Research › History and the Prophet's life
34 answers in 22 recordings, 2016 to 2021. 29 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.
· Is it wrong to be attracted to someone because of their status or position?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Islam leaves people to their own consensual relationships and does not judge them, and that attraction to status is natural and not in itself an abuse of power.
“Islam just leaves people to their own relationships it doesn't judge me doesn't tell people how to have a relationship”
28:32TranscriptCite 2017-09-29-S09corrected
· 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
· Is it blasphemy to say some companions exaggerated out of love for the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says that if the reports were authentic, his answer would be that maybe some companions exaggerated out of excessive love.
“but the question is if you did believe them what would you respond by and I would respond by saying well fine that's you know maybe out of the excessive love that they exaggerated”
17:03TranscriptCite 2018-02-09-S04corrected
· When should a hadith be rejected, and can a Muslim refuse a religious command that makes no sense?
Mufti Abu Layth holds, following Ibn al-Jawzi, that a hadith is accepted only if it does not contradict reason, the transmitted sources or an established principle of Islam, and that the companion who refused an order to jump into a fire shows reason rightly judging a religious command.
“at that time when he disobeyed him he didn't know that ruling he just reasoned that this what you're telling me to do clashes with reason doesn't make any sense”
1:12:56TranscriptCite 2018-04-09-S15corrected
· What is the Bukhari deathbed report in which the companions ask whether the Prophet is delirious?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Bukhari deathbed report in which the companions dispute before the Prophet and ask whether he is speaking deliriously portrays the companions badly and is not true, and that Sunnis allow the Shia to use it against the companions by accepting it.
“I mean look at the nonsense attributing that this this is not true”
16:34TranscriptCite 2018-09-01-S05corrected
· Did the companions ever read or understand the Quran differently from each other?
Mufti Abu Layth says the tradition itself records that the Prophet approved different recitations and that companions such as Ibn Mas'ud sometimes held mistaken views about what belonged to the Quran, so variant readings in an early manuscript are nothing new to Muslims.
“this is already part of our tradition we already know this this is not a shock this is like something actually well written and documented in our books”
15:14TranscriptCite 2019-03-01-S05corrected
· How did Uthman standardise the Quran, and does that explain the Sana'a text?
Mufti Abu Layth says Uthman standardised a single reading whose undotted script still allowed the variant readings, and that the Sana'a lower text is either a mistaken personal reading, which he thinks more likely, or a reading from the Prophet's time that was not locked in.
“this under text of the manuscript was most likely somebody's personal note who thought that that reading was how it was and most likely I feel that he was mistaken”
26:10TranscriptCite 2019-03-01-S09corrected
· 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
· 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
· Is it okay to criticise the companions of the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says one may either venerate the companions or study them critically as fully human, that critical study must then apply equally to every companion including Ali, and that he personally advises people to take the venerating approach.
“the truth is that if you take this doorway everybody is gonna get scrutinized there's gonna be no exception”
9:32TranscriptCite 2019-09-19-S01corrected
· Were the angels at Badr actually Persian knights?
Mufti Abu Layth says the theory that knights of the House of Karen helped at Badr is most likely not true, but that even if it were true it would not be problematic.
“make any sense I mean I'm not saying it's true I don't most likely wasn't true but I feel even if it was true it's not in any way problematic”
14:39TranscriptCite 2019-12-31-S02corrected
· Why might Abu Bakr have refused Fatima's claim so quickly?
Mufti Abu Layth speculates, stressing it is pure speculation, that the sheer quantity of Fatima's claim may have led Abu Bakr to deny it instantly.
“I did feel that maybe because for tomorrow deal on her in her claim asks for so much the quantity is so much maybe that was overwhelming which led to an instant denial”
25:43TranscriptCite 2020-02-28-S06corrected
· Was Abu Bakr wrong to refuse Fatima Fadak?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels Abu Bakr and Fatima were both right, from different perspectives.
“so I feel they're kind of both right but from different perspectives”
28:56TranscriptCite 2020-02-28-S07corrected
· What did Mufti Abu Layth think of Mu'awiya?
Mufti Abu Layth says he highly respects Mu'awiya and likes his statesmanship, calling him cut out to rule.
“some people are cut out to rule and I would feel that Mario was one of those people that was cut out”
34:46TranscriptCite 2020-02-28-S11corrected
· Was Aisha Abu Bakr's sister rather than his daughter?
Mufti Abu Layth says he would not buy the claim that Aisha was Abu Bakr's sister, as she was definitely his daughter.
