Research › History and the Prophet's life
70 answers in 37 recordings, 2015 to 2023. 55 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.
· What did Imam Malik say about bid'ah?
Mufti Abu Layth says that although Imam Malik's wording against innovations is harsh at times, his ruling on a particular innovation is quite often just makruh, not haram.
“wording is harsh at times the ruling of that particular bidder or that innovation is quite often just seen as macro it is seen as discouraged it is not described as Haram”
5:09TranscriptCite 2015-03-03-S02corrected
· How did Abu Hanifa deal with his drunkard neighbour?
Mufti Abu Layth says that good character carries a message further than one can imagine, as Abu Hanifa's gesture towards his drunkard neighbour shows.
“good character people it takes people it takes messages so far that you can't imagine beyond your imagination”
4:30TranscriptCite 2015-03-07-S01corrected
· Where will the answers to Muslims' problems today come from?
Mufti Abu Layth says the solutions to the problems Muslims face will come from within, from people among them who rise, learn and bring them about.
“so the people the solutions will come within we will step forward people from amongst us will rise they will learn they will Empower they will bring about Solutions”
21:24TranscriptCite 2016-12-21-S05corrected
· How can young Muslims be made interested in their faith?
Mufti Abu Layth says everybody should on some level be learning Arabic.
“everybody on some level should be doing Arabic everybody should on some level be learning Arab it's not a difficult language”
40:05TranscriptCite 2016-12-21-S07corrected
· 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
· Why not treat jinn possession as just a difference of opinion among scholars?
Mufti Abu Layth refuses a diplomatic stance that treats possession as one of two valid opinions, because unlike a difference over raising the hands in prayer this belief underwrites mass exploitation and abuse and brings ridicule on Islam and its Prophet.
“this is why i refuse to have a diplomatic stance on this that this abuse is unacceptable it needs to be brought to an end”
1:57:09TranscriptCite 2017-09-20-S25corrected
· 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
· Did great scholars like Ibn Hajar have private lives that would be condemned today?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that conduct such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's marriage to his wife's former slave girl was never treated as abuse of power or as grounds to warn the ummah against him, and that the word abuse should be kept for real abuse, not the breaking of corporate rules.
“when people use words like abuse they are dangerous words because they imply the real abuse not just oh you know you may have broken some rules of corporation”
32:22TranscriptCite 2017-09-29-S10corrected
· What Imam Malik transmitted: no return of Jesus, Zuhri's reports, the pig passed in peace
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Imam Malik deliberately left the hadith of Jesus's return out of the Muwatta, transmitting only a fraction of al-Zuhri's reports, and that Malik's refusal to accept isolated hadith blindly is the approach to follow.
“is this a coincidence that Imam Malik doesn't bring any hadith to do with Jesus coming back but then he brings this hadith to show that Jesus said to the pig that go with peace”
1:02:25TranscriptCite 2018-03-13-S17corrected
· If Mufti Abu Layth admires Qadi Iyad, must he accept everything in al-Shifa?
Mufti Abu Layth says that rating Qadi Iyad highly does not oblige him to accept every report in al-Shifa, which was written to instil love of the Prophet in a context of insults and knowingly includes weak and fabricated reports, and that Qadi Iyad himself disagreed with Malik on several matters.
“he brought that for a reason because he wasn't trying to have an academic debate he was trying to instill the love of the Prophet in the hearts of people”
1:22:36TranscriptCite 2018-04-09-S18corrected
· Was Abu Hanifa considered a deviant by the scholars of his time?
Mufti Abu Layth says Abu Hanifa was considered a deviant by many scholars of his time and that the Hanafi school became dominant because his student Abu Yusuf, as chief judge, appointed only Hanafi judges, so that its rise rested on power rather than evidence.
“now you tell me is that based on studies is that based on evidences is that based on objectivity or is it based on power positions is based on power positions”
2:36TranscriptCite 2018-04-20b-S01corrected
· Bukhari's persecution and why his book reaches us through one transmitter
Mufti Abu Layth says Bukhari's persecution by the Hanafis and the Hanbali literalists in his last years is why his book reaches us through a single transmitter, and that the same two groups now insist it reaches us with certainty.
