# Two camps of religion: tribal mythology versus religion that must make sense - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/nhzyu3bkbwe/s/6/ - Date: 2018-03-13 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: PRELUDE: Why There Is NO 2nd Coming Of Jesus (as) In Islam- Mufti Abu Layth (20:20–25:32) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHzYu3BKBWE&t=1220s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/nhzyu3bkbwe/ **Topics:** Reason and revelation; End times and the Day of Judgement **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Religion is approached either as tribal custom with a mythology of superheroes, or as something that must make sense; Mufti Abu Layth says he is speaking only to the second group. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says he addresses only those for whom religion must make sense and be based on reason, since God would not contradict the laws he placed in the world. **Evidence, his words at 24:38:** “so to these people religion must make sense these are the people that I'm addressing so I need to clarify that with people I need to that is my audience” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHzYu3BKBWE&t=1478s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth divides religious people of all faiths into two broad camps. In the first, religion is a form of tribalism: people are born into it, it offers solace and rites of passage, and it needs a mythology of superheroes, demons and great battles, so it was never about making sense; he gives the example of a Hindu untroubled by how Hanuman could be a monkey god. He says end-time stories of a great battle between good and evil, a super villain and a super hero, are found in Hinduism with Vishnu's return, in Christianity with Jesus's return and in Muslim stories of the Mahdi and Jesus, because storytelling is one of humanity's great inventions and such epics are receptive to human beings. The second camp holds that religion must make sense and be based on reason, since God placed the laws of this world and would not contradict them. He says the second camp is his audience, and that those in the first camp may not want to hear the rest and are not being addressed. ## Sources and names cited - Mahdi ## Transcript (machine tier, 20:20–25:32) [20:08] very important okay in Islam oh sorry religion religion can be understood in in two broad camps of people sorry I'm just trying to clear the camera here all right so religion can be understood in two kind of broad camps okay now this there's one camp of people abroad camp one camp of people this is religion with a capital R all religions right now this the first camp [20:45] is people who to whom religion is a form of kind of tribalism okay they are in a religion because they were born in a religion to them religion and hamdulillah offers some solace it helps them through times of difficulty they turn to God or to whoever they turn to they have a few rights of passage throughout life how you get married ceremonies and what funerals are like they have stories in their religion stories creation stories are the superpower stories in this tribalism [21:23] kind of thing its religion is not about making sense ok so this can be any religion this could be Christianity Hinduism Islam it could be anybody whoever this broad camp of people that that view religion for them is a form of tribalism to them religion has to have a kind of mythology it has to have like a fantasy religion with superheroes and demons and great battles of superpowers and and all these kind of like sci-fi it needs this kind of stuff it's never about making sense so for example if you [22:02] said to a Hindu what do you mean Lord Hanuman the monkey God did all these things and flew across and saved you know these people and did these things how does that make sense how does a God be a monkey and stuff like you see to them it doesn't matter it's not hanuman being you know a god lord hanuman to them it doesn't have to make sense it's never about making sense it's okay because it's mythology it's like a tribalistic we're born as Hindus we will be like Hindus it doesn't matter it's not about me I'm too many Muslims it's [22:41] the same right so you need this is the same thing so too many Muslims they just born Muslims they just need stories and I think you know as well as one brother local brother said it well that these are some of the best stories in Islam as they are in other religions as well about the end of time there will be a great battle between evil and good and super powers and there will be a super bad guy who have incredible powers and there'll be a super good guy who will have incredible powers and and this is found in Hinduism when they speak about Vishnu coming back is found in Christianity that Jesus will come back [23:21] it's found in Muslim stories as well about the Mahdi will come about Jesus will come all these kind of things so these stories are they in all religions as part of a kind of this superhero narrative for tribalism for this broad camp of people because you have to remember that in the olden days how do people pass time one of the greatest human inventions is stories storytelling now we tell stories to each other from time around the campfire to in villages in when people get together [23:59] they tell stories what do they tell their children they tell them stories so this is also a great story to tell the epic you know they Armageddon all this it's a story so this is housing why these things are incredibly receptive to human beings okay so you need to understand that now the second point is religion the second broad camp of people is those who believe those who believe that religion must make sense that it must be based on reason that God [24:38] wouldn't just tell you it's not about mythology and stories and everything must make sense because the laws in this world have been placed here by God so God would not contradict his own laws so to these people so to these people religion must make sense these are the people that I'm addressing so I need to clarify that with people I need to that is my audience now so if you are somebody that you know religion isn't like you you don't want or you don't need religion to make sense to you you can just like it's you just born in it you just want to go with it you know [25:18] it's just about rituals tradition customs and then hamdulillah it's about these kind of superpower stories and superhuman figures and and you need that then that's fine that's your choice you can believe that I'm not even addressing you and in fact some of what I have to say may bother you so you may not even want to listen to the rest of this okay so I'm just making that clear okay now so these are the people I'm addressing to me religion must make sense because ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment NHzYu3BKBWE/s/6. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/nhzyu3bkbwe/s/6/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.