Research › Fiqh and daily practice
52 answers in 29 recordings, 2014 to 2023. 39 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.
· Can I trim my beard short or to a goatee, below a fist's length?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that trimming the beard from the sides, to a goatee or to less than a fist's length is permissible and not haram, while recognising a valid difference of opinion that others may follow.
“so first of all I'd like to say that this is permissible this is not Haram okay I do recognize that there is a difference of opinion amongst the”
1:25TranscriptCite 2014-04-12-S01corrected
· Which scholars have allowed trimming or shaving the beard?
Mufti Abu Layth says that the view that trimming or even shaving the beard is at most makruh and not haram has been held by Maliki and other classical jurists and by many modern scholars, some of whom were themselves trimmed, goateed or clean-shaven.
“many of these have all written very clearly that it is not Haram to trim or even shave but especially to trim right down the beard they've not considered it haram”
5:51TranscriptCite 2014-04-12-S02corrected
· What do the sound hadith about the beard actually say?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the sound hadith on the beard reduce to three, each pairing the moustache with the beard and giving the reason of being different from non-Muslims, and that the command need not be read as obligatory, as other hadith show.
“now many people have interpreted this to mean that it is an obligatory command a mandatory command but we see quite differently from other Hadith”
12:29TranscriptCite 2014-04-12-S03corrected
· Is it haram to trim my beard shorter than a fist's length?
Mufti Abu Layth says the opinion that trimming the beard below a fist's length is not haram is well founded in the tradition.
“this is something that is well found and established in our books and we have to recognize that the is well founded it is in our tradition it is unden denable”
8:13TranscriptCite 2014-04-12b-S01corrected
· Does Islam require a particular dress or beard style for scholars?
Mufti Abu Layth says the din does not mandate a particular type of uniform.
“there's many people who have you know exercised that the dean has not actually um you know it does not mandate a particular type of”
24:09TranscriptCite 2014-07-02-S07corrected
· Do I have to wear my trousers above my ankles?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that a man letting his garment hang below the ankles is not haram unless it is done out of arrogance and is at most makruh otherwise, adding that in present-day societies covering the ankles is normal and is not a sign of arrogance.
“so that's once again in summary it is permissible as long as it is not done with an intention of arrogance which once again in our societies seldom exists”
12:34TranscriptCite 2015-03-20-S01corrected
· Is a short back and sides or faded haircut haram?
A haircut with hair of unequal lengths, such as a short back and sides, is permissible and is not the qaza' the hadith forbids; shaving patches and leaving others is at most makruh rather than haram unless it is done to disfigure or to imitate a religious practice.
“having a haircut like 'short back and sides' or something like this which is very common this is in no way forbidden it is”
13:03TranscriptCite 2015-05-05-S01corrected
· Can I pray in a t-shirt or vest, or in clothes with a picture on them?
Mufti Abu Layth says no particular dress is required for salah beyond covering the 'awrah, so a picture on one's clothes, a t-shirt or vest one is already wearing, or pictures in the room do not invalidate the prayer, though one should not dress down for salah.
“if you were already in a t-shirt or you happen to be in a vest as it was and you were now praying that is fine the Salah is accepted”
42:45TranscriptCite 2017-04-02-S10corrected
· Can I pray with my trousers below my ankles, or in tight jeans?
Mufti Abu Layth says trousers below the ankle or tight trousers do not affect a man's salah, and he does not consider trousers below the ankle forbidden because the past ruling rested on an arrogance that no longer attaches to the practice.
“with men it does not impact the Salah although they can be mindful to dress perhaps more appropriately but that does not impact the Salah in any way”
44:42TranscriptCite 2017-04-02-S11corrected
· Do men need to cover their head to pray, and can I pray in shorts?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Maliki school does not regard covering the head as a sunnah of salah but as a matter of custom and convention, so praying bareheaded is neither makruh nor a defect, and long sports shorts that cover the 'awrah are fine to pray in.
“this is seen as really in essence especially within the school of Medina as part of convention and Custom it is not seen as a Sunnah which people have to have to be doing”
46:38TranscriptCite 2017-04-02-S12corrected
· Is my prayer valid if my trousers slip and part of my backside shows for a moment in sujud?
Mufti Abu Layth says a momentary exposure of the extended 'awrah, such as the upper buttocks or thigh slipping into view during sujud, does not invalidate the salah, though one should dress more modestly in the mosque, while the core 'awrah may never be exposed.
“that kind of partial revealing um for that short dur duration within Salah within sujud let's say because mostly it would occur in sujud does not violate the Salah”
48:37TranscriptCite 2017-04-02-S13corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says he inclines to the view that tattoos are not haram as long as they are not entirely disfiguring, small ones being at most discouraged.
“that's probably the way I inclined that I don't feel that they're Haram as long as they're not entirely disfiguring”
0:00TranscriptCite 2018-03-05-S01corrected
· Is it haram for men to wear earrings?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that it is not haram for men to wear earrings, although it is not the general custom, noting that boys wore them in the medieval period and that Imam Malik objected only to a boy wearing gold, not to the earring itself.
