# How was Mufti Abu Layth's video on Aisha's age received?

*The impact of his video on Aisha's age: women who returned, clergy who resent it*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zz85auzek5w/s/18/
- Date: 2021-04-06 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #209 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:41:54–1:50:03)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ85AUzeK5w&t=6114s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zz85auzek5w/

**Topics:** The age of Aisha; The Mufti and the channel; Cults, clergy and religious abuse

**Question as asked:** How do you feel your debunking of Aisha's marital age has impacted Muslims generally? Have you received negative backlash or inspired people to see the truth?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth is proud of the video: many people, especially women, told him it brought them back to Islam, while most clergy resent it because questioning the inherited ruling threatens their authority and livelihood.

## Longer summary

Asked how his video on Aisha's age has affected Muslims and whether it brought backlash, Mufti Abu Layth says it is one of the accomplishments he is proudest of. He says the response from ordinary Muslims has been overwhelming: many people, particularly women, who had become separated from the faith because of such teachings attributed to God and His Messenger, and who had quietly withdrawn rather than face abuse, contacted him to say it was a lifeline back to Islam. He says most clergy reacted with insecurity or hostility, not because they personally want to defend the topic, but because they may not question what their superiors and Bukhari hand down, and would lose their livelihood and circles if they did; he compares them to a doctor bound to protocol who cannot preach his own theories. He then thanks a viewer who mentions someone else doing similar work and invites them to send it.

## Sources and names cited

- Aisha
- Sahih al-Bukhari

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:41:54–1:50:03)

[1:41:47] I just want to make sure my equipment is good." And then when I did fix it up, I'd just been I'd totally kind of forgotten. And in between I did message, but that that's when the whole Black Lives Matter was going on and all of that. And he was very preoccupied uh right during those weeks and for those few months. And then after that, I've I've not chased it, but I will. I will absolutely.

[1:42:11] Um right. So Mui, how do you feel your debunking Aisha's marital age has impacted Muslims generally? Have you received negative backlash or inspired people to see the truth? That's a very good question. I I'm glad you asked that.

[1:42:34] I you know it's one of the most it's one of the most proud moments really that that I have that or you know there a great sense of pride in some of the actions I have done in in life some of my accomplishments wahi has been that that I have I produced that video and I really hammered this point.

[1:43:06] I'm really honestly like I I'm being honest whether people appreciate it or not. I am so like I'm so happy that I did that and I walked that path. Okay, that's as far as the the decision of doing that. as to how it's been received.

[1:43:30] My um my my kind of interaction with people has been so pleasant and so kind of rewarding on that video. I have had so many people, namely women, I mean particularly women who were kind of not indifferent but were

[1:43:57] isolated from religion. They had become they had kind of become separated and divorced from the faith because of these things like the age of Aisha. Now this and there were a series of other things as well that seemed very nonsensical to them and it seemed uh very kind of brutal and the fact that it's attributed to God and his messenger made them have a a repulsive distaste

[1:44:38] towards Allah and his messenger. And although many of these women who did contact me in this last let's say couple of years, many of them may not have taken an open battle against this topic. So they may have just silently retreated because it's not a battle worth fighting that because you know how the moolah and the religious people kafir zindik blah blah blah mortad and you know and then and then these women don't even know about Islam.

[1:45:12] So, [clears throat] it's easy for them to just start getting hammered by loads of people. And people will say, "Oh, they uh what is it? Ex-Muslim, ex-Muslim, and oh, you're not wearing hijab. You're not doing this. You're cursed. You're cursed." And then trolling and hating. And so, it's not it's not healthy for anyone, let alone a regular person from the public. And that to somebody who doesn't know about Islam. So most of these women have just kind of secluded themselves from religion but just left it.

[1:45:42] And almost a few are actually abandoned Islam and some may have kind of kind of detached from it but maybe not openly abandoned it. And then they came across my video and because that age of Aisha video as well I did that very seriously and it was a um you know something that was to tackle to take the bull by the horns and um and they watched it and then they contacted me many of them seriously and you know that for and for many of them it was not

[1:46:20] only a lifeline but it was a rope that that kind of reeled them back to the faith. So I'm I my the the the response that I've received has been overwhelming overwhelming by common Muslims who are my target audience. The Mulvies for the most part their response has been either insecure or it's been um kind of negative.

[1:46:50] And that's because they feel that it has basically, you know, it it's disrupted their trade. You see, because their trade is being the clergy. And part of being the clergy is you cannot question these things that we have laid down. And remember, that's also handed down to them. So, they're not allowed to question it. And they know they're not allowed to go against this ruling.

[1:47:16] And most of them have been teaching this ruling that no you can marry little girls in Islam. Now this will then one it will sh undermine their authority two they're not allowed to question their superiors. So, and they're not allowed to question Bkari. And so, it's just too much. Like, even though I do feel that most these Mulvies, they don't have a personal axe to grind in this issue.

[1:47:44] I feel that if their superiors, like let's say their teachers had the courage to say this that yeah, Bkari, we don't care it's in Bkari, it's wrong. They would happily most of them would flock with their teachers. But because their teachers have a blind following attitude just like their teachers did. So they're not allowed to go against them and they don't have the courage to challenge it because if they challenge it they will lose their livelihood because they will be you know they'll lose their job they'll lose their circles.

[1:48:16] They'll lose their so it's better to just kind of tow you know just tow the line just go with it. and they don't like that I've challenged it because when I challenged it, I brought evidences. Now the common person has access to these evidences and they then present it to them and they can't argue back and they can't so it it this is why they don't like what I've done. I don't think it's the topic itself.

[1:48:42] For some of them it may be the topic itself, but most of them I think the topic they don't they're not personally I don't think most of them would want to support that topic. is just this stuck, you know, like where do we go? Like this is our livelihood. This is our field. We can't speak against it. It's like if you're a doctor and you have a totally different practice or way, let's say you think out of the box, you can't kind of go around preaching like that as a doctor.

[1:49:11] You have to follow the pharmaceutical kind of guidelines. you have to follow the kind of medical general board of practice and how they do things, their protocol they and you could have genuine ideas. You could just be somebody who thinks out of a box and has a theory and but at the end of the day it's your livelihood that's at stake and you're you're not prepared to do it.

[1:49:35] So you will just go with just tow the line. Right. So all right Ahmed too is doing the same job as you are doing. Okay. I'm not sure who Ahmed is but do send me his his stuff. I'd love to connect inshallah.

[1:49:57] Um all right. What's a good source to learn about the Maliki Mhab in English? That's a good point. Um right. I do know that in the past um Aisha Buli had translated several books into English but I'm not sure how readily avail they used to all just be on a website but I think I'm not sure if a website is still there Hamza Ysef had a few works from Malik translated um I'm pretty sure he had murid which is a a baseline text it's a foundation text within the Maliki Madhab

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment zZ85AUzeK5w/s/18. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zz85auzek5w/s/18/

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