Research › Belief and theology › The afterlife
11 answers in 10 recordings, 2018 to 2021. 8 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.
· Are the descriptions of paradise in the Quran meant literally?
Mufti Abu Layth says the afterlife itself is literal but he does not personally believe the Quran's imagery of paradise is, thinking it was just an encouragement.
“I don't personally believe it I think it was just an encouragement the”
3:46TranscriptCite 2018-07-02-S01corrected
· What is the Bukhari report about the Prophet seeing a woman beside Umar's palace in paradise?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Bukhari report in which the Prophet turns away from a woman beside Umar's palace in paradise because of Umar's jealousy casts the Prophet in a poor light.
“look what light its casting upon our beloved prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam”
14:39TranscriptCite 2018-09-01-S04corrected
· Do Muslims really get 72 virgins in Paradise?
Mufti Abu Layth says there is no mention anywhere of a number of 72 or 73 virgins, which he thinks may come from a fabricated or extremely weak report, while the Quran does mention women and virgins in Paradise in modest terms and some non-sahih reports speak of sexual relations there.
“this number I don't know I think it comes in some fabricated or extremely weak hadith maybe and for some reason people have just circulated it”
0:00TranscriptCite 2018-10-08-S01corrected
· Is the Quran's description of paradise and hell literal or symbolic?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the imagery of the afterlife in the Quran is symbolic, chosen to appeal to the people it was revealed to, while there is a real continuity beyond this life that no human can conceptualise, and he says people are free to disagree with this reading.
“if you can't even conceptualize something how can you express it in words so to me the afterlife the imagery in the Quran is symbolic”
3:51TranscriptCite 2019-08-21-S02corrected
· What do Illiyyin and Sijjin mean in the Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, to him, the descriptions of the afterlife are more symbolic, an approximation of something we can never conceptualise.
“to me these things all about the afterlife are more so kind of symbolic so they're not like I don't take these things as I think that we can never conceptualize the afterlife”
39:42TranscriptCite 2020-07-14-S07corrected
· Can non-Muslims be saved according to Sunni scholars?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, without saying any of them are necessarily right, these broad views on salvation and hell are all part of the understanding within the Sunni tradition.
“i'm not saying that any of these are necessarily right but what i'm saying is there are all parts of the the understanding that we have within our tradition”
4:02TranscriptCite 2020-08-19b-S01corrected
· Can we appreciate good in paradise if there is no evil there?
Mufti Abu Layth says we do not know how the afterlife will work, because it is not within our current comprehension.
“the truth is we don't know what's how it's going to work because you're asking us to conceptualize something which is not our current state of conscientious comprehension”
38:47TranscriptCite 2020-09-22-S06corrected
· Why does Islam describe Paradise in such sensual terms?
Mufti Abu Layth says Paradise is described sensuously because it sells, in a functional rather than a bad sense.
“I don't mean that in a bad way although I suppose it can be understood about but it's in a functional way that this works”
1:32:48TranscriptCite 2021-01-19-S21corrected
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
