# Did Maliki scholars really allow fines instead of hudud punishments?

*Not 'some guy': al-Burzuli's fatwa on punishing with wealth*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/35/
- Date: 2021-02-09 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #201| Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (3:05:51–3:16:17)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4n4wD2jjps&t=11151s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/

**Topics:** Hudud and punishments; The Maliki school; Responses to critics

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says the Maliki fatwa allowing punishment through wealth was the work of a major scholar and was practised as law for centuries, not a forgotten opinion.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the fatwa on punishing with wealth that he cites was acted upon as the law and understood as the sharia for hundreds of years.

**Evidence, his words at 3:14:58:** “but some great people have said this and it was acted as the law it was understood as the sharia for hundreds and hundreds of years” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4n4wD2jjps&t=11698s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth answers a critic who said he had 'come across' a Maliki who held this view, saying the critics only learned of al-Burzuli [?] from his own discussion and at first called him a liar. Mufti says al-Burzuli was the Shaykh al-Islam of the Malikis in his time, about six hundred years ago, and reads from later works in which scholars such as Mayyara [?] and Ibn Lubaba [?] endorse the principle of punishing with wealth, the matter even being raised with rulers. He says some Malikis disagreed but that the fatwa was acted upon as the law, the practice of Fez, for hundreds of years, until a Mauritanian shaykh defended it in the last century. He refers viewers to his video on whether hudud can change with time.

## Sources and names cited

- al-Burzuli [?]
- Mayyara [?]
- Ibn Lubaba [?]
- the hudud change with the age
- hudud (prescribed punishments)
- Maliki school

## Transcript (machine tier, 3:05:51–3:16:17)

[3:05:12] this clip always gets me [Music] you're doing it [Music] right so so seriously if the three stooges any of them want a dialogue you know you they defend all the

[3:05:50] uh all these things obviously these things rest on and and look at gangutili did you see the arrogance in there i came across i came across you did not he goes i came across a maliki did you guys watch notice that part he said i came across a maliki who said this by the way maybe 400 years ago

[3:06:25] you didn't come across jack i told you about him forget him him and you know bahrain [Laughter] and his usora this whole family they couldn't find a sheikh like that they they don't have that kind of research i told them about sheikh al-islam of al-qasim al-burzulli who was the sherhol islam of his time for the malikiyah who said this fatwa initially they called me a liar they said no such thing was true baba i

[3:07:05] gave them references i've read out of the book if you watch my clip on i don't know if i've got no it's not no i didn't put i'll get the the thumbnail right uh if you if you search trajectory hermeneutics or can change and with my name you will find a clip where i'm discussing it at length and i'm going over these things they came to learn about these things from my discussion on it and he said a few people they said this he said there's a people called kaffir and he didn't do

[3:07:42] making him out like he was a nobody ah you know this [Laughter] you know they're going to hear things from me right zany quotes him the whole scenario in his nawaz was known as these people know who azani is these people don't anyway let's he has the whole discussion and yes malikiya discr disagreed with him but many accepted and he says here um

[3:08:22] these people went and then it was followed up by several people after him was ernie you've got it in the nozzles and he says that the fatwa of bursuli is established this is after him the scholar saying ayath

[3:08:58] hold on to it with great steadfastness he says and he's advising that hold on to this this is what will take you into uh into onto the right path to the extent that it said in a poem then he says whatever

[3:09:27] so he mentions that this is people that followed on to support him in this whole thing and this goes on for pages and i go through this in my discussion can hadood change with time and this quotes of the abu shaka shot to be speaking about this principle of punishing with wealth instead is established

[3:09:55] according to malik it is established he quote they also call ibn lubabba demonstrating these things as well from the maliki method this principle and and then to the extent they say that this is something that is needed in this day and age this is obviously him speaking about his day and age goes on let me just uh cite

[3:10:31] you've got and this goes on for pages and there's a let me see if i can find also you've got a mary quoting it as well one momento momento one

[3:11:14] charisi discusses it as well you've got sidi miyara discussing it as well now he obviously begins the discussion by mentioning that this is something which people cannot be negligent of

[3:11:46] this is one a very important masala he says that people should learn and there is a difference of opinion on it and he goes into and then he begins the whole which goes on for pages and pages there's also uh and so i go through in my video he mentions that even they wrote to the king the tunisian king in his time muhammad ibn muhammad sharif sorry the local sultan but they write to

[3:12:24] the tunisian one as well um and then he mentions this and this is what the people uh was actually the law in fez in his time and he says that look and what is to the extent and his conclusion is that he agrees sheikh al-ahmadi says he concurs and agrees with the fatwa of burjuli and and then musa was then he goes on to expanding and stuff like this

[3:13:02] so him saying oh some guy said it and you know he suffered and and he was just he was not some guy to start off with he was abu qasim al-burzili from 600 years ago and he was the sheikh islam of his day and age people the teachers of uh people like all these great people are junior to him he wrote about this and no the fatwa was not just he said it and it was ignored many people carried on with it after him to the extent some people may have varied some of the rules they may have varied so it was the

[3:13:41] practice of fez right up until the last century you had shaykh like the mauritanian arguing in defense of this same fatwa so to come with oh uh you know oh i've come across first of all you haven't come across jack i told you about bursuli you would never have heard of him secondly oh he some guy said it and you know people called him a cav okay whether people called him a car for some people or not but he he said it and you know and then

[3:14:20] it just disappeared no it didn't hundreds of years hundreds upon hundreds of people acted upon it the people the amalu al-fass was upon it writes about it saying scholars before him even all these people have gone with it he himself says his fatwa was correct endorses it in his name he's not uh condemning it like that so to say whether people disagree yes some people i'm not saying all the maliki agreed with it i never made that claim

[3:14:58] but some great people have said this and it was acted as the law it was understood as the sharia for hundreds and hundreds of years so don't act like this was just something somebody wrote in in a notepad somewhere and threw it in into some cupboard that's not what this was this was the understanding of the according to many great ulama of the school of medina so that's just to correct these people and then this thing of obviously snow white saying well you know we're not just randomly we have for years we have assessed people how

[3:15:38] many years do you have on the clock what were you assessing them since you were four right so this is uh this is the thing you know and it's annoying to see how they try to bully people like uh dr shabir ali obviously not that he's being bullied but dr shabir ali is a respectable uh senior individual he's and he's very courteous very kind of polite in his interactions and them trying to make videos to bully him and stuff like this

[3:16:16] if you want to challenge then yours truly is sitting here for the challenge but yeah people let's uh let's wrap this up it's gone on quite a while uh some amazing discussions it's been very enjoyable uh i don't think did i were there any questions is flipping coins to decide things haram no it's not haram flipping coins um clear shukran for the stars it's not haram to flip coins but i would say look uh sure if it helps you in certain

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment l4n4wD2jjps/s/35. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/l4n4wd2jjps/s/35/

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