# Do I need a religious authority to own my faith?

*Owning your faith: Islam has no papacy*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/s/17/
- Date: 2021-04-13 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #210 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:06:16–1:07:35)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuHMCz2N3U&t=3976s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/

**Topics:** Sects, sectarianism and takfir; Islam and modernity

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: Mufti Abu Layth says Islam has no papacy, the deen belongs to everyone equally, and no one can throw you out of it.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims can take ownership of their own faith, since Islam has no papacy and no one can expel a person from the deen.

**Evidence, his words at 1:06:16:** “we can once again take ownership of our own faith i we don't need this is not a you know a papacy we don't need to go through the pope” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuHMCz2N3U&t=3976s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth reads a message thanking him for the freedom to think with one's own reason rather than believing something because someone with a beard said so. He says that in this age people can once again take ownership of their faith: Islam is not a papacy, information is online and cannot be stopped, the deen belongs to each person as much as to the next, and nobody can throw anyone out of it or scare them away. He warns against people obsessed with expelling others from God's faith.

## Sources and names cited

- takfir

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:06:16–1:07:35)

[1:06:14] is there anything you want to let him know love you bhaijan ave i love you too salim from the uk would like to given me the freedom to think with my own rationale and not just believe in something because someone has a b someone with a beard told me to exactly exactly i love the fact that we can in this day and age you know we can once again take ownership of our own faith i we don't need this is not a you know a papacy we don't need to go through the pope information is online and nobody can stop it

[1:06:52] so whether you want to learn or not but it is your deen nobody can chuck you out of it nobody can scare you away you know it's your deen as much as it is the next person's you know and people who have an obsession to chuck people out of god's faith those people you need to be aware of okay hani from the uk said he made me less fear god now the haters are going to love that but i i i i'm absolutely glad you said that and has turned it into a religion of love and better for me and others

[1:07:32] uh people who say what it like to say to me is people who say you laugh too much probably look like pepe sad face personally love your humor and humanity must be honestly you've personally helped me and others tremendously with our faith if it wasn't for you mufti sad emoji may allah forever keep you guys smiling i you know this this whole thing of god is this figure who you are meant to be scared of

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 8XuHMCz2N3U/s/17. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/s/17/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.