Early version. Transcripts and tags are labelled by accuracy tier. A position is shown only after two independent reviews have found it in his own words.
41 answers in 27 recordings, 2017 to 2025. 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
2017answers checked positions2025
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.
Mufti Abu Layth says that from the earliest period many scholars, Imam Malik and the school of Madinah among them, treated hadith as relative to the wider principles of Islam and left reports with sound chains that they did not hold to be the sunnah.
“that was opposed heavily by countless Scholars who believe that the Hadith was always relative to the greater context to the greater picture and principles of Islam and that included the school of Medina namely Imam Malik”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that reasoning with the content of hadith is not a modern approach but one practised by the companions and Imam Malik from the beginning.
“well I would like to say well this is not modern this is part of this”
Mufti Abu Layth says that if even a hundred of al-Bukhari's narrations were found unreliable it would be no big deal compared with the eight thousand he has.
“Imam Buhari has approximately over 8,000 narrations in his book if let's say 100 of them even have issues with them and are unreliable and eventually declared to be unacceptable that's no big deal”
Mufti Abu Layth says the school of Madinah distinguishes hadith from Sunnah, embracing the Sunnah while remaining critical of individual hadith, and that Imam Malik did reject several hadith when the practice of Madinah did not reflect them.
“I said that the school of Medina in mal Malik differentiates between hadith and Sunnah we wholeheartedly embraced the Sunnah we are critical when it comes to hadith”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that religion must make sense because the Quran calls to reason, and he calls people to the Quran and the Sunnah rather than to hadith as such, since hadith contain contradictions that must be sifted.
“to me religion must make sense because allowing the Quran calls us to reason I then call people in my understanding to the Quran and the Sunnah”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that people hostile to Islam brought the belief in Jesus's return in as Christian propaganda through hadith, which went undocumented for about a century and whose chains could be copied, and that this is why Imam Malik told people to rely on inherited practice over isolated reports.
“would you not attack Islam ideologically would you not put propaganda you would and that's what these people have done they did that they brought in their Christian baggage”
Mufti Abu Layth says Sahih al-Bukhari should be treated like any other hadith collection, with each report judged on its own merits by whether it contradicts reason, the Quran or an established principle, because the religion already reaches Muslims through the living tradition of practice.
“the quality of what we're getting from sahil bukhari is in my understanding just like any other hadith”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Sahih al-Bukhari cannot reliably be traced to al-Bukhari because it reaches us through al-Farabri alone, whom nobody vouched for in his lifetime, that the deen is conveyed by the living tradition which Imam Malik distinguished from hadith, and that he accepts hadith only by the muhaddithin's own standards: a report must not contradict reason, the Quran and transmitted sources, or an Islamic principle.
“nobody that knew thoroughly in his lifetime ever vouched for him as a reliable person in hadith so we are taking all of this from one guy who nobody vouched for”
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”
Mufti Abu Layth says he personally feels the Quran does not address how many daily prayers there are, and that the agreement of Sunnis, Shia and Ibadis on five prayers shows, in his understanding irrefutably, a proto-Sunnah living tradition that preceded the hadith books.
“demonstrate in my understanding irrefutably that they must have been some very clear proto source that was part of the early living tradition in early 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”
Mufti Abu Layth says it makes absolute sense to him that the Prophet would have legislated in addition to the Quran and that this should be followed.
“it makes absolute sense to me to follow that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would have legislated as well in addition to the Quran and to follow that”
Mufti Abu Layth says that hijama to him is not something Islamic.
“hijama is uh you see hijama to me is not something Islamic but it was being practiced not only by ancient Arabs in the medieval times it was a huge Christian thing”
Mufti Abu Layth says that in Imam Malik's time the chain was still subservient to the living tradition.
“Now the issue is the chain in this stage is still subservient to the living tradition. So the isnad exists but we have more trust in the inherited living tradition of Islam.”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that distinguishing hadith from the Sunnah is the usul of the Hanafi and Maliki schools rather than an innovation of Abduh, that Qadhi applies to Gog and Magog the reasoning he condemns in others, and that Salafi kalam rests on fabrications such as chains to companions debating whether the Quran is created, a debate that arose only around 190 to 210 AH.
“this is the usual of the hanafi madhyab and the maliki method that we do tafriq al hadith sunnah unlike the shepherd's”
Mufti Abu Layth says there is not a single sahih hadith establishing where the hands are placed in prayer, that sadl is a sunnah of the school of Madinah without a hadith, and that people should not be guilt-tripped over how they hold their hands.
“really as astonishing as this may seem there isn't a single sahih hadith to prove where to place the hands in prayer”
Mufti Abu Layth says Rabi'a's saying 'a thousand from a thousand is more beloved to me than one from one' perfectly instantiates the debate of hadith versus Sunnah.
“this was the living tradition in Medina is such a powerful concept that not only that perfectly um instantiates this this debate of Hadith versus Sunnah”
Mufti Abu Layth says those who follow the school of Madinah are not hadith dogmatists but hadith relativists, embracing a hadith where it correlates with the Sunnah.
“we who follow the school of Medina are not Hadith dogmatists Hadith relativists as in we embrace the Sunnah where the Hadith correlates with the Sunnah”
Mufti Abu Layth holds the middle position of Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa that the Sunnah is what is followed and hadith only document it, so a report is accepted unless it contradicts reason, the Quran or the living tradition or uproots a principle of Islam, and that discarding the Sunnah is a disservice to faith.
“to discard the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam who is to Muslims the most beloved of creation is a disservice to I feel faith as a whole”
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.
