Skip to content

Early version. Transcripts and tags are labelled by accuracy tier. A position is shown only after two independent reviews have found it in his own words.

Mufti Abu Layth ArchiveBeta

Subscribe on YouTube Support on Patreon

Recordings › Monday Nights with Mufti #188 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth · 27 Oct 2020 › Segment 22 of 33

Can a non-Muslim descendant of the Prophet claim sharif status?

zakah zakaat zakah al-mal zakat al-mal obligatory charity muftis halaal permitted lawful koran quraan al-quran

Mufti Abu Layth on whether a Christian can claim sharif status

QuestionLive chat · questioner not identifiedAnswered 27 Oct 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth Segment 22 of 33 in the recording2020-10-27-S22

Play from 2:28:40 The video loads from YouTube only when you press play. Click a time in the transcript to seek.

Watch the answer

Open on YouTube at 2:28:40

The player starts at 2:28:40, where the answer begins.

This segment2:27:42 to 2:31:27 · 3 min 45 sGeneral teaching

The answer in brief

machinesummary, machine-written

Mufti Abu Layth says sharif status is a political institution rather than something Islam brought, and descendants of the Prophet can be non-Muslims.

In more detail

After saying he has heard good things about Juan Cole's book on the Prophet but not read it, Mufti Abu Layth takes a question from a Christian of prophetic descent who asks whether a Christian can claim sharif status. Mufti says sharif status is more a political thing than something Islam inherently brought, though Islam's governance allowed it to be created. He says many descendants of the Prophet over 1,400 years will not have been Muslim, and that some states, especially Morocco in the past, gave the shurafa a stipend, and Pakistan may have something in theory because they cannot take zakat.

Question as read aloud · questioner not identified
Can a Christian claim sharif or sayyid status?

Position stated

correctedChecked by two independent reviews, not by the channel

Mufti Abu Layth says sharif status is more a political thing and not really something Islam inherently brings with it.

In his words

“this sharif status is more a political thing. It's not really something that Islam inherently brings with it.”

▶ 2:28:39 Open on YouTube at 2:28:39

Category: teaching

Report an error

Kind: general teaching

Transcript

machine2:27:42 to 2:31:27 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary

Uh Muisab, have you read Juan Coo's book on the prophet? What do you think? I've heard great things about it. I haven't read it yet. No. Right. So, uh, Kiwi Rockstar says, "Please answer." I'm not sure what the question is to answer. Let me just go back, take a look. Nope, I can't see a question.

I hope that was the question. Right. Uh, Mui, I am Sharif. Andrea Alak says, "I am a US Catholic guy engaged to a desi Muslim girl." [laughter] You dude, look at all the intricate [snorts] as a genealogologist.

I have proven I am parents finally accept me. Can a Christian claim Sharif or say it status? [laughter] [clears throat] Okay, this sharif status is more a political thing. It's not really something that Islam inherently brings with it.

Although Islam from its governance aspect allows the system to kind of create these things for political purposes. So, it's not I'm not saying it's an unislamic thing that Islam doesn't allow for it to be created, but Islam did not bring it. Islam didn't really bring this lineage kind of thing.

Um, can people be aud Muslim? Yeah, people can be aud Muslim. I'm sure there have been many people who descended from the lineage of the prophet who went on not to be Muslim. I'm sure there's been many over the last 1400 years. Obviously, they would be an extreme minority, but still when you're counting millions of people, I'm sure there's many who didn't really believe in Islam, but were ultimately somehow related to the prophet.

But yeah, as to the status then this was something that certain countries did, certain rulers had this. I know um North Africa, Morocco especially did have this modern day Morocco but the Mib in the past had this thing that Shurafha could claim uh a financial entitlement. They had a stipen they had this kind of uh benefit a statutory benefit that was given to them.

this thing. I don't think I in fact I think several Muslim countries still have it in theory but I'm not sure whether they practice it. So I think Pakistan may have something for say because they're not allowed zakat. So there might be something in theory but whether they really get it or not I think is unlikely. Hope that answers your question Sharif.

I Sharif you do [laughter] a check. Sharif is raking in the benefits [laughter] of Islam without embracing Islam. I have remote access. [laughter] You're doing it. You're doing it. Uh Zayn says, "Muy, please answer my super chat.

It was asked a while ago." I'm not sure what it was. I don't know if I can see it here. Let's see. Um saying has followed. Uh can I see anything here? Okay. According to the Quran, there's no such thing as the right meaning all forms of chicken and beef are halal because it sounds pretty backwards, right?

Paragraphs overlapping 2:27:42 to 2:31:27. Full text on the recording page.

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 2020-10-27-S22, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/w6tqwuuumcg/s/22/ (accessed 1 November 2026)

APA 7

Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, October 27). Can a non-Muslim descendant of the Prophet claim sharif status? [Video, segment 2020-10-27-S22, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/w6tqwuuumcg/s/22/

Chicago author-date

Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "Can a non-Muslim descendant of the Prophet claim sharif status?" Video, segment 2020-10-27-S22, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded October 27, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/w6tqwuuumcg/s/22/

BibTeX

@misc{abulayth-2020-10-27-S22,
  author = {Mufti Abu Layth},
  title = {{Can a non-Muslim descendant of the Prophet claim sharif status?}},
  year = {2020},
  month = {10},
  date = {2020-10-27},
  howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/w6tqwuuumcg/s/22/}},
  url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/w6tqwuuumcg/s/22/},
  organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive},
  urldate = {2026-11-01},
  note = {Segment 2020-10-27-S22, auto-transcribed, may contain errors}
}

Something wrong here?

Tell us what is wrong and it will be checked against the recording. Nothing changes until a person has reviewed it.

Sending a note needs JavaScript, which is off or unavailable in this browser. Nothing has been sent.

No name, email address or account is asked for or stored, and the inbox does not store your IP address. For rate limiting it keeps an unreadable fingerprint of your connection for 48 hours, and our database provider's own logs record connections as every website's do. Only your note, its kind, the page and the moment in the recording are kept, for review.