Recordings › Monday Nights with Mufti #183 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth · 22 Sep 2020 › Segment 21 of 29
What do you think of the Mu'tazila?
muftis kufr kuffar kaafir kufar kaafirun disbelief mutazilite mu'tazilah salafi salafism wahhabi wahabi wahhabism dawat da'ee invitationThoughts on the Mu'tazila, and being called one for using reason
Play from 2:06:56
The video loads from YouTube only when you press play. Click a time in the transcript to seek.
Watch the answer
Open on YouTube at 2:06:56The player starts at 2:06:56, where the answer begins.
This segment2:06:56 to 2:13:43 · 6 min 47 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth says the Mu'tazila were an extinct, extremist yet rationalist sect, and mocks calling anyone who uses reason a Mu'tazili.
In more detail
Asked for his thoughts on the Mu'tazila, Mufti Abu Layth says they were an ancient sect that has not existed for six or seven hundred years or more. Mufti describes them as a contradiction: extremist and political, backing insurgencies and holding that a Muslim who sins is no longer a Muslim though not a kafir, yet with a very rational side. He says later polemicists, and Salafis today, inherited the habit of calling anyone who argues from reason a Mu'tazili, and he mocks at length the idea of being insulted for using one's intellect. He says no one in history has been insulted for using the intellect rather than for failing to use it.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedThoughts on the Mu'tazila?
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says the Mu'tazila were an ancient sect that has not existed for something like six or seven hundred years.
“they don't really exist they haven't existed for something like six seven hundred years if not more they've been non-existent they were an extremist sect”
Category: historical claim
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine2:06:56 to 2:13:43 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
addison ray is the only reason why tick tock is still alive i don't know who addison ray is i'll have to find out hmm right thoughts on the matasila yeah i've explained that the matazila were an ancient sect they don't really exist they haven't existed for something like six seven hundred years if not more they've been non-existent they were an extremist sect that were a kind of contradiction in the sense that they had highly extremist factors about them they were very
political they were about insurgencies against the state they also excommunicated muslims that committed any sins they considered them to be not kafir but no longer muslim but then they also had a very rational side to them as well so what happens later people like ibn samir who uh is obsessed with groups like the mata with all sects he's obsessed what they would do is when they dislike a person who's using reason against them
they would say ah you're using reason ah so you're silly then and you're like uh no i'm not but they're awesome you're mata yeah you're like no definitely not also then you're definitely yeah if if you're more silly you're going to deny are you or do not [Laughter] you're like what is this invest investigative method [Laughter] you're like trying to so the selfies today and unfortunately other muslims as well
through that discourse have inherited that so they feel as well that oh when people use their reason and you can't answer them oh this is an answer then let's call them mata zilli like but but i'm not silly and they're like ah ah so you are you're like i'm not ah then you definitely are wait a minute do you feel that things should make sense until like uh yeah do you feel that things should be based on
reason as in they you know they should in essence make sense with the world how you observe it and how things they fit in mentally do you do you feel that do you you feel that and you'll be like should should things be logical you're like but i don't get it do you think we should use our intellect
like should we use our like [Laughter] this one this one this one borderline cafe this is literally what the discussion has become so it's just silly because what happens is these people will then say like i will say oh when i discuss my point and i say well this is based on reason they'll say sayo matazili and you'll be like uh no definitely it's like
but i'm not you know we answered all the material boy we annihilated you guys centuries ago centuries ago it's decimated you guys you're like oh okay why am i being forced to take that position yeah so that's the thing are
not because they use their brains that's dumb obviously that's like saying haha you use your eyes do you use your eyes [Laughter] you've got eyes you do you use them deviant deviant what you use your ears use your ears use your brain you use your intellect oh you you want things to be logical this one's dumb you can clearly see the people who came up with this logic are totally dumb that's like a bunch of i don't know like rural bedouins who must be so
dumb that when an intelligent guy came to them they must have been like hahaha he's educated educated educated dumb dumb and it's like it this is like an inside inside joke amongst dumb people that they just uses his brain
honestly you just don't know what to you're like i don't i don't get why why am i being insulted for using my intellect like that that's like that's like never happened in human history like people have been insulted for not using the intellect but for using it you're being insulted okay and you don't even know how to come back what's a comeback for that ah right okay let's move on people
right right right so hmm nighttime skincare is the best way to relax at the end of the day don't know what that is but i'll look into it [Laughter] right so what is going on
what is the difference debate dawah man please i would love to have darwin on if he wants to come on a a mine trap that would be excellent i'll bring him on mine i think these people don't want to really maybe they don't want to popularize me or they don't want to talk about me because it will give more clout right actually speaking of that let's speaking of dawa man right i somebody sent me a clip uh this this weekend gone and it was to do with a podcast that dawaman has
Paragraphs overlapping 2:06:56 to 2:13:43. 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 2020-09-22-S21, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jtyem-eee78/s/21/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, September 22). What do you think of the Mu'tazila? [Video, segment 2020-09-22-S21, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jtyem-eee78/s/21/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "What do you think of the Mu'tazila?" Video, segment 2020-09-22-S21, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded September 22, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jtyem-eee78/s/21/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2020-09-22-S21, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{What do you think of the Mu'tazila?}}, year = {2020}, month = {9}, date = {2020-09-22}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jtyem-eee78/s/21/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/jtyem-eee78/s/21/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2020-09-22-S21, 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.