponents apply selectively, in Mufti Abu Layth's view, while a hadith tells Muslims to overlook the slips of people of standing. Workplace rules on relationships are corporate productivity ethics, not religion. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that the principle that leaders deserve greater scrutiny is a modern Western ethic applied selectively by those who reject modern ethics elsewhere, and that the Prophet instructed overlooking the slips of people of standing. **Evidence, his words at 19:37:** “people of leadership must be held to greater accountability says who says who where did you I know yes this is a principle of modern 21st century Western ethics” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_dmOJl-_bI&t=1177s) ## Longer summary Turning to the second element, that people in leadership must be held to greater accountability, Mufti Abu Layth asks who says so and calls it a principle of modern twenty-first-century Western ethics. He says that although he himself speaks about trajectory hermeneutics and ethics changing with time, the same people reject modern ethics in most other matters: he has not seen them decry the ruling that blood money for a woman's accidental death is half a man's, which he has called wrong, nor defend the Prophet's honour against reports that he married a six- or seven-year-old, and they endorse stoning in some circumstances yet refuse to debate any of it. He says the rules against relationships with colleagues are corporate ethics built on capitalism and productivity, not religion. Against them he cites the hadith that the Prophet said to overlook the slips of people of standing, transmitted in collections whose names are unclear in the recording [?], and asks why only this one principle of modern ethics is adopted while the bigger issues go unaddressed. He then announces the third and most important element, that a relationship involving a person of status must be deemed abuse. ## Sources and names cited - report: aqilu dhawi al-hayat atharatihim forgive people of standing their slips - trajectory hermeneutics - diya (blood money) ## Transcript (machine tier, 19:37–23:33) [18:59] your faith upon this is nothing nothing from the teachings of Islam so lets us clarify this this part first the first part of the tripartite equation that they feel they have the right to command the good and forbid the evil no you do not you have no right to speak on behalf of God no right be ashamed of yourself you know the Haram actions that you perpetrate everybody Kulu bani adam' ha ha all of the children of adam are people who [19:37] perpetrate sins this is this is inevitable here claiming to be an angel or as pure as the driven snow you are not as pure as the driven snow right do not that's the first thing secondly these people said well people of leadership must be held to greater accountability says who says who where did you I know yes this is a principle of modern 21st century Western ethics and look I have I'm somebody who speaks about trajectory hermeneutics I speak about ethics [20:14] changing with time but yet these very same people reject this this this concept of modern ethics in most things when these are the same people who generally will support they won't they won't advocate they say we want to speak about modern ethics there is a clear ruling in Islam that most people have taken that the the compensation blood money for accidental death for a woman is half of that of a man I haven't seen till date any of these people ever decry that and say it's wrong I've said it's [20:51] wrong where have they been there's been miss attributions to the messenger of allah that he married a six or a seven year old child where have they been to defend the inner at the honor of the messenger of allah salallahu alaihe salam they endorsed these pathetic ruling these kind of pathetic reports which insult the messenger of allah where have they been where are the ethics of the twenty they endorse under certain circumstances stoning people to death in the 21st century and oh they don't want to debate any of this they don't want to discuss [21:30] it they say oh oh but cooperation contractual ethics ah god forbid god forbid that should somebody have a relationship with a colleague corporation ethics the corporation culture is built on capitalism and I'm not here to diss capitalism right now but I'm just being honest you will know it these rules that work whether you should people should be on time they to do with productivity because when you're on time you make more production so people make more money when people are [22:09] having relationships with coworkers or things like this it impacts productivity these are the these are by law by rules within companies very massively around the world so and I want to come back to this thing of people being in leadership a MOOC more liable what does the hadith of The Messenger of Allah say the hadith of the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said after you as I will hate artists Allah to him and in another rewire after ah to him this has been brought forward by Monta Howie Biden has amis been brought forward by in the most in a booth and other books that the prophet sallallahu [22:47] alayhi wa sallam said after you forgive be more forgiving Lita will hate for people of responsible positions little a team when they make their mistakes that's what the messenger of allah - but oh don't worry about that what does corporation 21st century corporation ethics say and look I've got no problem having a discourse on trajectory hermeneutics and ethics evolving but why just this one principle the bigger issues nobody's addressed them then this thing [23:25] and this is the most important one that if a person is in a position of a status this must be deemed abuse no it is not abuse it is not abuse women I'm sorry but I find it insulting I find it insulting that these people think that women when they around position people of status they become mentally handicapped that is an insult to women women don't become mentally handicapped when they around people of status that like oh I've got no idea what to do I ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 6_dmOJl-_bI/s/7. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/6_dmojl-_bi/s/7/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.