“I don't believe it's Haram for men to wear earrings why would it be Haram although the custom generally in the medieval ages was that men did not generally wear earrings but boys did”
0:00TranscriptCite 2018-03-05c-S01corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says tattoos are permissible in his understanding, because the hadith condemning tattooing addressed the branding and disfigurement of slaves and cattle in its historical context rather than beautification, while noting that most scholars held them haram and some Malikis only makruh.
“so it's very important to understand the context in which the Prophet spoke when he said these things were Haram now”
7:08TranscriptCite 2018-05-03-S01corrected
· Doesn't the hadith of Zaynab forbid women from wearing perfume to the mosque?
Mufti Abu Layth says Zaynab's report, which mentions only the late Isha and in some versions addresses her alone, was a specific instruction for an unstated reason and not a general prohibition of perfume for women.
“in my understanding this was just an isolated incident that may whatever it was it was not a general ruling because if it was a general ruling the Prophet”
21:55TranscriptCite 2018-05-04b-S04corrected
· Can women wear perfume when they go out?
Mufti Abu Layth says women may wear perfume when they go out, that everyone should smell good and be presentable, and that the reports calling such women fornicators must not be attributed to the Prophet.
“yes of course they can work perfume when they go out and people should wear a certain amount of perfume people should always smell good”
27:04TranscriptCite 2018-05-04b-S06corrected
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the beard was the common custom of all Arabs including the disbelievers of Quraysh rather than something the Prophet introduced, that the 'be different from the Jews and Christians' wording is applied selectively since the same words command dyeing the hair and praying in shoes, and that the Prophet never once defined what the beard should look like.
“yet the wording is the same in all of them but we have selective application like we reject where the Prophet said it here and we accept it where he said it here so that's not consistency”
3:15TranscriptCite 2018-06-12-S01corrected
· Is it haram for men to wear gold or silk?
Mufti Abu Layth says he is in line with the ulama who held that the Prophet's prohibition of gold and silk for men was a matter of karaha intended to keep the early community focused and away from luxury in a dangerous time, not a categorical haram, while noting that the popular opinion is that it is haram.
“when he told people off from gold and silk in I fall in line with those Olimar who felt that this was who say who felt that this was to do with the kuraha and to keep people focused”
14:00TranscriptCite 2018-07-10-S01corrected
· Can men wear earrings in Islam?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that men may wear earrings according to Islam, and that the idea that earrings are effeminate or exclusive to women is a misconception.
“can men wear earrings according to Islam now the answer is clearly yes they can we hearings”
0:35TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S01corrected
· Have men historically worn earrings, or is it a recent fashion?
Mufti Abu Layth says that men across the ancient world, from Assyria and Egypt to Persia, India and Europe, wore earrings for thousands of years, often as a mark of nobility or soldiery, and that their restriction to women in Europe came from the church.
“the church prohibited men from wearing earrings now so you see the church influenced it starts to say that no these things should be restricted to women”
8:59TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S02corrected
· Did men and boys wear earrings in the time of the Prophet and the early Muslims?
Mufti Abu Layth says that boys commonly wore earrings in the Prophet's time and among the Salaf, that later Sunni clergy prohibited the practice perhaps under the influence of the Christian church, and that the Shia kept it alive.
“you will see that in the society in which the Prophet lived boy is especially young boys wore earrings and you will see that this trend continues or at least during the time of the selleth”
10:54TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S03corrected
· Did Hasan and Husayn wear earrings?
Mufti Abu Layth says that the Prophet's grandsons Hasan and Husayn had their ears pierced and wore earrings, Husayn wearing two, as Shia traditions through Imam Jafar al-Sadiq and accounts of Karbala relate.
“the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam scranton both of his grandsons Hasan and Husayn radi allahu anhu man had the ears pierced and they both wore earrings”
13:26TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S04corrected
· Did Imam Malik wear an earring?
Mufti Abu Layth says that Imam Malik wore an earring as a young man while studying with Rabi'a, as recorded in his teacher Abd al-Ghani al-Daqr's biography of Malik and in another Maliki source.
“at this time Malik was still bursting with youth he was a young man Maya's a law court Maya's a law court people feel Denis he he still had an earring on in his ear”
21:01TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S06corrected
· What did Imam Malik and the Maliki jurists say about boys wearing earrings?
Mufti Abu Layth says that Malik's reported preference against gold earrings for boys concerned the gold rather than the earring, and that the Maliki theft rulings of al-Lakhmi and Ibn Abi Zayd about earrings stolen from boys show that boys commonly wore them and the early generations did not treat earrings as restricted to women.
“but look at this being a common issue that boys wearing earrings so this ruling”
25:59TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S07corrected
· Is a man wearing an earring imitating women or harmful?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the objections to men's earrings fail: if piercing is permitted for girls the harm argument cannot forbid it for boys, the imitation-of-women claim ignores thousands of years of men wearing earrings, and men wearing kohl shows that what counts as effeminate is a cultural matter.
