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15 answers in 10 recordings, 2017 to 2023. 14 with a checked position in his own words.
Indexed so far: 259 of 1,859 recordings (1,904 answers, 2014 to 2025). Anything below may change as the rest are indexed. Limits of the data
Oldest first. A checked position shows what he holds, then the sentence he says, word for word from the transcript, with its moment. Years without one list the answers that have not been checked yet. Recordings not yet indexed may hold more.
· Could seeing figures or faces that are not there be a brain condition rather than a jinn?
Mufti Abu Layth says conditions such as palinopsia and Charles Bonnet syndrome show how abnormalities in the brain produce visions of people and shapes that someone in the past could only have explained as demons.
“how would I explain that in the past what an abnormality in the brain no maybe you're a demon I see you in many places”
1:28:57TranscriptCite 2017-09-20-S18corrected
· If someone got better after ruqya or an exorcism, does that prove it worked?
Mufti Abu Layth says that apparent cures through ruqya or exorcism can be explained by the placebo and nocebo effects, which Ted Kaptchuk's sham acupuncture trial showed produce real symptoms and real relief, or by people who would have recovered anyway.
“it's called psychosomatic behavior when you actually can get ill it's called the nocebo effect and the placebo effect where you can actually get better”
1:34:05TranscriptCite 2017-09-20-S19corrected
· Could strange symptoms blamed on jinn have medical explanations?
Mufti Abu Layth says the many neurological conditions science now describes, from prosopagnosia to foreign accent syndrome, show that attributing the unexplained to jinn is a 'jinn of the gaps' fallacy, and that the Prophet's hadith on cures tells people to seek the knowledge.
“in this phenomenon this is like the Djinn of the gaps like the moment we don't know anything it's the Djinn”
1:44:54TranscriptCite 2017-09-20-S21corrected
· What medical conditions could have been mistaken for possession in the past?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that conditions now explained neurologically, such as palinopsia and Charles Bonnet syndrome, would in the past have been read as demons or possession for want of any other explanation.
“how would I explain that in the past what an abnormality in the brain no maybe you're a demon”
37:56TranscriptCite 2018-04-15-S10corrected
· If exorcisms and ruqya sometimes work, does that prove possession is real?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the placebo and nocebo effects, demonstrated in Ted Kaptchuk's sham-treatment study, explain why people genuinely feel better or worse after exorcisms and ruqya, and that some would have recovered anyway.
“so when people are going through gin exorcisms or rupiah or things like this things can actually work”
44:21TranscriptCite 2018-04-15-S11corrected
· What is the 'jinn of the gaps'?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that attributing whatever cannot yet be explained to the jinn is a 'jinn of the gaps' argument, as weak as the god of the gaps that atheists criticise, and that not knowing an answer does not mean it cannot be known.
“this is like the Djinn of the gaps like the moment we don't know anything it's the Djinn”
54:41TranscriptCite 2018-04-15-S13corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says music is not haram and is arguably the nourishment of the soul.
“music is not Haram music is arguably it is the nourishment of the soul okay and you can see the reality to that”
0:00TranscriptCite 2019-08-04b-S01corrected
· Does sound exist if nobody hears it?
Mufti Abu Layth says that in reality the universe is colourless, soundless and odourless, since sound and colour exist only as a brain's interpretation of vibrations and waves.
“in reality the universe is actually colorless soundless odorless it is insipid it has no taste and it is silent that is a fact”
50:40TranscriptCite 2019-09-18-S09corrected
· What is Mufti Abu Layth's final verdict on whether music is haram?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that music is not haram, since the evidence does not support a prohibition and the default law makes everything permissible unless proven otherwise, and he calls music arguably the nourishment of the soul, citing its healing use in medieval Muslim hospitals.
“in my understanding music is not there's not harm because the evidence doesn't support it and the default law of defaults states that everything is permissible unless proven otherwise”
1:07:43TranscriptCite 2019-09-18-S12corrected
· Did ancient civilisations have knowledge that was later lost?
Mufti Abu Layth says he finds convincing the view that advanced ancient civilisations with knowledge of the globe were destroyed around the Younger Dryas, and that neither the Nabataeans nor the pharaohs built Petra or the pyramids from scratch but built on earlier structures.
“I don't believe the Nabataeans built Petra neither do I believe the pharaohs built the pyramids from scratch I feel that they built upon previous structures”
17:11TranscriptCite 2019-12-17-S05corrected
· Is the evil eye based on science?
Mufti Abu Layth says that in antiquity the evil eye was regarded as science, built on the belief that the eyes emit rays, a theory since debunked.
“people were coming from this backdrop that this is how the eyes work so to them this was science”
39:49TranscriptCite 2020-11-15-S05corrected
· Can atheism explain consciousness?
Mufti Abu Layth says that while atheists have strong arguments on many things, overall their case collapses when it comes face to face with consciousness.
“i believe they have strong arguments on many things but overall it all collapses when it comes face to face with consciousness all of their arguments collapse”
1:42:23TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S31corrected
· Is it haram to believe the universe will never end?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is not haram to believe the universe is never-ending, depending on what is meant, since creation once brought into existence, including the afterlife, remains forever in some form while still being other than God.
“Um, no. I mean, it depends what people mean by that because in some way life now that or I suppose creation once put into existence will forever ultimately remain in one way.”
1:34:29TranscriptCite 2021-04-06-S16corrected
· Can a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth?
Mufti Abu Layth says the old reports of pregnancies lasting years, as with Imam Malik's, can be explained by phantom pregnancies.
“so research in recent times has shown and several Muslim researchers and medical researchers have found have researched what they call Phantom pregnancies”
6:53TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S02corrected
How many of these answers cite each (guest speech left out). Cited means named as evidence or discussed, not necessarily accepted: open the answers to see which.
Cite a statement by its id: Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment id, with the date and the address of its page. Citation formats