“something like that that is too too far stretch but she was not over Kurt she was definitely his daughter not his sister”
1:04:12TranscriptCite 2020-07-14-S16corrected
· Why did Uthman appoint his relatives as governors?
Mufti Abu Layth says, as his personal assessment, that Uthman did not have the personality Umar had to rule with an iron fist once everything had doubled.
“And you see when Uthman comes in things double. Now everything is so huge and he doesn't have that personality that Omar had to kind of rule with a like an iron fist.”
15:53TranscriptCite 2020-10-16-S05corrected
· Why did Hasan ibn Ali give up the caliphate to Muawiya?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels that of Ali and his two sons Hasan was the wisest, with more insight than his father Ali.
“out of Ali and his two sons Hassan and Hussein, I feel that Hassan out of all three was the most wisest.”
24:18TranscriptCite 2020-10-16-S07corrected
· Why does Mufti Abu Layth admire Muawiya?
Mufti Abu Layth says he admires Muawiya because he feels Muawiya knew how to handle people.
“You know, one thing people ask me, why do you admire Muawiyah on? I do I won't lie. I do admire Muawiyah on. I admire him because I feel that he knew how to handle people.”
32:04TranscriptCite 2020-10-16-S10corrected
· Why did Husayn go to Kufa when he was warned not to?
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not believe Yazid was a kafir, but accepts that most people would have seen him at the very least as a disappointment.
“certain things that people say about him being a kafir. I don't believe I don't agree with that, but I do accept that most people would have clearly seen him at the very least as a disappointment”
41:17TranscriptCite 2020-10-16-S12corrected
· What does rightly guided caliph mean, and did Muawiya see Ali as one?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, in his assessment, Muawiya would have thought that from a political perspective he could run the show better than Ali.
“But from a political perspective, I think Muawia would have thought that he can run the show better than Ali.”
2:00:25TranscriptCite 2021-01-05-S26corrected
· Did early Muslims really not count Ali as the fourth rightly guided caliph?
Mufti Abu Layth says that if somebody considers Ali the best of all the companions, to him that is not a problematic statement but a personal preference.
“So, if somebody did feel to them saying Ali was number one from all the companions, I don't to me there's that's not a problematic statement.”
2:08:10TranscriptCite 2021-01-05-S27corrected
· Is the hadith 'if there were a prophet after me it would be Umar' authentic?
Mufti Abu Layth says the hadith 'if there were a prophet after me it would be Umar' is not an established hadith from the Prophet but a fabrication.
“so just to explain that this hadith is not an established hadith from the prophet sallam is a fabrication”
3:01:30TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S41corrected
· How could Abu Hurayra narrate 5,000 hadith after only two years with the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is implausible that Abu Hurayra, who spent about two years with the Prophet, narrated some five thousand hadith, that false memories likely entered his reports, and that Sunnis should themselves reject reports that are factually impossible.
“i definitely think that a lot of you know there was a lot of um maybe false memories being transmitted and stuff like that”
2:50:19TranscriptCite 2021-01-26b-S34corrected
· What do you think of Mu'awiya?
Mufti Abu Layth says he sees Mu'awiya as a great figure in Islam whom he highly respects.
“i uh see said iran as a great figure in islam i do highly respect him”
0:00TranscriptCite 2021-02-13-S01corrected
· Was Ali born inside the Kaaba?
Mufti Abu Layth says Ali's value should not be based on whether he was born in the Kaaba or not.
“so i don't think his value should be based on whether he was born in the kaaba or not”
20:35TranscriptCite 2021-03-02-S03corrected
· Do I have to believe Umar and Uthman were better than Ali?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, in his opinion, arguing over which of the Prophet's close companions was better is just childishness.
“but amongst the close friends of the companions of the prophet it's difficult really you know saying well he's friend number one he's friend number two you know this kind of stuff is it's really childish isn't it”
23:08TranscriptCite 2021-03-02-S04corrected
· Do Muslims whitewash their own historical heroes?
Mufti Abu Layth says that of course everybody, Muslims included, whitewashes their historical figures.
“mufti do you think we whitewash muslim historical figures of course of course everybody does you know in these kind of things”
39:43TranscriptCite 2021-03-02-S08corrected
· Why did Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh leave Islam for a time?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels the apostasy asked about was not a theological crisis but a case of being incentivised by the Makkans.
“he is rewarded generously for some of the intel that he provides and i feel that that was the situation it was just human all too human you know it wasn't a theological crisis”
1:01:16TranscriptCite 2021-03-02-S12corrected
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
