# What does Mufti Abu Layth think of ISIS?

*ISIS: the first British fatwa against it, a threat to all, and the unfairness of collective guilt*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/8/
- Date: 2015-04-06 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Unanswered Questions- An interview with Mufti Abu Layth (27:36–31:30)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZRrlX3lIVk&t=1656s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/

**Topics:** Extremism, crime and justice; Sects, sectarianism and takfir; Middle East and the wider world

**Question as asked:** Please share your views regarding the ISIS threat.

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** ISIS is a ruthless takfiri threat to everyone, Muslims most of all, and he signed the first British fatwa against it. He rejects collective guilt for Muslims and says Western foreign policy and the Iraq prisons helped create it.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says ISIS is a ruthless takfiri ideology that threatens Muslims and non-Muslims alike, that holding Muslims collectively guilty for it is unfair, and that Western foreign policy, including the prisons of the war in Iraq, contributed to its creation.

**Evidence, his words at 28:51:** “so it's not that they're just a threat to non-muslims they're a threat to each and all really they do have a mentality that um shows no mercy” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZRrlX3lIVk&t=1731s)

## Longer summary

Asked for his views on the ISIS threat, Mufti Abu Layth says he has spoken openly against this dangerous takfiri mindset on social media and was part of the first fatwa released in the UK against this ideology and these people, signed by six imams in September of the previous year, before the later joint statement of around a hundred. He describes ISIS as ruthless and cold, showing no mercy, and stresses that it is a threat not just to non-Muslims but to everybody, since a larger proportion of its victims have been Muslim. The community must work to shed light on the true principles of Islam, which is difficult because Islam is constantly under attack, whether through ISIS or Boko Haram, and Muslims get the worst of it. He rejects the demand that Muslims march against ISIS or bear collective guilt, saying Christians are not blamed for Hitler. He adds that interesting recent documentaries show how the war on terror and foreign policy led to the creation of ISIS, one showing that many of its members came out of the long-running prisons of the joint special operations in Iraq, and he says denial of foreign policy's role is fundamental to the ongoing problem.

## Sources and names cited

- ISIS
- Boko Haram
- takfir
- Adolf Hitler
- the fatwa of six British imams against ISIS (September 2014)

## Transcript (machine tier, 27:36–31:30)

[27:00] beyond that and to I mean to speculate I mean one can speculate but it doesn't really uh lend any validity to the argument so I don't I don't agree with the fact that I don't have many islamophobes coming out to protect me or to to say anything about me or to if they shared an article because of a mutual interest and that's up to them there's many people who would disagree with perhaps the majority of what I have to say so but I think it's a good question since it's since it had been raised the Isis the threat of Isis and

[27:36] my thoughts on that I think um that I have spoken quite openly against this type of uh really dangerous type of mindset this takir mindset and I spoken I've spoken about it previously and uh whether it's been through social media Facebook Facebook or on Twitter or you know I've I've given um i' I was actually involved in the first um fatwa that was released within the UK signed by six imams at the time throughout the country La last year

[28:14] in September and that was the first fwa to be released speaking against and condemning this ideology and these and the people and that preceded what later on I know there was a 100 people or so on that all signed a a a a joint statement but prior the first fatwa that was actually released from the UK by any imams I was a part of that so I mean I've uh proactively kind of spoken against this um what seems to be a bit of a crazy ideology um it is very you see Isis they are they have a mindset which

[28:51] is it is obviously very ruthless very cold and the thing is what people have to understand that it's not just against non-muslims it's against everybody that they huge perhaps most of the or at least a a larger proportion of their victims have been Muslim as opposed to non-muslim so it's not that they're just a threat to non-muslims they're a threat to each and all really they do have a mentality that um shows no mercy they have obviously their understanding of what they're trying to establish and they're working towards that I do feel that we need to

[29:30] um as a community obviously work with people in shedding um greater light on what are the true principles of Islam it is difficult because Islam is constantly under attack um whether it's Isis or whether it's boo Haram or whether it's somebody else or it's all it's always going on and the Muslims are getting the worst of like people say things like why don't you know why AR Muslims out there marching against why Muslims until Muslims don't do it but that isn't right either you see you can't just people lay the blame on a community like Christians don't take the blame for Hitler I mean

[30:08] people don't you know so it's you can't get individuals and then hold a community respon sense of collective guilt that seems to be out there is is is unfair in addition to that I do also feel um that I mean there's been some very interesting documentaries that have recently been on as well that how much of this war on terror has actually LED and things like foreign policy have actually led to um the creation of things like Isis I mean are they a byproduct there was a very interesting documentary speaking about the whole um the type of uh operations that were

[30:47] taking place The Joint special ops that were taking place within Iraq and the documentary still available and it showed and it demonstrated how the rise of Isis was a byproduct that they had just that you know there's many people who had been kind of just taken up impr prisoned and then they show in the documentary all these these prisons which ran for so long and how people were just there and obviously when they were released the what the documentaries suggested was that these people made up a huge number of what was to become Isis but it is interesting that's what I'm saying and I think this denial of foreign policy playing a role is also fundamental to

[31:26] the to the ongoing problem that until people don't acknowledge that we can't like people countries can't just go off and continuously just Loot and Rob and and deceive or attack people that all crimes have to be treated equally it can't just be a crime done to a particular thing is a crime is a is a heus crime and we're as sending drones and you know just killing people indiscriminately or whatever that's that's okay it was done with a good intention you can't crimes have to be seen it there has to be an equal an egalitarian approach um so I do feel

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment VZRrlX3lIVk/s/8. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vzrrlx3livk/s/8/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.