# What accent does Mufti Abu Layth have?

*Mufti Abu Layth's accent, and hearing ethnicity over the phone*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/20/
- Date: 2021-02-09 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #201| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:38:06–1:41:20)
- Status: latest answer on its topic; general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4n4wD2jjps&t=5886s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/

**Topics:** Personal stories and reflections; Race, nation and identity

**Question as asked:** What is your accent?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says he has no set accent, and that in Britain one can usually hear a caller's ethnicity in the texture of their voice.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that in the UK, with British English, one can usually tell a person's ethnicity over the phone from the texture of their voice.

**Evidence, his words at 1:39:24:** “but definitely over the phone you can tell you see in the uk with british english we can tell over the phone usually your ethnicity by listening to” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4n4wD2jjps&t=5964s)

## Longer summary

A chat question asks about Mufti Abu Layth's accent. Mufti says he has no set accent, having spent seven or eight formative years abroad and trained in voice projection for teaching, and that people on the phone usually guess somewhere in the south. He says that in Britain one can usually tell a person's ethnicity over the phone from the texture of their voice, not their words, mentioning the O.J. Simpson trial, but finds this harder with Americans.

## Sources and names cited

- the O.J. Simpson trial (1995)

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:38:06–1:41:20)

[1:37:26] you know if allah is saying look facade has manifested then obviously somebody has to fulfill that divine proclamation so oh and the birmingham accent oh i hate the birmingham accent but that said you know what surprisingly ethnic people have their own variant of it they don't have the actual white uh bromi accent i hate that and i hate the west you know the black country accent oh my god on the bus get the bulls you know where they there was that poll

[1:38:05] where he said would you rather have that accent or have chlamydia i would just opt for chlamydia i'd be like yeah hell don't worry about it i'm sure i can just take a pill and get rid of that [Laughter] so uh mufti what is your accent i i i don't have a set accent i don't i think i don't have a set accent but that might have been because i traveled a lot as well so i spent seven eight years out of the country and which were key years developing years where a person develops

[1:38:45] and and then part of when i went through when i came back and did the post-graduate teaching program as well part of that was all about voice projection and controlling voice and how you speak in order to maintain things like [Music] you know people management but classroom management how you maintain that how one maintains authority while speaking and so a lot of that was in there as well and that helped so but i but i i yeah so it's difficult to place my accent right

[1:39:24] so sounds like a kind of midland accent when i speak to people over the phone if they don't know who i am they don't they can't seem to place me so usually when i've spoken to people over the phone they've assumed somewhere south ish but they're not sure where yeah it has a [ __ ] twang does it have a [ __ ] twang [Laughter] but definitely over the phone you can tell you see in the uk with british english we can tell over the phone usually your ethnicity by listening to

[1:40:02] the texture of your voice now you can tell if somebody's uh asian uh which is desi or you can tell if somebody's white or you can tell somebody's black you can tell these things by just listening to the texture of their voice i know in the whole um you know um o.j simpson trials where they said oh so now we talk black and now we sound black and this was obviously it came across very racist but the truth is people do like i don't mean the words you use the texture of your voice like if i was speaking to somebody who's black on the phone i

[1:40:41] could tell straight away or if i was speaking to somebody that's asian i could tell straight away or white that immediately and maybe there's the tiny anomaly where you miss it uh but almost you know 99 of the time buying on straight away you know exactly but that's not as easy with americans though uh especially with the desi americans some of them have you know they don't have that um so i don't know how that is then is that the british english that allows that to happen or i don't i don't know that

[1:41:19] right so uh what is going on someone said indian names are funny like deep dip [ __ ] [Laughter] i've not heard of that one i've heard hardy dick [ __ ] i've heard [Laughter] sorry i'm who are you i'm dick [ __ ] yes you know shouldn't be so hard on

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment l4n4wD2jjps/s/20. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/20/

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