Recordings › Monday Nights with Mufti #201| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth · 9 Feb 2021 › Segment 25 of 37

Why does every spiritual awakening story have a time of withdrawal?

imaam prayer leader muftis

The ascetic phase in awakening stories as an archetype

QuestionLive chat · questioner not identifiedAnswered 9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Segment 25 of 37 in the recording2021-02-09-S25

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This segment2:04:12 to 2:05:32 · 1 min 20 sGeneral teaching

The answer in brief

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Mufti Abu Layth agrees that the ascetic phase in awakening stories is an archetype, like Tolstoy's two plots.

In more detail

A super chat observes that every awakening narrative has an ascetic phase: Moses in the desert, Jesus in the wilderness, the Prophet in the cave and the Buddha under the tree. Mufti Abu Layth agrees that these are archetypes, and cites Leo Tolstoy's saying that every great story is either a man going on a journey or a stranger coming to town. Mufti adds that such stories need not be fictional to be great.

Question as read aloud · questioner not identified
Every awakening narrative seems to have an ascetic phase: Moses in the desert, Jesus in the forest, the Prophet in the cave, the Buddha under the tree.

Position stated

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Mufti Abu Layth says the ascetic phase in awakening narratives is like an archetype.

In his words

“yeah i mean these are like archetypes ain't they that you have uh”

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Transcript

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2:03:34

in the village or in the town and this is what happens and you've got thousands upon thousands like this it's just uh multiplies and multiplies and now how do you clean this this mess how do you clean it because it's like the production hasn't even stopped so it's like how do you replace the let alone trying to clean up and provide an antidote you haven't even stopped the problem which is still mass producing so it's it's it's it's a it's a mess man

2:04:11

it's a mess but yeah so i hope i mean that's my thoughts right let's take a look at some of these uh uh every awakening no man's an island you're doing it no man is an island man you're doing it much love for the super chat every awakening narrative seems to have an ascetic phase moses in the desert jesus in the forest prophet in cave buddha under the tree yeah i mean these are like archetypes ain't they that you have uh

2:04:48

you know it's like leo tolstoy when he said that every great story begins with one of two that a man comes into town sorry that a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes into town that that is really the archetype of all great stories you know it's and those kind of stories are what flourish and even if those stories you know they don't have to be fictitious they could be real but this these are the great stories yep so

2:05:31

mufti can you be the imam at my wedding next week [Laughter] i doubt that i doubt that but um i i'm sure you can get many better imams than me to attend the weddings uh how was your mother assigned pakistan my mother was all right to be fair he was very chilled mufti naim was a very calmest-minded individual he kind of he saw relevance in you know speaking earlier on about

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Cite this segment

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Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2021-02-09-S25, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/25/ (accessed 1 November 2026)

APA 7

Mufti Abu Layth. (2021, February 9). Why does every spiritual awakening story have a time of withdrawal? [Video, segment 2021-02-09-S25, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/25/

Chicago author-date

Mufti Abu Layth. 2021. "Why does every spiritual awakening story have a time of withdrawal?" Video, segment 2021-02-09-S25, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded February 9, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/25/

BibTeX

@misc{abulayth-2021-02-09-S25,
  author = {Mufti Abu Layth},
  title = {{Why does every spiritual awakening story have a time of withdrawal?}},
  year = {2021},
  month = {2},
  date = {2021-02-09},
  howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/25/}},
  url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/25/},
  organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive},
  urldate = {2026-11-01},
  note = {Segment 2021-02-09-S25, auto-transcribed, may contain errors}
}

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