Research › Hadith studies
33 answers in 15 recordings, 2018 to 2025. 20 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 a hadith narrated by Jabir alone be mutawatir?
Mufti Abu Layth says hadith grading is not settled by a majority, so that he is entitled to follow the hadith critic who weakened a narrator rather than those who graded him reliable.
“why should I go with majority why I mean why is this a democracy all of a sudden”
19:41TranscriptCite 2018-02-21-S07corrected
· Isn't the return of Jesus established by ijma and mutawatir hadith?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that there is no consensus on what consensus is, that ijma began as collective assurance rather than a source of Sharia, and that accepting only one's own mutawatir while rejecting others' is inconsistent.
“secondly there is no consensus on what consensus it's absurd there is no this is one of those myths”
1:34:37TranscriptCite 2018-03-13-S24corrected
· Shawkani against claimed consensus: music, following a madhhab, four wives, raf' al-yadayn
Mufti Abu Layth says Shawkani's claim that the return of Jesus is mutawatir cannot bind when Shawkani himself rejected claimed consensuses on music, following a madhhab and marrying more than four wives, and those who cite him ignore him elsewhere.
“so this point is look you yourselves don't agree with show Connie show Connie himself goes against all”
1:55:17TranscriptCite 2018-03-13-S30corrected
· Does Quran 43:61 say Jesus is the sign of the hour?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 43:61 does not state that Jesus is the sign of the hour, that the critics contradict themselves by invoking mutawatir and consensus claims they reject elsewhere, and that the second-coming narrative reads exactly from the Gospels.
“I wanted people to understand where I'm coming from why I feel this is because it reads exactly from the Gospels”
12:47TranscriptCite 2018-03-15-S05corrected
· What are the main problems with the hadith about Jesus returning?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the narrations of Jesus's return conflict with the Quran, the Sunnah and the established principles of Islam, are solitary reports that are not part of creed in the way people have made them, and contradict one another.
“when we look at the details of these hadith we find them conflicting with the overall message of the Quran with the overall message of the Sunnah and with the established principles in Islam”
15:42TranscriptCite 2018-03-15-S07corrected
· On what principles can a hadith in Bukhari be rejected, and may ordinary Muslims do so?
Mufti Abu Layth says that a hadith with a valid chain must still be rejected if it goes against reason, the established Quran and Sunnah, or the principles of Islam, that creed requires mutawatir reports according to the Hanafi and Maturidi majority, that lay people may suspend a hadith that troubles them while seeking guidance, and that the gecko hadith is made up.
“there you go that's my methodology and if any hadith clashes with these things it's unacceptable unacceptable”
20:00TranscriptCite 2018-04-01-S05corrected
· Can a life be taken on the basis of a doubtful hadith?
Mufti Abu Layth says there is no verse and no conclusively established hadith for killing apostates, and that life, whose sanctity is conclusive, cannot be taken on the basis of isolated reports that carry doubt.
“there isn't a single verse in the Quran that would ever say this and in fact the Quran is against this message”
50:06TranscriptCite 2018-05-10-S12corrected
· What is the war-wager hadith paradox?
Mufti Abu Layth says hadith dogmatists, loyal above all to the chain of transmission, have departed from the teaching of Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa not to abandon reason, and he holds that there is no compulsion at all in matters of religion.
“they disagree with people like me and many of the scholars that say that there's no compulsion at all in Islam”
6:23TranscriptCite 2018-09-20-S01corrected
· If a mutawatir hadith has to be reinterpreted, what does that say about hadith transmission?
Mufti Abu Layth says that when a report claimed to be mutawatir produces a meaning its own defenders must reinterpret as incomplete, this shows that the hadith transmission system is not airtight and cannot be treated as conclusive.
“if the result is problematic the system is problematic if the system is sound the result must be sound which it isn't”
15:14TranscriptCite 2018-09-20-S02corrected
· Why does hadith dogmatism fail, according to the war-wager paradox?
Mufti Abu Layth says hadith dogmatism, which lets reports override the Quran, does not work and that Muslims should return to the method taught by Imam Malik.
“this hadith dogmatism this hadith cancelling out or on perspective does not work and we need to really resort to the method taught to us by the likes of imam malik”
17:47TranscriptCite 2018-09-20-S03corrected
· What are the three points of Yasir Qadhi's khutbah on orthodoxy, and is hadith certain knowledge?
