Research › Fiqh and daily practice
46 answers in 17 recordings, 2016 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
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.
· Why does Mufti Abu Layth say riba has become a symbol rather than something people understand?
Mufti Abu Layth says that religion for many people is a matter of visible symbols, and that riba has become one such symbol of Islam, held to be incredibly important by people who may not understand what it is.
“So riba has become one of those things that is symbolic. That it is seen to many people to be an important aspect of Islam.”
4:27TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S02corrected
· What was the riba of the jahiliyyah that the Quran condemned?
Mufti Abu Layth describes the riba of the jahiliyyah as a tyrannical loan-shark practice in which compounding demands on a debtor who could not repay could end in killing, torture and the enslavement of his family.
“Ribal jahiliyyah is the riba that it's a kind of inc- a tyrant like a very uh draconian highly oppressive loan shark kind of riba.”
6:30TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S03corrected
· What is riba al-fadl and what does the hadith on gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates and salt say?
Mufti Abu Layth says the six-commodities hadith, taken as it stands, would make any purchase on credit impossible, and that the scholars by a kind of consensus exempted gold and silver from it while keeping the other four goods.
“Now the Hadith actually includes gold and silver too. Which would mean it's impossible impossible to buy anything on credit anything.”
12:46TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S04corrected
· Does the Quran forbid every kind of excess when it forbids riba?
Mufti Abu Layth says the definite article in the Quran's prohibition of riba refers to a particular kind of riba already known to its hearers, not to every excess, since riba simply means excess and most excesses are agreed not to be haram.
“Because riba simply means an excess. And everybody agrees that not all excesses are haram in fact most excesses are not haram.”
14:16TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S05corrected
· Did the scholars ever agree on what counts as riba?
Mufti Abu Layth says there has never been agreement or clarity among the scholars on what riba applies to, and that none of the senior scholars he has asked has given a satisfying explanation of why delaying one side of a barter between different goods is riba.
“I've never come across a kind of thirst-quenching explanation on why uh bartering the delaying of one of the kind of product is riba.”
18:43TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S06corrected
· Are mortgages and bank loans the riba forbidden in the Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that mortgages and bank loans are not the riba forbidden in the Quran, which was declared war on because of a tyrannical loan-shark culture unlike today's regulated banking, in which the borrower gives back more out of necessity and is legally protected.
“Are these things riba? These things are not riba in the Quranic sense, in my understanding.”
22:11TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S07corrected
· How was the economy of the Prophet's time different from today's?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran was revealed in an economy of finite money, in which wealth could only grow by taking it from others, and that this changed entirely when money was dematerialised into paper a few hundred years ago.
“When the Quran was revealed in 7th century Arabia money was finite.”
33:05TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S08corrected
· How did Adam Smith and industrialisation change attitudes to greed and lending?
Mufti Abu Layth says that before Adam Smith's promotion of the pursuit of self-interest greed was seen simply as evil, as it was when the Quran condemned riba, and that industrialisation brought a new promise of a better tomorrow, before which people would not lend money.
“So, when the Quran was condemning riba in the time of the Arabs of 7th century Arabia greed was just seen as an evil thing. But everything changes in the 18th century.”
37:43TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S09corrected
· How can a bank lend out more money than it has?
Mufti Abu Layth says that banks being authorised to lend far more money than they hold, although it can be done irresponsibly, is what allowed communities and societies to flourish.
“Now, people might see this as a bad thing. But, it allowed the community and societies to flourish.”
42:12TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S10corrected
· Why did the Quran declare war on riba?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran declared war on riba because of the tyranny of a loan-shark culture in a world of finite money, and that modern bank lending, whose only similarity is that more is repaid than taken, is nothing like it.
“And that's why Allah declares war on it. Because of the tyranny that was happening. That is nothing like banks saying,”
50:20TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S11corrected
· Is an Islamic mortgage any different from a conventional mortgage?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that conventional mortgages and bank loans are not the riba the Quran condemns, and that so-called Islamic mortgages are the same thing under another name, a play on words of the loophole kind the Maliki school has never liked.
“To me, a conventional mortgage and Islamic mortgage or whatever mortgage are all the same in my understanding.”
53:14TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S12corrected
· Are student loans, car finance and mortgages haram?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that mortgages, student loans, car finance and other bank loans are not haram, though nobody is obliged to take them, and offers as his own thought, which viewers may discard, that Muslims living as minorities in the West should invest in property and build assets.
“Okay? I do not believe them to be haram based on all of these elements.”
58:36TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S13corrected
· Is it halal to buy bad loans and foreclose on people's homes?
Mufti Abu Layth says he is against exploiting people who lack money by throwing them out of their homes.
