# Was Yazid a kafir, and is it right to curse him?

*Does he absolve Yazid? A tyrant, but not a kafir, and not to be cursed*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/iabl5vis3rg/s/16/
- Date: 2020-10-16 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Karbala & it's precursors | Mufti Abu Layth (56:51–1:00:00)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaBL5ViS3Rg&t=3411s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/iabl5vis3rg/

**Topics:** Umayyads and Abbasids; Karbala

**Question as asked:** Do you absolve Yazid? And do you accept the claim that he personally would not have killed Husayn if it had come to him?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: Mufti Abu Layth calls Yazid a wretched, arrogant tyrant, but he does not call him a kafir or curse him, since he rejects a culture of cursing. He can believe Yazid would not have killed Husayn himself.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says he does not curse Yazid or encourage people to curse him, because he does not believe in a culture of cursing.

**Evidence, his words at 58:13:** “I don't believe he was a kafir and I don't I don't curse him I don't encourage people to curse him I but that's generally I don't believe in a culture of cursing” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaBL5ViS3Rg&t=3493s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth reads a viewer's question asking whether he absolves Yazid. He says he does not: he feels Yazid was wretched in what he did, an utter disappointment, a tyrant and arrogant, believing rule belonged to his tribe, and cites coins dating his reign from year one rather than the Prophet's hijrah, adding that dressing a donkey in a designer suit does not change what it is. He says he does not go to the extreme of calling Yazid a kafir and does not curse him or encourage others to, because he does not believe in a culture of cursing; he notes that some scholars such as Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal held cursing him permissible, while Abu Hanifa disagreed and Imam Malik generally did not curse. On a further question whether he accepts that Yazid would not personally have killed Husayn had he reached him, he says it is hypothetical but he can believe it, though he thinks Yazid had no remorse; Yazid died shortly afterwards.

## Sources and names cited

- Yazid ibn Mu'awiya
- Husayn ibn Ali
- Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal
- Abu Hanifa
- Imam Malik
- hijrah

## Transcript (machine tier, 56:51–1:00:00)

[56:11] acknowledge that it was a huge tragedy but I don't feel it needs to be kind of mourned every year as an anniversary if a person personally does that sure that's fine but I don't think this this is to be like ritualized the way the Shia have it ritualized but that said if they want to do it you know it's a it's a free world it doesn't really that's their take of Islam and they want to do it you know fine I mean but I don't I don't personally see it I don't see it in my understanding it's not the Islamic thing to do but I get that that's their take

[56:51] of it obviously somebody said has Mufti did Mufti absolve do you absolve Yazid I don't I feel that Yazid um was kind of wretched in what he did I feel he was an utter disappointment he was a tyrant and he was somebody who you know is very arrogant in his thing uh I I feel he felt that that rulership kind of just belonged in his tribe and this is why you know some of the coins that he printed he prints them from his year as year one

[57:32] you know uh that he prints his his year of reign his year of rule on the coin as year one not the prophet's Hijrah his own and this is part of these coins have been found and and I think that's part of the arrogance and you know you know it's who the hell are you to to you know like you've got the Hijrah of the prophet and you

[58:13] you know if you dress up a donkey in in like a solid suit like a Gucci suit it's still people are going to say at the end even if they try to praise it they're going to say yeah what what a donkey so I don't look I don't respect him like that but I don't go to the extremes of uh I don't believe he was a kafir and I don't I don't curse him I don't encourage people to curse him I but that's generally I don't believe in a culture of cursing that's why um so it's not I do recognize that some

[58:51] ulama like Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and these people did say it was permissible to curse him uh but it's not how I but Imam Abu Hanifah disagreed and uh Imam Malik generally didn't curse and it's not like Islam generally doesn't teach a culture of cursing so that's why I wouldn't curse um but I don't I see him for who he was but I don't call him a kafir as as to the question on do I accept the claim there's a claim that do I accept that he personally wouldn't have killed him if if it come to now that's just a hypothetical because

[59:29] it never happened but I I can believe it. I can believe it. Although I don't think he had much he had any remorse for it happening. See, there's a difference. Like I don't really give a like somebody does something, I don't give a damn. But yeah, maybe if I was doing it, I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have gone that whole way, but they did it. I don't really care. And I think that was his approach. And he died shortly after and yeah, so that's my take on the whole Karbala thing.

[59:59] Um I do feel that the real culprits Honestly, I feel that you know the real culprits. Like I feel there's a collective. But that they are all it's like a joint venture. They're all responsible at the top level, but there's in what order?

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment iaBL5ViS3Rg/s/16. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/iabl5vis3rg/s/16/

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