# What does the Mufti think of Quran-only Muslims?

*Quran-only Muslims: love for the Quran, misunderstanding of the tradition*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/_lwqz9dm5zs/s/1/
- Date: 2021-11-20 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Quranist/Quran-Only Muslims? Hadith Relativists Vs Hadith Absolutists | Mufti Abu Layth (0:00–2:02)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lwqZ9dM5Zs&t=0s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/_lwqz9dm5zs/

**Topics:** Quran-only movement; Sunnah versus hadith

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth commends Quranists' love for the Quran but feels they have misunderstood the living tradition. Most of the ummah, Hanafi and Maliki, were hadith relativists who put the sunnah before hadith.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says he feels that Quran-only Muslims have misunderstood, or not appreciated, the living tradition in its totality.

**Evidence, his words at 0:40:** “i also feel that they've misunderstood the tradition and the living tradition” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lwqZ9dM5Zs&t=40s)

## Longer summary

In a short clip Mufti Abu Layth says he commends Quranists and tells people to understand that those who say they are Quran-only come from a place of deep love for the Quran, not from hatred of the Prophet. He describes them as coming from a hyper-skepticism about the ahadith as epistemological sources. He says he also feels they have misunderstood or not appreciated the living tradition in its totality, since their outcry seems aimed at a Shafi'i-style methodology. He says the majority of the ummah were Hanafi or Maliki, who were hadith relativists rather than hadith absolutists and were more about the sunnah than about hadith.

## Sources and names cited

- Quranist (Quran-only)
- Shafi'i school
- Hanafi school
- Maliki school
- hadith relativism
- sunnah

## Transcript (machine tier, 0:00–2:02)

[0:00] you know i i commend you see quranist you see as well i and i tell people always that whenever you're engaging with people try to understand that people too are coming from a place of love for the deen and people that are saying we are quran only in islam they too are coming from a place of deep love for the quran which is admirable and highly admirable and i commend that and and they're not coming from a hatred to

[0:40] the prophet well no muslim could ever hate the prophet salallahu it's just that and you know they're diverse they they're coming from a um a kind of super skeptic super skepticism or a hyper skepticism which when it comes to epistemological sources of the ahadith and and more so you see i also feel that they've misunderstood the tradition and the living tradition or they've misunders or not appreciated

[1:18] it's it's kind of depth and and also not understood maybe the tradition in its totality because the tradition in its totality is not a shafty tradition because it seems that the outcries against a kind of fight methodology which was not the majority of the ummah so the majority of the ummah were either hanafi or maliki and they were not hadith absolutists they were hadith relativists and they were more about the sunnah than they were about hadith and so

[1:58] there is a lot of misunderstanding along the way

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment _lwqZ9dM5Zs/s/1. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/_lwqz9dm5zs/s/1/

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