Recordings › The War-Wager Hadith Paradox (Debunking Dogmatism) -Mufti Abu Layth · 20 Sep 2018 › Segment 1 of 3
What is the war-wager hadith paradox?
hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith saheeh sahih hadith saheeh hadith sound hadith authentic malik ibn anas malik bin anas imam maalik imam malik ibn anas imam bukhari sahih bukhari saheeh al-bukhari saheeh bukhari imam al-bukhari imaam imams prayer leader muftis sanad isnaad asanid chain of narration mutawaatir tawatur mass-transmitted saheeh muslim imam muslim muslim ibn al-hajjaj iman imaan eemaan eeman jahannam jahanam jahannum koran quraan al-quran ayah aya ayat ayaat aayah aayat sahabah sahaba sahabi sahabiyyah sahabiyat salafis salafism wahhabi wahhabism 'alim aalim ulama ulema ulamaa al-din ad-deen ad-dinThe war-wager paradox: 'I have been commanded to fight the people' and the mutawatir claim
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This segment0:00 to 7:54 · 7 min 54 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth presents the report that the Prophet was commanded to fight people until they believe, which hadith dogmatists call mutawatir, and notes that the same scholars agree no one may be fought merely for disbelief or compelled into Islam.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth introduces what he calls the war-wager hadith paradox, meant to show that hadith dogmatism, a loyalty to the isnad above everything, is unacceptable and departs from the teaching of Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa never to let go of reason and the holistic understanding of Islam. He reads, in the wording of Sahih Muslim from Abu Hurayra, the report that the Prophet said he was commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and believe in him and in what he brought, after which their blood and wealth are protected except by right, noting that it is also in Sahih al-Bukhari, Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i and Musnad Ahmad. He then sets out, as a steel-man, the dogmatists' argument, naming the Egyptian Salafi scholar Abu Ishaq al-Huwayni [?]: the report is mutawatir, transmitted by up to seventeen companions with many chains in Bukhari, Muslim, al-Nasa'i and Musnad Ahmad, and so as established as the Quran. He says these same scholars agree that a non-Muslim may not be fought simply for being a non-Muslim and read 2:256 as meaning there is no compulsion in bringing people into Islam, while he and many scholars hold that there is no compulsion at all in matters of religion, citing further verses whose wording is unclear in the transcript [?]. This, he says, is where the paradox begins.
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Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says hadith dogmatists, loyal above all to the chain of transmission, have departed from the teaching of Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa not to abandon reason, and he holds that there is no compulsion at all in matters of religion.
“they disagree with people like me and many of the scholars that say that there's no compulsion at all in Islam”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine0:00 to 7:54 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
I want to present something people this is called what I've termed the war wager hadith paradox okay now what is this hadith paradox and why does this show that hadith dogmatism is kind of unacceptable let me make us through this I aim to kind of show you that people who are who are trying to assert hadith dogmatism the reason they're doing it is
because they have this loyalty to the east nad concept - this is not concept that the chain everything is about the chain and they've gone away from the actual teachings of people like imam malik and saying look people will at times black the chain as well they will at times kind of pull on over you with the chain never let go of your faculty of reason and the holistic understanding of islam Imam Malik said and Imam Abu Hanifa but we do have people that are had these dogmatists they don't care about whatever the hell it has to say as long as we have a chain that is acceptable
they will compromise everything so I want to show you a fine example that is a paradox you see and whites a paradox I'll explain see there is a hadith a very famous hadith that is in several books of hadith in Sahin in body in Muslim it's in Abu Dawood it's in Nasser eat and the Muslims of Ahmed it's in a few a few a few other books as well and let me read this hadith to you people this hadith the one I'm going to read the wording is from Sahih Muslim it's from Abu Huraira love your loved one and you've heard of this and it is the
hadith about waging war the Prophet said Omer - and no cartel and mass had a shadow I have been commanded and instructed to fight people fight mankind until they testify hotter yesh hadu an la ilaha illa-llah that there is no God except Allah what you mean OB and they must have faith in me believe in me what we match it to be and believe in that which I have brought for either for I lose Alec if they do that awesome human
need in my home world home in Lobby hockey huh weii sir boom Allah Allah then then they have protected from me their wealth and their lives and their blood except unless it is by an Islamic right and the accountability is with their Lord now this hadith I want to not screw man but still man the argument of the hadith dogmatists and amongst them people like you've got the Salafi Wahabi
scholar a voice hoc way me the Egyptian scholar who has detailed explanations of this and let me bring bring let me steal man the best of what is to be said including what he said so this is what people are saying he says that this hadith cannot be problematized why let me tell you because he says it's motivated to start off with okay that this is as widespread it is has multiplicity of change that it reaches the rank of the or an in its strength
and in its establish established nature that it is as established and as conclusive as the Quran so pointman he says up to 17 companions have transmitted it today I'm not going to critique in this wool wager hadith paradox I'm not going to critique the chains I'm going to show you the paradox 17 companions have transmitted a fine this hadith has up to let me tell you it has up to 17
narrations it has sorry multiple narrations in Bihari and Muslim about you've got multiple you've got four five in party four five in Muslim you've got up to 17 narrations in sauna and nursery in the book of necessary you've got 17 narration sorry 18 narrations in the muslims of ahmed you've got in other books as well so look at how many chains we have to prove this hadith I want you to look at that and then you've got people saying this is motor
water so what people are doing is they're bringing all these chains to support and to show that you cannot question this happy but then the paradox begins to unfold because you see the thing is now we say okay so what is the hadith the hadith is that the Prophet said I have been commanded to fight mankind until they believe in me and
until they believe in Allah and believe in me then they have safeguarded their wealth and lives from me now you see first of all including people like Hawaii and others will say that the scholars unanimously accept that we cannot fight a Kaffir for being a cafe that just for a cafe simply being a cafe like a non-muslim simply being a non-muslim does not legitimize him being
fought that that is impermissible he himself says this each man on this everybody says in fact they will say all of these scholars regarding the verse of the Quran la Achrafieh dean there is no compulsion in Islam they will interpret it to mean that there is no compulsion in making people enter Islam okay so they will say there's no compulsion in making people enter so remember that so they also agree also although they disagree with people like me and many of the scholars that say
that there's no compulsion at all in Islam all the verses of the Quran of answer to Korean asset economic meaning you force people until they believe unless the Elayne be much later you are not somebody imposed on people like a 15 there is no compulsion at all in matters of the Deen they will although they don't agree or together with us on these things but they do agree on making people embrace Islam there is no compulsion they also agree that a Kaffir cannot be fought for simply being a kaffir now this is the
paradox you see when you cement all these chains to bring this hadith you're showing that this procedure is airtight and now this is the chain you see this is the hadith but then the hadith that you end up with you can't accept so what these scholars start to say right okay so what wainy and other people say let me steel man their arguments for you they say right no not no no we don't say you can fight somebody because they say this hadith an ass here mankind doesn't
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2018-09-20-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/davfpkd1eco/s/1/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2018, September 20). What is the war-wager hadith paradox? [Video, segment 2018-09-20-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/davfpkd1eco/s/1/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2018. "What is the war-wager hadith paradox?" Video, segment 2018-09-20-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded September 20, 2018. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/davfpkd1eco/s/1/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2018-09-20-S01, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{What is the war-wager hadith paradox?}}, year = {2018}, month = {9}, date = {2018-09-20}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/davfpkd1eco/s/1/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/davfpkd1eco/s/1/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2018-09-20-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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