Recordings › Monday Nights with Mufti #199 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth · 26 Jan 2021 › Segment 14 of 36
Do creation myths in other cultures share a source with the Islamic account?
muftis halaal permitted lawful ulama ulema ulamaa salam as-salamu alaykum assalamu alaikum assalamualaikum salaams salam alaykum wa alaykum as-salam peace greeting ibadah ibada ibaadah ibadatCreation myths across cultures, and where the name Adam comes from
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This segment52:59 to 56:57 · 3 min 58 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth feels the world's creation myths probably share a common origin, and suggests the name Adam predates Arabic and Hebrew, possibly from Sanskrit, though he is not sure.
In more detail
Asked about creation myths in different cultures and the Islamic narratives of creation, Mufti Abu Layth says he feels many of these myths share a common origin and may be metaphorical while having some essence to them. He notes that the figure of Adam appears in many cultures, citing Adamu in the Sumerian tradition, and that some ancient Hindu narratives are not very different. He says he does not accept that Adam has Arabic or Hebrew roots, since Adamu precedes the biblical story, and wonders whether the word could be of Sanskrit origin, meaning ancient, while saying he does not know. He then jokes briefly about a question on whether worshipping idols is halal and is confused by a question about which scholars he would consider.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedWhat are your thoughts on the different creation myths in different cultures and the Islamic narratives of the universe's creation?
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says many cultures' creation myths seem to share a common origin, and that the name Adam is not of Arabic origin and may be older, possibly Sanskrit, though he is not certain.
“one thing i don't buy that adam has arabic roots it's just later on it's made to match arabic roots but it's not an arabic word”
Category: historical claim
Kind: general teachingTranscript
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you want to eat right so what is going on move this up different creation myths in different cultures and islamic narratives the universe creation what's your thoughts yeah definitely i feel that look um it's true that i feel that there's a common kind of origin to a lot of these
creation myths and some of them may be metaphorical i mean many of them may be metaphorical but um they may have had some essence to them so the concept of adam is in many um many kind of cultures obviously not just the biblical traditions but also adamu from the uh ancient um i believe it was uh the ancient sumerian sumerians had kind of passed down the myth as well and so i hmm i i definitely feel that there's you know that there's an
uh connection here okay and even when you think about it um some of the the ancient hindu narratives as well ain't actually that different i mean they in several things they are but still yeah and and i think i've spoken of this in the past that adam in um
in if if looked at from a sanskrit perspective meaning ancient it's actually quite intriguing [Music] that could because one thing i don't buy that adam has arabic roots it's just later on it's made to match arabic roots but it's not an arabic word and where did the word come from so that's the question you see and i don't think it's uh hebrew because the the you know the the whole adamu
preceding the story of the biblical adam so i would assume that this word is of a foreign script that is then kind of taken biblicized and also arabicized as well but could it be that its origin was sanskrit i'm not saying it is but i it's interesting it could be why not i mean um i don't know i don't know let's right so
is worshipping idols halal do people actually worship idols like idols it's if they do that they have to be i'm surprised they haven't gone extinct [Laughter] they have to literally be mentally stupid to do that aftab said you missed my super chat let's take a look people after taking a look right here the epicologist after salaam of the speaking of education i know you're very educated and have the credentials
rather but are there any other institutions or scholars today you would consider today for yourself being a muslim are they what but are there any institutional scholars today you would consider today you would consider today for yourself being a mufti am i am i having a brain lapse or i don't i don't don't understand the question what's going on is it me is it the question is it speaking i know you're very educated but are there any other institutions or scholars today you would consider today for yourself
being a mufti as in would i consider going studying this is that what's being asked would i consider them being epic is that is that being asked i don't stop trying to trick me into thinking i'm i'm suffering from some kind of mental lapse here you guys are trying an experiment on me let's see what else is going on are you ever going to try psychedelics or cannabis charity don't you worry about me man
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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 2021-01-26b-S14, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eokcnwggiba/s/14/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2021, January 26). Do creation myths in other cultures share a source with the Islamic account? [Video, segment 2021-01-26b-S14, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eokcnwggiba/s/14/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2021. "Do creation myths in other cultures share a source with the Islamic account?" Video, segment 2021-01-26b-S14, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded January 26, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eokcnwggiba/s/14/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2021-01-26b-S14, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Do creation myths in other cultures share a source with the Islamic account?}}, year = {2021}, month = {1}, date = {2021-01-26}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eokcnwggiba/s/14/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eokcnwggiba/s/14/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2021-01-26b-S14, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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