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Mufti Abu Layth ArchiveBeta
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Research › Dialogue and responses

Christians and other faiths

51 answers in 31 recordings, 2015 to 2021. 28 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

Thought Evolution

2015answers checked positions2021

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.

  1. 20151 answer · 1 checked

  2. 201812 answers · 8 checked

    · The second coming as a central Christian doctrine: Jesus returns as judge

    Mufti Abu Layth says the second coming is perhaps the second most important Christian belief, on which Christianity rose, and that the hadith's picture of Jesus returning as a judge matches the New Testament.

    “this belief guys about the second coming of Jesus is so important in Christianity it is perhaps the second most important belief in Christianity it is on the back of this belief that Christianity rose”

    39:52TranscriptCite 2018-03-13-S12corrected

    · Why would Jesus need to return if the Prophet Muhammad completed the religion?

    Mufti Abu Layth says he does not accept the hadith of Jesus's descent because they clash with the Quran and with other hadith, not because of any misunderstanding of the Arabic yanzilu.

    “no it's not that I don't understand the word yinz Luffy come it's that I don't accept these are these because they clash with the Quran and with other hadith”

    46:30TranscriptCite 2018-03-13-S13corrected

    · How do Muslims know Islam is true and other religions are not?

    Mufti Abu Layth holds that Muslims use reason to reject Hinduism and the Trinity, that a shared human intersubjectivity lets a healthy mind judge such claims absurd, and that the same standard of reason must be applied to Islam.

    “the question here comes do we do we not have the responsibility then to apply those same standards to Islam”

    15:06TranscriptCite 2018-04-09-S03corrected

    5 more checked positions in 2018

    · Why does the Quran call Jesus the Word of God and speak of the Holy Spirit?

    Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran applies to Jesus terms such as the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that it uses for no other prophet and that Muslims do not take literally, and suggests this Christian rhetoric may have been meant to build bridges with the Christian community.

    “Christian rhetoric that is used in the Quran perhaps in a sense of building bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities”

    46:40TranscriptCite 2018-10-20-S08corrected

    · Does the Quran say Jesus was born of a virgin?

    Mufti Abu Layth says that no verse of the Quran states that Jesus's birth was a virgin birth, only implies it, that Muslim scholars have differed on the question, and that Mary, who was married, is never called the Virgin Mary in Islam.

    “no verse in the Quran says that she had virgin birth a verse implies it does not say just as the table verse implies that the table may come down”

    52:17TranscriptCite 2018-10-20-S09corrected

    · Why does the Quran call Jesus the Word of God and mention the Holy Spirit with him?

    Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran uses Christian rhetoric about Jesus, such as the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, perhaps in order to build bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities.

    “there's a lot of rhetoric being used when it comes to Jesus that was generally the kind of Christian rhetoric that is used in the Quran perhaps in a sense of building bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities”

    3:14TranscriptCite 2018-10-25-S01corrected

    · Does the Quran actually say Mary had a virgin birth?

    Mufti Abu Layth says that no verse of the Quran directly says that Mary's was a virgin birth, though a verse implies it.

    “that you do have that as a general belief that Muslims feel that Mary had a virgin birth although no verse in the Quran says that she had in birth a verse implies it does not say”

    9:05TranscriptCite 2018-10-25-S02corrected

    · Did the topic of Tawhid versus the Trinity favour the Muslim side, and how well prepared was Hijab?

    Mufti Abu Layth holds that when one side of a debate appeals to reason and the other defends what it calls irrational truths, the side of reason will generally prevail, so the topic favoured Hijab, whose biblical research he nonetheless credits as impressive.

    “whenever you're debating something that way one side appeals to reason and the other doesn't the reason side will always make sense and prevail generally speaking as a rule of thumb”

    3:07TranscriptCite 2018-12-24b-S02corrected

    4 answers not yet checked

  3. 20198 answers · 7 checked

    · Did Jesus really speak as a baby in the cradle?

    Mufti Abu Layth says that the popular story of the baby Jesus speaking to save Mary from being stoned is, in his understanding, not true at all.

    “this is what a lot of Muslims do believe this unfortunately it's not actually true in my understanding at all”

    2:32TranscriptCite 2019-02-23-S01corrected

    · Is the Bible corrupted?

    Mufti Abu Layth says the earlier scriptures can be called corrupted if that means they were not preserved verbatim.

    “so when we keep saying that the the other messages are corrupted it depends what you mean by that that from yes they weren't preserved verbatim so if that's what we mean by corrupted then yes that is true”

    8:57TranscriptCite 2019-09-14-S02corrected

    4 more checked positions in 2019

    · Does the Quran forbid Muslims from being friends with non-Muslims who challenge Islam?

    Mufti Abu Layth says the verse that believers will not be found loving those who oppose Allah and His Messenger was revealed about Muslims who kept ties with tribes confederating to attack the Muslims, and that it does not forbid friendship with non-Muslims, as the permission to marry Christians and Jews shows.

    “this verse was revealed at a time when Muslims were being attacked and they and the non-muslims were forming allies and a confederation of different tribes to attack the Muslims”

    5:08TranscriptCite 2019-12-12-S02corrected

    · Who is Uzair mentioned in the Quran?

