Research › Fiqh and daily practice
29 answers in 16 recordings, 2016 to 2022. 22 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.
· The ramifications: jurists on marrying a minor, and the conclusion
Mufti Abu Layth concludes that Aisha was not six or nine at her marriage but in her late teens, most likely around eighteen or nineteen.
“Aisha was most certainly not six or nine at the time of her marriage she was in her late teens most likely uh around 18 to 19”
1:13:07TranscriptCite 2017-01-11-S09corrected
· Why did jurists like Imam Malik let a father marry off his young daughter without her consent?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that a father marrying off an underage daughter is impermissible in our age, and that Imam Malik's contractual exception was tied to welfare in his own circumstances.
“make it very clear that this is impermissible in our understanding in light of our age absolutely impermissible to do that right in in our context”
2:01:12TranscriptCite 2017-01-11-S18corrected
· When and how did Safiyya actually marry the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Safiyya embraced Islam in the months after Khaybar and then married the Prophet with her consent, and that Abu Hurayra's report that no spoils but clothing, cattle and sheep were taken from Khaybar tells against the story of captives and slaves.
“she does embrace Islam in time to come in the months that followed she does and then she herself is interested in the prophet and they do get married that is a fact”
32:45TranscriptCite 2018-02-21b-S09corrected
· Are witnesses required for a nikah in the Maliki school?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Maliki school does not require witnesses for a valid nikah, only witnesses or a public announcement before the marriage is consummated, and that many of the Prophet's marriages were not witnessed.
“many of the prophets marriages were not witnessed and people like the school of Medina the the whole Maliki method says you don't need witnesses for a marriage”
5:06TranscriptCite 2018-02-28-S03corrected
· What do the classical Maliki books say about witnesses in a marriage?
Mufti Abu Layth says the standard Maliki texts, including al-Kafi, the Mudawwana as quoted by Ibn Yunus, and later authorities, state that a nikah without witnesses is valid provided it is not meant to be secret, witnessing being a condition of consummation rather than of validity.
“that this is the measure of our method that it is not a condition in the Maliki method for the validity of getting married”
16:50TranscriptCite 2018-02-28-S04corrected
· Does an exclusive boyfriend-girlfriend relationship count as a nikah?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that in the past marriage was simple, divorce was not stigmatised and other outlets were accepted, so earlier scholars never stressed this topic, whereas Muslims today have only a culturally dramatised and expensive nikah; he leaves the question whether an exclusive relationship amounts to nikah for the ulama to discuss.
“this is why they never stressed in the past on this topic what we have today is society has flipped things on its heads”
12:06TranscriptCite 2018-03-05b-S03corrected
· Should I register my nikah as a civil marriage?
Mufti Abu Layth says he is not sure civil registration is the solution for Muslim marriages, because he objects to needing the state's permission to leave a relationship, while acknowledging the financial arguments on both sides.
“I'm not so sure if civil registration civil marriage is the solution because I'll tell you what I'm against or what I dislike”
15:20TranscriptCite 2018-03-05b-S04corrected
· What should a couple agree before marriage about registering and money?
Mufti Abu Layth advises an open conversation before marriage about registration and finances, encourages women to keep independent income and property, and condemns as cultural and un-Islamic the attitude that a woman may not work.
“woman wants to work or if a woman wants this that she's not allowed to have that or she can't do this that is backwards it is nothing to do with Islam it is cultural”
20:28TranscriptCite 2018-03-05b-S05corrected
· The marriage to Aisha at six: consent, and the command to pray at seven
Mufti Abu Layth says the report that the Prophet married Aisha at six and consummated at nine is an attack on the Prophet's honour, because a six-year-old cannot give the consent that Bukhari itself requires of a virgin, and the claim of physical maturity at nine contradicts the command to separate children's beds only at ten.
“the prophet is looking at a six-year-old child with the intent of marriage which is a sexual relationship that is disgusting and it is an attack on the honor of our prophet”
36:52TranscriptCite 2018-08-30-S07corrected
· I converted to Islam but my husband didn't. Do I have to leave him?