Mufti Abu Layth says he agrees that rejecting hadith altogether is misguided, but that the hadith quoted to prove it is weak and that hadith are khabar ahad, which is not certain knowledge but good enough to act on.
“he quotes a hadith which are surprised actually because the hadith he quoted was weak it's in Abu Dawood”
6:16TranscriptCite 2018-10-20-S02corrected
· Is hadith the same as the sunnah, and is hadith certain knowledge?
Mufti Abu Layth says the sunnah is distinct from hadith and reaches Muslims through the living tradition of fiqh, that hadith are khabar ahad and so cannot found beliefs according to the Ash'ari and Maturidi orthodoxy, and that the Hanafi and Maliki schools reject solitary reports that contradict reason or their principles.
“we don't know how to pray because of Hadees we know how to pray because of the living tradition of Islam”
1:13:53TranscriptCite 2018-10-20-S12corrected
· Why do some scholars still insist Aisha was nine?
Mufti Abu Layth says that the lack of an earlier authority is no reason to keep the young age, since medieval scholars also held slavery acceptable and gave rulings he calls haram, and that because no hadith gives certain knowledge, an inconclusive report that blemishes the Prophet's honour is rejected.
“so the honour of the Prophet is conclusive if anything will bring a blemish to the honour of the Prophet and it is inconclusive it's based on huh bro a hard we reject it”
18:42TranscriptCite 2018-11-30-S04corrected
· Why the Quran could not be corrupted like hadith, and the fashion for chains
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran was never transmitted through a sole transmitter but taught en masse, so problematising hadith does not problematise the Quran.
“if you problematize hadith then you by default problematize the Quran no you don't at all the Quran was never transmitted through a soul transmitter it was just taught on mass”
17:09TranscriptCite 2019-09-28-S03corrected
· Did the debate with Dr Abdullah Abdul Majid answer the BukhariGate challenge?
Mufti Abu Layth says the discussion did not put BukhariGate to rest but further cemented it, and that because Sahih al-Bukhari cannot be shown with certainty to reach us exactly from its author, reports in it that contradict reason, the Quran or Islam's principles should be set aside.
“if we can't establish with utter certainty which we can't that this book reaches us exactly from let's say source a which is allegedly imam bukhari himself”
1:21:10TranscriptCite 2021-01-26b-S18corrected
· If a hadith is also in other books besides Bukhari, does that confirm it?
Mufti Abu Layth says that later transmitters and editors, even with good intentions, may have altered reports and names to match versions they knew, so that the same hadith appearing in other books need not be independent of al-Bukhari.
“my question to that is how do you know this is not a bounce effect or a ripple and boomerang effect that basically because imam buhari was a uh you know he was a great person”
1:56:29TranscriptCite 2021-01-26b-S25corrected
· Is there really scholarly consensus that Jesus will return?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran does not strongly suggest a second coming of Jesus, contrary to Qadhi's claim.
“these were some of the key things that below it has made that the response would be academic clearly wasn't the quran strongly suggests the second coming it doesn't”
2:13:28TranscriptCite 2021-03-02-S30corrected
· Can the hadith about Jesus's return be questioned?
Mufti Abu Layth says eighty percent of the hadith on Jesus's return come through Abu Hurayra alone.
“you know eighty percent of these entire hadith are just through abu hurairah just through him and almost 50 percent of the entire narration is just through one man”
3:18:27TranscriptCite 2021-03-02-S42corrected
· Is there really ijma that Jesus will return, and did Muhammad Abduh invent the denial?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Qadhi's claims fail: the Quran does not suggest a second coming, none of the hundred narrations is sound, Ibn Hazm recorded Muslim disagreement on the return nine centuries ago, major creed works omit it, and the Maliki authorities Qadhi cites held the reports to carry doubt rather than to be mutawatir.
“the quran strongly suggests the second coming uh it doesn't there are four verses show this to be true i'm afraid not these leave no doubt uh that's utter nonsense hundred narrations not a single one sound”
1:09:48TranscriptCite 2021-03-14-S18corrected
· Can the hadith on Jesus's return be questioned, and how many of them depend on Abu Hurayra?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that reports which go against reason may be questioned, that eighty percent of the hadith on Jesus's return come through Abu Hurayra alone and about half through one man, and that the other companions cited are obscure, so no unquestionable hadith establishes the return.
“bring me one unquestionable hadith just one to prove this that there's no question about anything in its chain”
2:14:44TranscriptCite 2021-03-14-S30corrected
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