    Mufti Abu Layth says the interpretation of Uzair as Ezra does not really fit the bill and can only be a forced fit.

    “this interpretation of it being Ezra doesn't really fit the bill I mean you can you can do a force fit”

    3:47TranscriptCite 2019-12-29-S01corrected

    1 answer not yet checked

  4. 202019 answers · 8 checked

    · Should Pakistan allow a Hindu temple in Islamabad?

    Mufti Abu Layth says he supports building places of worship for other communities in Pakistan, which is a nation-state in which all citizens are equal.

    “I actually I do support them building for other cultures in Pakistan Pakistan is not a Khilafah for God's sake it's a nation state”

    1:43:29TranscriptCite 2020-07-14-S26corrected

    · Should Pakistan allow a Hindu temple to be built in Islamabad?

    Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims have become bigoted and intolerant, demanding tolerance for themselves while opposing a Hindu temple in Islamabad, and that he supports building places of worship for other communities in Pakistan, which is a nation-state of equal citizens and not a khilafah.

    “i do support them building for other cultures in pakistan pakistan is not a khilafah for god's sake it's a nation-state”

    29:14TranscriptCite 2020-07-16-S09corrected

    5 more checked positions in 2020

    · Why doesn't the Quran clearly deny the virgin birth?

    Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran did not affirm the virgin birth but gave Christians the space to infer it, as a middle ground.

    “the quran did not affirm it but it gave them the space to infer it because it allowed that middle ground”

    56:52TranscriptCite 2020-10-13-S12corrected

    · What were soma and haoma in the Hindu and Persian traditions?

    Mufti Abu Layth says ancient traditions such as the Vedic soma and the Avestan haoma record the same entheogenic experiences without a vocabulary for them, and that if soma was Amanita muscaria this explains the Hindu drinking of cow urine and the deification of the animals.

    “many ancient traditions had these kind of things and you can see how because they didn't have a culture to explain it”

    19:04TranscriptCite 2020-10-17-S05corrected

    · Where did the idea of sacrificing a son come from in Ibrahim's time?

    Mufti Abu Layth holds that Ibrahim's dream of sacrificing his son is explained by the surrounding Near Eastern culture of human sacrifice working on the subconscious, not by a command from God.

    “it's like if you're part of a culture you even if it's not your original culture but you see that this is what people do and sometimes it can play on your mind”

    7:36TranscriptCite 2020-10-28-S02corrected

    11 answers not yet checked

  5. 202111 answers · 4 checked

    · Can a Christian really speak with God?

    Mufti Abu Layth says he believes that anybody and everybody has a direct line to Allah, whatever they call him.

    “God is not the God just of Muslims or of Islam. I believe that anybody and everybody has that direct line to Allah whether they call him God”

    1:52:12TranscriptCite 2021-01-05-S25corrected

    1 more checked position in 2021
    7 answers not yet checked

Sources cited on this topic

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.

Quran verses 22

  1. Quran 4:171 (the Messiah, messenger of Allah and His word; he cites it as 4:170) [?]3quran.com
  2. Quran 58:22 (strengthened them with a spirit from Him)3quran.com
  3. Quran 22:40-41 (Surah al-Hajj)2quran.com
  4. Quran 2:253 (we gave him clear signs and helped him with the Holy Spirit)2quran.com
  5. Quran 2:87 (we helped him with the Holy Spirit)2quran.com
  6. Quran 3:45 (a word from Him, the Messiah Jesus son of Mary; he cites it as 3:43) [?]2quran.com
  7. Quran 5:1102quran.com
  8. Quran 12:2 [?]1quran.com

Hadith 5

  1. report: akhriju al-yahud wa al-nasara min jazirat al-arab1sunnah.com
  2. report: i do not know of a greater shirk than one who says jesus is her lord1sunnah.com
  3. report: if musa was alive today he would be following the revelation (unresolved; collection not stated)1sunnah.com
  4. report: the prophet died with his shield pledged to a jewish man for bags of wheat (unresolved; cited as in Sahih Muslim, number not stated)1sunnah.com
  5. report: yanzilu fikum ibn maryam hakaman adlan1sunnah.com

Scholars 13

  1. Yasir Qadhi4
  2. Abdul Karim Athari [?]2
  3. Tamanna Imadi [?]2
  4. Abu Amr al-Dani1
  5. Abu Bakr ibn Mujahid1
  6. Dr Shabir Ally (guest)1
  7. Ibn Ashur1
  8. Ibn Ghalbun [?]1

Books 17

  1. the Bible5
  2. Torah4
  3. Gospel of Luke3
  4. Gospel of John2
  5. Gospel of Mark2
  6. Gospel of Matthew2
  7. Injil (Gospel)2
  8. Avesta1

Principles invoked

  1. one set of standards: judge Islam's claims by the same test applied to other religions1
  2. reading a command in the circumstances it addressed1

Views he quotes on this topic

These answers state a view in order to discuss it, often to reject it. They are never read as his position.

Discussed with

Cite a statement by its id: Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment id, with the date and the address of its page. Citation formats