Mufti Abu Layth says he agrees with these scholars that a woman who embraces Islam does not need to leave her non-Muslim husband, and vice versa.
“so I to agree with these scholars that the woman does not need to leave her husband”
3:14TranscriptCite 2019-05-10-S01corrected
· What does the word nikah actually mean?
Mufti Abu Layth says that linguistically the term nikah just means sex, while technically it refers to the marriage contract.
“linguistically the term Nika just means sex that's all it means”
6:26TranscriptCite 2019-05-10-S02corrected
· Do converts have to redo their marriage after becoming Muslim?
Mufti Abu Layth says that the nikah of non-Muslims, valid according to their own rules, is valid for Muslims too.
“deduce from thee that the nikah of the non-muslims is valid”
11:32TranscriptCite 2019-05-10-S03corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says Aisha's hadith shows that Islam never introduced nikah but recognised a practice already present before Islam.
“it shows us that Islam never introduced Mika he never introduced these things these were practices from jahiliyya”
16:03TranscriptCite 2019-05-10-S04corrected
· Did any early scholars allow marrying Zoroastrians or idol worshippers?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels that sharing a common faith and common goals is still strongly encouraged, especially in family life.
“I feel that it is still strongly encouraged that that is that you share common faith you share common goals”
32:25TranscriptCite 2019-05-10-S06corrected
· Does Quran 60:10 mean a marriage to a non-Muslim is automatically void?
Mufti Abu Layth says he believes a marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim is valid, without saying it is a good thing or advisable.
“it valid and I believe it is valid just as those other of scholars I've quoted”
33:03TranscriptCite 2019-05-10-S07corrected
· Is a marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim valid?
Mufti Abu Layth says a marriage between a Muslim and a Hindu, for example, would still be valid, though it may be a disastrous choice from a religious perspective.
“even if a Muslim married a Hindu for example that then Macau would still be valid”
45:13TranscriptCite 2019-05-10-S09corrected
· Did Imam Malik allow marriage to be consummated with a girl who was not yet nubile?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Imam Malik ruled sexual relations with a wife haram unless she was nubile, and that the commentators who read 65:4 to include girls were wrong and influenced by the patriarchy of their age, which is not Islam.
“Imam Malik was very clear in his fatwa that it was Haram right to have to have any kind of sexual relationship with any with a woman I mean through marriage unless she was nubile”
27:59TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S09corrected
· How did classical scholars treat intersex people (khuntha) and their right to marry?
Mufti Abu Layth says the classical ruling that a khuntha can never marry was ridiculous and absurd, and a case study of scholarship failing to provide a truly Islamic answer to a challenge of its age.
“that's a perfect case study to show the failing of scholarship in a particular IRRI that they that the scholars failed in providing a truly Islamic answer to the challenge”
10:48TranscriptCite 2019-08-02b-S02corrected
· Did the Prophet marry his cousin?
Mufti Abu Layth says he believes that a person can get married without a wali.
“can one get married without a Wally I do believe I do believe that you can get married without a Willie and I've got a whole video detailed on that”
2:16TranscriptCite 2020-03-08-S01corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says that a low-commitment marriage that both adults understand and are comfortable with is, he would feel, permissible.
“so i i don't see that like the first one which is more ice i see as exploitation so that i'm against but this i would feel is permissible”
2:25:08TranscriptCite 2020-08-24-S33corrected
· Can a Muslim woman marry a non-Muslim man?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels the nikah between a Muslim and a non-Muslim would in and of itself be valid.
“i do explain in that video that the nikah in and of itself i feel would be valid between a muslim and a non-muslim”
1:05:37TranscriptCite 2020-09-22-S12corrected
· Is child marriage legal in Western countries?
Mufti Abu Layth says Western age-of-consent laws do not permit adults to marry or have relations with children, and that imams should speak with one voice in condemning child marriage.
“there needs to be a strong unified voice in condemning it and nobody says these ridiculous things like nine-year-olds and stuff like that that is just sick”
2:03:48TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S33corrected
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
