# Calling to the Quran and Sunnah, not hadith; the winged horse on national television - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/nhzyu3bkbwe/s/7/ - 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 (25:32–29:23) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHzYu3BKBWE&t=1532s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/nhzyu3bkbwe/ **Topics:** Sunnah versus hadith; Reason and revelation; Atheism and the existence of God **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth calls people to the Quran and Sunnah rather than to hadith as such, since hadith must be sifted; the Dawkins and Mehdi Hasan exchange shows why religion must withstand reason. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that religion must make sense because the Quran calls to reason, and he calls people to the Quran and the Sunnah rather than to hadith as such, since hadith contain contradictions that must be sifted. **Evidence, his words at 25:32:** “to me religion must make sense because allowing the Quran calls us to reason I then call people in my understanding to the Quran and the Sunnah” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHzYu3BKBWE&t=1532s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says that to him religion must make sense because the Quran calls to reason, and that he therefore calls people to the Quran and the Sunnah, not to the Quran and hadith as such. He says Imam Malik and Imam Abu Hanifa called people to the Sunnah rather than to hadith, that Malik rejected countless hadith, and that hadith is a documentation which encapsulates the Sunnah but contains contradictions that must be sifted against the overall meaning of the Quran and the established principles of Islam. To show why reason matters he recalls the Oxford debate in which Richard Dawkins asked Mehdi Hasan whether he really believed the Prophet flew to heaven on a winged horse. He says most Muslims' hearts sank at the answer because, outside their bubble, they know it sounds weird to boast of scientific miracles in the Quran and then affirm a winged horse before an intelligent non-Muslim audience. He adds that he has a clip explaining that the Quran describes the night journey as a vision. ## Sources and names cited - Imam Malik - Abu Hanifa - Sunnah - Mehdi Hasan and Richard Dawkins debate (Oxford) ## Transcript (machine tier, 25:32–29:23) [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 [25:56] allowing the Quran calls us to reason I then call people in my understanding to the Quran and the Sunnah the Quran and the Sunnah notice I'm not saying hadith not hadith people hadith encapsulate s' the Sunnah but not necessarily hence Imam Malik never called people to hadith call people to the Sunnah Imam Abu Hanifah never called people to hadith he called them to the Sunnah Imam Malik himself rejected hadith many hadith countless have you right so I'm calling people to the Quran and the Sunnah the [26:35] Quran and the Sunnah not to Quran and hadith per se so this is an important distinction hadith is a documentation which is great and I'll speak about that but there's huge contradictions at time so we need to sift through them filter through them and find the Sunnah the authentic Sunnah of the messenger of allah which is in some hadith in many hadith but you've got a filter through the contradictions and you've got to look at the overall meaning of Islam the overall understanding of the Quran the established principles within Islam okay so let's just get that point [27:15] why does reason have to make sense guys I want to draw your attention to a debate that took place on TV not so long ago Richard Dawkins he held a debate in Oxford I believe with Maggie Hassan very intelligent Muslim who have never met but I would love to meet one day insha'Allah he's and Intel it amazing you know talent and just goes to show what you know British Muslims can produce subhanAllah but in that discussion this debate he was having on religion Richard Dawkins [27:53] said to him at one point Richard Dawkins said to him he said you don't really believe that the Prophet Muhammad sat on a winged horse and flew to heaven now I want you to pause here and be honest with yourself right forget what we say in our own circles to each other because Muslims live in a bubble right we only interact with Muslims we only talk to each other we live in a bubble but being honest on national TV in front of [28:32] intelligent professors most Muslims when they heard that and he said yes of course I do most Muslims their heart sank for a moment because they found that unsettling like that it was uncomfortable for them to hear right now why did they find it uncomfortable because most Muslims themselves know that sounds incredibly weird to say why does it sound weird because we keep boasting Islam is a religion of reason [29:10] and rational rationality scientific miracles in the Quran embryology sciences in the Quran scientific miracles and then you're saying oh the prophets are on a winged horse and flew off and you yourself know it's one thing saying it to Muslims who ain't gonna laugh at you but you say that in front of a non-muslim intelligent non-muslim audience and they're gonna be in stitches they're gonna be like do you guys really believe that so I mean this this is why I did answer that that's not true the Prophet Muhammad SAW - um did ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment NHzYu3BKBWE/s/7. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/nhzyu3bkbwe/s/7/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.