“I don't think it's fair to just kind of exploit people because they don't have money and to kind of chuck them out of their homes”
30:52TranscriptCite 2020-02-28-S08corrected
· Why isn't bank interest riba?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran does not address interest today as riba.
“the quran does not address interest today to be ripper the question isn't why don't i think this interest is very bad”
15:56TranscriptCite 2020-08-24-S04corrected
· Is drawing lots or playing the lottery haram in Islam?
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not encourage the small lottery people play, a pound here or there, but it is not haram.
“this minor lottery that people play a pound here there i don't encourage it but it's not haram”
1:57:18TranscriptCite 2020-09-22-S18corrected
· Is buying a scratch card or lottery ticket haram?
Mufti Abu Layth says gambling is haram, because gambling is highly addictive and destroys lives and families.
“i gambling is haram but i've mentioned that is gambling generally because gambling is highly addictive and it destroys lives and it destroys families”
2:05:10TranscriptCite 2020-09-22-S20corrected
· Is Sharia-compliant investing really different from normal investing?
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not believe the modern interest system is the riba of the Quran, and that mortgages are permissible.
“So I don't believe that this is the ribba of the Quran. Mortgages are permissible.”
1:04:25TranscriptCite 2020-10-27-S09corrected
· Can I take a mortgage, and can I urinate standing up?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, in his understanding, the riba of the Quran refers to loan-sharking and not to regular bank interest.
“my understanding is that ribba is not ribba of the Quran is referring to loan sharky. It is not referring to regular interest that that takes place in the banks.”
38:14TranscriptCite 2021-01-05-S10corrected
· How can I make the new year a more positive one?
Mufti Abu Layth advises that people stop responding with negative words such as not bad and respond with positive words instead.
“never you know stop that don't ever respond with not bad respond that I'm good. You know, great.”
1:37:29TranscriptCite 2021-01-05-S21corrected
· Can I work as a recruiter if some of the jobs are in banking?
Mufti Abu Layth says one may work for such a company and that these things are not haram in his understanding.
“one may work for such a company indeed indeed these things are not haram in my understanding”
1:40:50TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S26corrected
· If money was earned in a haram way, is it haram for whoever receives it?
Mufti Abu Layth says money in and of itself carries no intrinsic moral value; it is how it is earned that makes it haram or halal.
“it is how you earn that money that is then that gives it a particular moral value”
41:05TranscriptCite 2021-01-19-S13corrected
· Is trading stocks, crypto or on margin halal?
Mufti Abu Layth says he believes trading such as CFDs, stocks, forex and crypto is permissible, while noting there are regulations.
“I do believe all of this is permissible. Obviously, there's regulations, but this kind of trading, whether it's uh CFDs and stocks or shares or whether it's going to be um forex or whether it's going to be crypto”
2:30:11TranscriptCite 2021-02-02b-S22corrected
· Is it wrong in Islam to want to be rich?
Mufti Abu Layth says Islam is not against the aggregation of wealth.
“islam is not against the aggregation of wealth right so you know making money islam is fine with people making money”
1:44:52TranscriptCite 2021-02-09-S22corrected
· Is trading covered calls on stocks halal?
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not feel any of today's trades are haram, since they operate within a framework of statutory regulation.
“i do not feel any of them are haram okay they operate within a framework and greater statutory regulations that uh protect that framework”
1:55:17TranscriptCite 2021-02-09-S23corrected
· Is Cardano going to shoot up in value?
Mufti Abu Layth says he is a bit suspicious when big investors announce they will move money out of bitcoin into other coins.
“they're going to basically remove it from bitcoin and invest in other and others but i really think that when people i don't know i i'm a bit suspicious when people make these kind of claims”
12:56TranscriptCite 2021-03-02-S02corrected
· Is forex trading halal or haram?
Mufti Abu Layth says inherited fiqh is so out of date that much of it cannot be applied and its teaching has become largely ritual, partly because past jurists closed it to later rulings.
“FK for the most part is pretty much redundant. You know it's its teaching has become simply ritual in nature”
21:58TranscriptCite 2021-04-06-S05corrected
· Is it wrong for a Muslim to want to make money?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is good to be enterprising and make money, provided one loves what money brings rather than money itself, and that provision is counterintuitively increased through giving.
“allah has put you in this world to enjoy this world but i would say don't love money for and of itself love it for these things”
3:11:38TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S47corrected
· Is it wrong to want to be rich?
Mufti Abu Layth says there is nothing wrong in Islam with wanting to be rich or to have a lucrative business, so long as wealth is held in one's hands and not in one's heart and one keeps a purpose.
“There's nothing wrong with these things in Islam. Allah is Al-Razzaq, yarzuqu man yasha. Set these dreams, become these things.”
0:00TranscriptCite 2021-07-04-S01corrected
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