“the book doesn't reach us with certainty because of the suffering inflicted on him by the hanafi's and the humblings”
1:01:17TranscriptCite 2018-08-30-S10corrected
· Did al-Ghazali say Muslims must establish a caliphate?
Mufti Abu Layth says that when al-Ghazali and scholars of his time wrote of the caliph they meant kingship as opposed to anarchy, not as opposed to democracy.
“when those people in the past wrote about rule when what they meant was as opposed to what as opposed to anarchy Khilafah simply meant Kings”
15:57TranscriptCite 2018-09-03-S04corrected
· What is al-Suyuti's book about sex?
Mufti Abu Layth says he cannot object to al-Ghazali's point that the closest worldly pleasure to the pleasures of paradise is orgasm.
“the pleasures of paradise is an orgasm I totally I cannot object to your mama has early on that point”
1:14TranscriptCite 2019-07-18-S01corrected
· Did Imam Malik wear an earring?
Mufti Abu Layth says that Imam Malik wore an earring as a young man while studying with Rabi'a, as recorded in his teacher Abd al-Ghani al-Daqr's biography of Malik and in another Maliki source.
“at this time Malik was still bursting with youth he was a young man Maya's a law court Maya's a law court people feel Denis he he still had an earring on in his ear”
21:01TranscriptCite 2019-07-24b-S06corrected
· What did Ibn al-Arabi write about a classmate who was both bearded and breasted?
Mufti Abu Layth says that in the past, it seems, people who were stuck, such as those who were homosexual or bisexual without an apparent outlet, and presumably khuntha too, found a loophole with servants and slaves.
“in the past it seems to be wherever people were kind of stuck they found a loophole if you like with servants”
12:04TranscriptCite 2019-08-02b-S03corrected
· Why did medieval scholars like al-Nawawi write that boys are prettier than women?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Imam al-Nawawi was articulating the sentiment of his age, in which, as among the ancient Greeks, attraction to adolescent boys was taken as a given, and that reporting this from his book is not mockery.
“the medieval Muslims and the medieval Arabs and the medieval kind of times people had a what a kind of sense of there was pederasty okay which is like what the Greeks had with boys”
17:46TranscriptCite 2019-08-21b-S06corrected
· What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, forced to choose, he would probably classify Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab as negative, a puritan dogmatist allied with the Saud family who demolished tombs and killed pilgrims, and that the Salafi movement he inspired did more harm than good and is the number one springboard for extremism, though it also revived hadith and challenged blind following and superstition.
“if I was to group him in one and I could only group him in negative or positive then at a simple level I would probably put him in negative”
0:00TranscriptCite 2020-04-19-S01corrected
· What do you think of Shah Wali Allah?
Mufti Abu Layth says Shah Wali Allah was an amazing individual, ahead of the curve, who reinvigorated hadith studies.
“he was an amazing individual very you know ahead of a head of the curve really and something he did was he reinvigorated hadith studies”
32:07TranscriptCite 2020-07-14-S05corrected
· Is al-Zamakhshari's tafsir al-Kashshaf worth reading?
Mufti Abu Layth says some scholars over-demonise the Mu'tazila, who were in their own right great and intelligent scholars of Islam, though some of their views were a bit warped.
“I think sometimes some scholars just over demonize them it's not that's not really fear they were in their own right legends you know they they were really intelligent really great scholars of Islam”
47:09TranscriptCite 2020-07-14-S10corrected
· Who were the Murji'a and why do Salafis talk about them so much?
Mufti Abu Layth says Ibn Taymiyya suffered from a lot of mental health issues.
“but he you have to understand he was he suffered from a lot of mental health issues”
1:22:15TranscriptCite 2020-09-22-S15corrected
· Why don't Sunni imams like Malik and Abu Hanifa transmit from Imam Jafar al-Sadiq?