“if you can do it for girls then you should be able to do for guys it makes no difference the ruling is the same”
30:26TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S08corrected
· Can reports from Shia sources about Hasan and Husayn be trusted?
Mufti Abu Layth says he believes Hasan and Husayn wore earrings, that dismissing every Shia report as a lie is prejudice, and that accepting the Khariji narrator Imran ibn Hittan, who praised Ali's killer, in Sahih al-Bukhari while rejecting Imam Jafar's reports is a hypocrisy.
“we can't take from imam ja'far or any of the Shia Imams if it's in a Shia book when they're describing that Hussein used to wear earrings why oh because it's coming from that's just stupid”
36:09TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S09corrected
· Is it haram for a man to wear an earring?
Mufti Abu Layth concludes that wearing earrings is permissible for men, with the precedent of Hasan, Husayn, Imam Malik and Sufyan ibn Uyayna, that the later ulama's opposition may reflect the influence of the Christian church or other traditions, and that calling it imitation of women is an arbitrary claim.
“so this is a kind of an overview a holistic overview that yes wearing earrings is permissible for men”
36:47TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S10corrected
· Is it a sin to pee standing up?
Mufti Abu Layth says urinating standing up is absolutely fine and there is no sin in it at all.
“so it's absolutely fine don't worry about it relieve yourself”
1:17TranscriptCite 2019-09-17-S01corrected
· Is growing a beard compulsory in Islam?
Mufti Abu Layth says the beard was an ancient Arab custom shared by the Prophet's opponents, that the command to grow it and differ from the Jews and Christians is worded like commands to dye the hair and pray in shoes that nobody treats as obligatory, and that no sahih hadith says how to grow it.
“do we consider coloring or dyeing the hair to be obligatory or Sunnah or necessary or strongly recommended no let me give you another one”
4:24TranscriptCite 2019-12-17b-S01corrected
· Is wearing my hijab turban-style allowed?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, according to him, a turban-style hijab is fine because covering the hair is not clearly proven from the Quran or the Sunnah.
“according to me that's fine because the covering of the hair is not clearly proven from the Quran wasana it is something part of Muslim culture”
17:42TranscriptCite 2020-07-14-S03corrected
· What parts of the body count as 'awrah for men and women?
Mufti Abu Layth says he goes with the school of Madinah's understanding that a woman's core 'awrah is her private parts and the area from beneath the navel to the thighs, the rest being extended 'awrah whose uncovering in prayer does not invalidate it.
“that would be my understanding that I would go with the the understanding that the school of Medina presents that the core aura is really the woman's kind of private parts”
36:32TranscriptCite 2020-07-14-S06corrected
· Is a skin fade haircut haram?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is okay to grow your hair and, when you do, to have a hairstyle.
“it's okay to grow your hair can when you grow your hair can you have a hairstyle of course of course of course of course you can have hairstyle”
2:17:18TranscriptCite 2020-09-22-S22corrected
· Are tattoos haram, and can I work as a tattoo artist?
Mufti Abu Layth says being a tattoo artist is not haram by default.
“so is being a tattoo artist a halal occupation yeah i mean it's not haram by default”
6:56TranscriptCite 2020-10-01-S01corrected
· Does God really care whether I have a beard?
Mufti Abu Layth says the basis of the Sharia was the preservation of life.
“because the basis of the Sharia was preservation of life.”
1:13:04TranscriptCite 2020-10-27-S11corrected
· Why do imams in the West wear 'Islamic' robes?
Mufti Abu Layth says there was never an Islamic clothing to begin with.
“There was never an Islamic clothing to begin with.”
1:21:34TranscriptCite 2020-10-27-S13corrected
· Will I go to hell for not shaving my pubic hair?
Mufti Abu Layth says nobody is going to hell for not shaving pubic hair; it is a hygiene matter.
“nobody's going to hell for a mustache and nobody's going to hell for not shaving the uh pubic hair”
1:03:44TranscriptCite 2021-01-19-S16corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says that men can wear gold in his understanding.
“Can men wear gold? Yes, I've answered that. Uh men can wear gold in my understanding”
16:35TranscriptCite 2021-02-02b-S03corrected
· How can God be timeless and still perceive time?
Mufti Abu Layth says that perceiving events in linear time is our perspective and does not mean that time is like that.
“so what I'm trying to say is it's perspective we perceive events in a linear state of time it does not mean that time is like that”
2:49:54TranscriptCite 2021-02-02b-S25corrected
· Is it haram for men to wear earrings?
Mufti Abu Layth says many of the great imams of the early period, Imam Malik among them, used to wear earrings.
“many of the Great imams in the early Islamic period especially in Arabia uh the great had the theme like Imam Malik like Sofia like all these people used to wear earrings”
13:22TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S03corrected
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.
These answers state a view in order to discuss it, often to reject it. They are never read as his position.
Cite a statement by its id: Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment id, with the date and the address of its page. Citation formats
