Recordings › The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth · 9 Apr 2018 › Segment 17 of 19
Did a tree really cry for the Prophet, and why does Mufti Abu Layth reject the hadith?
hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith saheeh sahih hadith saheeh hadith sound hadith authentic malik ibn anas malik bin anas imam maalik imam malik ibn anas imaam imams prayer leader maaliki malikite malikiyyah maliki school muftis 'alim aalimThe crying tree hadith and the demand for one standard: 'we do not need a tree to prove the Prophet'
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This segment1:17:02 to 1:19:39 · 2 min 37 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth does not hold the crying-tree reports to be established: their chains are problematic and Muslims cannot call other religions' miracle stories absurd while accepting their own; the Prophet's greatness does not depend on a tree.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says that those who want to refute him look for a scholar he has praised and quote him against him. He recalls being asked recently about the tree said to have cried in the time of the Prophet, and answering that it is not established and that he does not hold it sahih, because one cannot call stones, monkeys and elephants doing such things absurd while allowing trees to do them; consistency requires one yardstick, not one for oneself and another for Hinduism. When a Muslim replied that it is different because Allah allowed it for the Prophet, he asked how one knows Allah did not allow it for Krishna or Rama, since once anything goes reason is abandoned and no scary monster can be disproved, so the best faculty Allah gave, reason, must be the guide. He says he showed the problems in the chains of the crying-tree reports, that they go against the principled understanding that such things do not happen, and that Muslims do not need a crying tree to prove the Prophet's greatness, since he is the greatest of people to them. He adds that people reacted with refutations, and begins to describe how they used a scholar he rates.
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the report of the tree crying for the Prophet is not established, that its chains are problematic and it clashes with the principle that such things do not happen, and that Muslims cannot dismiss other religions' miracle stories as absurd while accepting their own.
“I said this is not established and I don't believe this to be sahi why because how can we hold things like stones and monkeys and elephants not doing these kind of things and hold that as absurd”
Category: method
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine1:17:02 to 1:19:39 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
passionate about it but it doesn't mean even the Malik this is Imam Malik teaching you these are the principles that look it's not about like having it we're not a cult it's like somebody said to me oh well if that's the case you know you and what's shocking is when people want to refute me this is this is a this is the logic people have so what they'll do is they'll find a scholar that I've spoken highly of and I got aha so like okay recently I don't know if you guys have watched but there was this whole thing about I had tackled I was asked a question about this tree in the time of the Prophet that apparently
cried and stuff like this and so I said this is not established and I don't believe this to be sahi why because how can we hold things like stones and monkeys and elephants not doing these kind of things and hold that as absurd because it doesn't make sense but then say it's okay for trees to do stuff like these because trees don't do that kind of stuff either you know you can't like you gotta have consistency you can't have one yardstick for you and a different one for me because that's called double standards like I can't say well oh I'm not gonna believe in in in this happening because ahaha that's dumb
in Hinduism but oh but here oh but this is all right this is us though I I said this to a Muslim he said yeah but that's different because Allah allowed it for the Prophet I said how do you know a larger than allow it for Krishna or for Rama for these people how do you know God you know Brahma didn't allow it like so because all of a sudden now anything goes now it's just like it doesn't even matter we don't need reason it's just like anything you know the subjective monster out there how do you know disprove it there's no scary monster out there I can't disprove it okay so we gotta go with the best faculty Allah has given us
which is reason so I said this in a hobby I said that the hadith of Jeremy's different hadith about this tree crying I said it's not established okay I said the hadith of a and a problematize I showed the problems in them and I said this goes against our principle understanding of Islam that these things don't happen so and we don't need a crying tree to prove that the Prophet was a great person to us he's the greatest of people we don't need a tree to prove that to us so when I said this so obviously people kind of reacted to this whole thing and
and they've made this whole kind of all these kind of reputations and and people bring up all this well oh oh my god you know well if you're gonna if you're gonna say if you're gonna also this is it almost lost my train of thought so so what they did is they found this scholar that I normally rate as an example I called the EON now he's an amazing scholar from the Maliki method from Muslim Spain and I always kind of big up laughs colors of the past but I you know some of these Don's of Muslim Spain I'm a huge fan of so I said yeah you know I'll say yeah at the dawn the legend
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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 2018-04-09-S17, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/17/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2018, April 9). Did a tree really cry for the Prophet, and why does Mufti Abu Layth reject the hadith? [Video, segment 2018-04-09-S17, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/17/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2018. "Did a tree really cry for the Prophet, and why does Mufti Abu Layth reject the hadith?" Video, segment 2018-04-09-S17, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded April 9, 2018. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/17/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2018-04-09-S17, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Did a tree really cry for the Prophet, and why does Mufti Abu Layth reject the hadith?}}, year = {2018}, month = {4}, date = {2018-04-09}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/17/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/17/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2018-04-09-S17, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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