# Will the Mufti open an academy to train muftis?

*Why he will not found an academy to train rational muftis*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eokcnwggiba/s/7/
- Date: 2021-01-26 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #199 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (30:45–36:00)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoKcNwGGIBA&t=1845s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eokcnwggiba/

**Topics:** The Mufti and the channel; Education, madrasas and seminaries

**Question as asked:** Any more plans to make more muftis like you, who go by rationality and reasoning, for example an academy? The Islamic world needs more like you.

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: he says founding an institution drains one's life and takes away the freedom to think and speak, and that online teaching and books reach more people.

## Longer summary

Asked whether he plans to train more muftis who go by reason, for example through an academy, Mufti Abu Layth thanks the questioner but says he does not see himself founding one, though teaching at one would be different. He says establishing an institution sucks the life out of you and takes away the freedom of ideas and speech, making you a slave to its longevity, while videos and books can also produce people. He gives the example of Hamza Yusuf's Zaytuna, which he considers perhaps the most successful Muslim academy in the West, asking what it ultimately achieves beyond degrees when teaching online could reach far more people, and says that in the West institutions are run by boards, citing a case in which a well-known teacher was sidelined by his organisation's new administration. He ends with jokes about how to contact him and about why ex-Muslims keep the name.

## Sources and names cited

- Hamza Yusuf
- Zaytuna College

## Transcript (machine tier, 30:45–36:00)

[30:28] anyway i don't know why i digressed onto bonobos so people what is going on mufti any more plans to make more muftis like your type go by rationality and reasoning like an academy islamic world needs more like you shukran shukran much appreciated i dearly appreciate your um because that in itself is a you know it's an acknowledgement so right i explained previously may have been last week why i don't really see myself going into something like an academy

[31:07] making an academy or you know founding one or being part of it i mean being part of something is different as in if you just teach there but establishing something because it sucks the life out of you and you know it's not my style man and you know what it is it does it makes you a it kind of takes away your liberty to freedom of ideas and freedom of speech it shackles you chains you in this kind of uh

[31:47] yeah this kind of slavery to the institute you become a slave to it for its longevity and it is true maybe after you've passed away it may produce people may do maybe even whilst you're alive but i mean you could teach people anyway whilst you're alive but this even after you've gone uh maybe the academy produces people but i don't know you know can't videos produce people can't um books produce people you know what why become crippled with something like that because then you

[32:26] everything is that institute and i i spoke at it about it at length and i gave the example of sheikh hamza yusuf and zetuna which is incredibly successful as an institute in fact i chose it as probably one of the most if not you know the most successful muslim academy in the west and really i just see as even though it's great but what is it ultimately you know i don't know like what is what's so great about like i don't mean to dis what sheikh hamza has done but what's so great about it like yeah you'll produce you know some people will

[33:06] come out with a degree and and what what does it do like yeah you know you'll shape some people's thoughts but you could have shaped their thoughts by giving lectures in fact you could have had a much broader reach if you just taught online so but people will be like yeah but it's my legacy you know in all honesty nowadays the way these things work um institutions you no one person then owns that institution okay those days you know like how it works in the east it doesn't quite work like that in the west with corporations and board members

[33:46] and this and that and and a good example is like remember the thing that happened with the ustad the osama cannon and the whole leaf thing and and i'm not don't want to bring that all up but i'm just saying when it came you know and push came to shove they threw him you know under the bus and they went on whoever the the new you know people were the new administration to take over and yeah and i and i've seen it believe me i've seen it i've seen it happen you know there's um i've uh i remember just just

[34:24] there's been a few examples but especially in the west islamic stuff you can build it make it up and then something could go wrong and people will just debunk you and they'll just you know they'll just take over and it'll carry on like a corporation but why why give your blood and everything to its soul to it but yeah that's my thoughts on that a bit do me gloomy but

[34:54] yeah and i think um i think the biggest problem is really the two one it sucks the life out of you and two you lose your freedoms to be true to yourself and three you can't live a proper vampire lifestyle people so how can i contact mufti sahib x muslim x x people x [Laughter] i was watching something where somebody said uh what is it why do they call

[35:32] themselves ex-muslim it's a you know and they were saying well because the truth is an x never speaks well of you yeah because that you see the irony is you're still trapped in the thing by being an ex-muslim you're kind of the name says it all you're still trapped until you don't give that up multi what is your view on religious education when should it begin age what should be the curriculum focus

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment eoKcNwGGIBA/s/7. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eokcnwggiba/s/7/

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