Recordings › Unanswered Questions- An interview with Mufti Abu Layth · 6 Apr 2015 › Segment 3 of 15
Should Muslims engage with the Prevent programme?
imam imaam prayer leader muftisPrevent has become toxic: why he no longer advises Muslims to engage with it
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This segment5:23 to 8:00 · 2 min 37 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenNo, not at this stage: he says Prevent began with good objectives but has become toxic and lost its purpose, as a former Met Chief Superintendent said, so engagement is now counterproductive. Tackling radicalisation itself remains a duty of Muslims.
In more detail
Asked whether he was involved in the Prevent programme, in what capacity, and whether Muslims should engage with it, Mufti Abu Layth says he has not been involved for over two years. He says he is not an expert on the strategy but believes it began several years ago with good objectives, engaging local communities in tackling radicalisation, which he calls an active duty of all Muslims and especially of the learned. He agrees with a Muslim former Chief Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police, Dal Babu [?], who recently criticised Prevent as having become toxic and lost its purpose: it is viewed with suspicion, local communities no longer wish to engage with it, and so, knowing what he now knows, he would not advise engagement with it at this stage, seeing it as counterproductive. He adds that his own experiences along the way were rather strange.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedWhat was your involvement with the Prevent programme, and do you encourage Muslims to engage in it?
- The question was reconstructed from Mufti Abu Layth's restatement; the questioner's own words are not in the recording
- Some terms in this segment are uncertain
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says Prevent began with good objectives but has become toxic and lost its purpose, so he would no longer advise Muslims to engage with it, while tackling radicalisation remains a duty of Muslims and especially of the learned.
“based on that I wouldn't at this stage having now known what I do know advise engagement with it because I see it as counterproductive”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine5:23 to 8:00 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
them you talk to them you understand how the struggles of others um it really I I find found that incredibly insightful so you know alh Allah be praised I this is an interesting question uh that what was my some people had been asking what was my uh did I was I involved in the prevent program and if so in what capacity people had been asking and what is my general advice to people who do we feel in my opinion to that we should be engaging or
disengaging I mean I haven't been involved with prevent for at least a couple of years now I haven't done I mean it's it's been at least over two years now that I've not been involved with them however I feel I mean I'm not an expert on the prevent strategy but I feel that this was a program an initiative that had began several years back with some I believe that the objectives were actually um were actually good initially they were to
engage um the Muslim or the local communities in tackling radicalization so from that perspective I'd like to say that first of all as far as tackling radicalization and this is something I'd like to come back to at a later point is is a is an active duty of all uh Muslims especially learned people who are involved in teaching and educating and things like that so that is where it is as far as prevent is concerned I do agree with recently there was a Muslim Chief super intendant from the Met police who um had been quite um outspoken really about prevent and he he
criticizes it of um becoming having become toxic and uh having really lost its purpose I do actually agree with uh um with Dal this former Chief superintendent uh that prevent has become along the way toxic I um it is generally viewed with suspicion by Muslims the local communities no longer wish to engage with it and therefore it's lost its purpose based on that I wouldn't at this stage having now known what I do know advise engagement with it
because I see it as counterproductive um so I wouldn't advise people to engage with it my own experiences as well have been along the way rather strange uh initially I mean contrary to what many people may or may not know when when prent was introduced into local communities many most major murgi were engaged with prent um and they contined to do for continue to do so for at least a couple of years um in the imams were contacted major imams to act as mentors so I was also contacted and asked that would you be a mentor to
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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 2015-04-06-S03, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/3/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2015, April 6). Should Muslims engage with the Prevent programme? [Video, segment 2015-04-06-S03, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/3/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2015. "Should Muslims engage with the Prevent programme?" Video, segment 2015-04-06-S03, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded April 6, 2015. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/3/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2015-04-06-S03, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Should Muslims engage with the Prevent programme?}}, year = {2015}, month = {4}, date = {2015-04-06}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/3/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/3/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2015-04-06-S03, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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