Recordings › Don't let people bully you into beliefs | Mufti Abu Layth · 21 Aug 2019 › Segment 4 of 5
Did the Prophet teach a formal creed of what Muslims must believe?
aqidah aqeedah aqida theology aqeeda aqaid hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith malik ibn anas malik bin anas imam maalik imam malik ibn anas imaam imams prayer leader muftis iman imaan eemaan eeman wahy wahi wahee sahabah sahabi sahabiyyah sahabiyat companions tabi'in tabieen tabi'i successors as-salaf salaf al-salih salaf us-salih al-salaf early generations medina madina madeenah yathrib umma ummat community al-din ad-deen ad-din religionPolicing ideas is the antithesis of Islam: the Prophet taught faith, not creed
Play from 15:41
The video loads from YouTube only when you press play. Click a time in the transcript to seek.
Watch this part
Open on YouTube at 15:41The player starts at 15:41, the beginning of this part.
This segment15:41 to 18:17 · 2 min 36 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenThe Prophet taught faith, not a creed: beyond a handful of beliefs no hadith prescribes what to believe, and for 150 years the salaf up to Imam Malik wrote down no dogma. Policing people's ideas is the antithesis of Islam, so think for yourself.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says people may call him crazy and eccentric, but that nobody has left the deen because of anything he has said, while many have come back to it and found solace in the faith through his words, so there must be something in this way of thinking. He describes the culture of forcing faith and policing people's ideas as 'Taliban-ised' and caveman-like, the antithesis of what Islam came with: the deen was born free and today it has been locked in chains. He says the Prophet never taught people a creed, and that no hadith goes beyond a handful of things to believe in: God, that things do not end in this life, that there was revelation, and that God is all-powerful. For over a hundred and fifty years, he says, the salaf of this ummah, from the Sahaba and the tabi'un to Imam Malik and the people of Madinah, never taught dogma or wrote down what one must believe; it was wisdom. He calls for a return to the way of the salaf, says the age of the mullahs is over, and asks people to think for themselves, which is what the deen came for, warning that this policing will destroy the face of Islam if it is allowed to permeate the Muslim scene.
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Prophet never taught a creed beyond a handful of beliefs, that the salaf up to Imam Malik never taught or wrote down dogma for over a hundred and fifty years, and that forcing faith and policing people's ideas is the antithesis of what Islam came with.
“this kind of policing people's ideas this is the antithesis of what Islam came with this this theme was born free people yet today they've locked it in Chains”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine15:41 to 18:17 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
exactly that very nature that monstrous nature that monstrosity that has chased chased people from what i believe is this beautiful theme it's chase people away from and people may say that I'm crazy and eccentric and I chat all kinds of things maybe I do but I can tell you that by nothing from what I've said has a person ever left this theme but many many have come back to it and found solace in the
faith by words that I have said so surely they must carry some meaning that there must be something in them in this way of thinking yet these people this kind of Taliban eyes this kind of caveman culture of trying to do we will force faith this kind of policing people's ideas this is the antithesis of what Islam came with this this theme was born free people yet today they've locked it in Chains the prophet
sallallahu alayhi wasallam never taught people creed if you cannot find a single hadith that mentions beyond a handful of things in what to believe in believe in God that they will things will not end in this life that there was revelation and that God is all-powerful this was it for over a hundred and fifty years the self of this Ummah people you know from the Sahaba from the turban in from the at-fault a being to the likes of Imam Malik the dawn of al-madinah never taught people Dogma they never taught they never wrote
down what you meant to believe it was wisdom in that return to the way of the cell of people the age of the mullahs is over okay the rain has been lost people that what I would say is that look think for yourself that's what this thing came for if I could give any kind of advice and just be don't allow this to just kind of permeate the Muslim scene
because it will just really destroy the face of Islam so that if I can give you know if you can take any message from what I'm saying take that right I would write following on from that right following on from so that's this this article that these people were saying with Abdullah kunda all right I think I just saw on here it said that after lagoon doll was on it tuned in hello Salman a Louis Allen who Shama deed right so people build bridges talk
Paragraphs overlapping 15:41 to 18:17. Full text on the recording page.
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 2019-08-21-S04, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/4/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2019, August 21). Did the Prophet teach a formal creed of what Muslims must believe? [Video, segment 2019-08-21-S04, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/4/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2019. "Did the Prophet teach a formal creed of what Muslims must believe?" Video, segment 2019-08-21-S04, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded August 21, 2019. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/4/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2019-08-21-S04, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Did the Prophet teach a formal creed of what Muslims must believe?}}, year = {2019}, month = {8}, date = {2019-08-21}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/4/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ewmbn7jv9dk/s/4/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2019-08-21-S04, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
Something wrong here?
Tell us what is wrong and it will be checked against the recording. Nothing changes until a person has reviewed it.
Sending a note needs JavaScript, which is off or unavailable in this browser. Nothing has been sent.
No name, email address or account is asked for or stored, and the inbox does not store your IP address. For rate limiting it keeps an unreadable fingerprint of your connection for 48 hours, and our database provider's own logs record connections as every website's do. Only your note, its kind, the page and the moment in the recording are kept, for review.