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Recordings › Shaykh Atabek Shukurov | Mortgages, Madhabs & Molvi-ism | MindTrap 48 | Mufti Abu Layth · 29 Jan 2021 › Segment 15 of 22

Did the early Hanafis hold that apostates should be killed?

hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith imaam imams prayer leader hanafite hanafiyyah shafi shafei shafiite shafi'i school muftis jahannam jahanam jahannum ulama ulema ulamaa deen al-din ad-deen ad-din

Apostasy in the early Hanafi school: two narrations, threat and treason

DiscussionRecorded 29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth Segment 15 of 22 in the recording2021-01-29-S15

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This segment1:11:04 to 1:12:59 · 1 min 55 sGeneral teaching

What this part covers

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The guest says the early Hanafi view, from Abu Hanifa and Zufar, is that apostasy itself carries no punishment and only an actual threat is punished; Mufti Abu Layth calls today's Hanafi blasphemy laws upside down.

In more detail

Mufti Abu Layth says the early Hanafis challenged the killing of apostates, yet Hanafis today implement blasphemy laws, as in Pakistan's well-known cases, which he calls upside down. The guest says two statements are transmitted from Abu Hanifa: the first, supported by the early scholars, that apostasy carries no punishment for either gender, and the second, from Imam Muhammad, that a woman is not punished but a man is. Mufti says the distinction was the threat of revolt from a man; the guest agrees that later Hanafis took a potential threat as valid, while Zufar and the early scholars required an actual threat, regardless of religion, so that even a Muslim who causes such a threat is punished. Mufti sums it up as treason or social instability rather than religion, and the guest agrees, adding that later Hanafis took on a Shafi'i inclination.

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Transcript

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So now everyone will become that killer you know. M but this type of a hadith should not be given away to the people like that. And what's interesting is the early hanafies actually challenged that didn't they? They said that look you don't kill the apostate and imanif said you don't and and you know will write about look the women you don't kill them because you know and so on and yet today hanafi will implement by you know blasphemy laws like in Pakistan they'll have the the famous cases so I mean what the hell it's just upside down you know in terms of killing the apostle in hi school we

have two two opinions okay so the abuhanif so they transmit two statements. So the first statement is followed supported by the early. Okay. So apostasy does not instate um uh uh any punishment. Okay. Regardless for both of the genders. And the second uh uh narration is transmitted from Imam Muhammad. [clears throat] Okay. Female will not be punished but male will be punished.

But that was but that was the point. You see the distinction would be because from the male there's a threat that he could be this could be a revolt. Yes. Which the realah was the actual the cause for that hook. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And obviously the haf they took the potential threat as valid.

Okay. But early early Zafar and those they said no it's it's not potential but it should be actual and it's not because of changing the religion. So even if someone is Muslim and he's causing threat so he should be punished. Yeah. So this they saw this more as like treason or social instability not about the religion. No no no exactly that what was the case.

Yeah. But then later han they became like more like a shi inclination. So it became very widely spread. Yeah. I mean the the early hanafi is another masala that's quite notoriously they're known for is the little speaking of the pub. Yeah yeah yeah. So the having a little No, no, no, no, no.

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Cite this segment

Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2021-01-29-S15, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/rtwywca2-pq/s/15/ (accessed 1 November 2026)

APA 7

Mufti Abu Layth. (2021, January 29). Did the early Hanafis hold that apostates should be killed? [Video, segment 2021-01-29-S15, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/rtwywca2-pq/s/15/

Chicago author-date

Mufti Abu Layth. 2021. "Did the early Hanafis hold that apostates should be killed?" Video, segment 2021-01-29-S15, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded January 29, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/rtwywca2-pq/s/15/

BibTeX

@misc{abulayth-2021-01-29-S15,
  author = {Mufti Abu Layth},
  title = {{Did the early Hanafis hold that apostates should be killed?}},
  year = {2021},
  month = {1},
  date = {2021-01-29},
  howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/rtwywca2-pq/s/15/}},
  url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/rtwywca2-pq/s/15/},
  organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive},
  urldate = {2026-11-01},
  note = {Segment 2021-01-29-S15, auto-transcribed, may contain errors}
}

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