Mufti Abu Layth offers as his own theory that the early imams of the Ahl al-Bayt up to Jafar al-Sadiq were for the most part as the Shia describe them rather than Sunni, and that Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa, though on good terms with them, did not transmit from them because their views would have caused a political storm, while adding that this does not in his view make the Shia theological claims more authentic.
“that's in my view the reason why imam malik doesn't transmit views from uh imam jaffar it's the reason why uh imam abu hanifa doesn't transmit from them”
4:20TranscriptCite 2020-12-06-S01corrected
· Did Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa study under Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, and what did they learn from him?
Mufti Abu Layth thinks Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa attended Imam Jafar's circles and kept his company but transmitted nothing from him to Sunni circles because the bulk of his teaching reflected the Shia da'wah, which they did not agree with, and he calls the explanation that they took only 'spirituality' from him absurd.
“i think that they did used to attend their circles where they taught generally about islam but i feel the bulk of the da'wah of those imams of albeit would reflect to a great part the shia dawa”
7:32TranscriptCite 2020-12-06-S02corrected
· Was the woman who refused the Prophet in Bukhari's divorce chapter his wife?
Mufti Abu Layth says that most scholars of Islam in the past who were invested in a particular field were institutionalised by it and did not critique it the way an outsider does, though a few thought out of the box.
“Those who were invested in a particular field were institutionalized by that field. They don't critique it the same way as somebody that's looking at it from outside of the box does.”
53:07TranscriptCite 2021-01-05-S12corrected
· If you deny the evil eye, why do you cite scholars who believed in it?
Mufti Abu Layth says the evil eye was the science of the day, based on the belief that the eye shoots out rays, rather than a matter of religion for them.
“the evil eye was something that was the science of the day and age”
1:47:10TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S28corrected
· Why was Ibn Taymiyya put in prison?
Mufti Abu Layth says Ibn Taymiyya was imprisoned over his fatwa that one may not travel to visit the Prophet, an opinion he calls foolish but says should not be punished, since people should not be persecuted over religious differences.
“although i disagree with locking people up and stuff like that and i i do feel his opinion is dumb but i don't feel you can punish them over it”
7:32TranscriptCite 2021-01-12b-S01corrected
· Who was Ibn Rushd (Averroes)?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is a shame that Muslims ignored Ibn Rushd, since he was such a legend in philosophy.
“you see it's a shame that Muslims because he was such a legend in philosophy Muslims kind of turned a uh they they kind of ignored him”
2:07:04TranscriptCite 2021-01-19-S27corrected
· How does Ibn Rushd compare to other critical-minded scholars?
Mufti Abu Layth says Ibn Rushd is more inclined towards reason than the other critical-minded scholars he was asked about, though all of them are critical-minded.
“I Rush is more inclined towards reason than the others the others are all of these are inclined to some reason”
2:28:03TranscriptCite 2021-01-19-S31corrected
· What do you think of Imam al-Shatibi?
Mufti Abu Layth says al-Shatibi really brought the objectives of the Sharia to life, so that everybody after him is indebted to him, and that he absolutely loves him for that.
“it may have existed, but he really brings it to life and everybody after him is just indebted to him. So, yeah, I absolutely love him for that aspect.”
1:19:37TranscriptCite 2021-02-02b-S13corrected
· Was al-Ghazali against science and philosophy?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is true that al-Ghazali's influence had a detrimental impact on the voice of reason, although he thinks it did so indirectly.
“hence i would say yes it is true that imam razali uh his influence had a detrimental impact on the voice of reason although i think it did so indirectly”
44:35TranscriptCite 2021-02-09-S06corrected
· Were some of the great imams autistic?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels people like Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Imam al-Shafi'i were autistic.
“they definitely were i feel that uh people like imam ahmed ibn hambal imam shafi'i i feel they were autistic people”
47:04TranscriptCite 2021-02-09-S07corrected
· 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
· Were the Mu'tazila really defined by their use of reason?
Mufti Abu Layth says what split the Mu'tazila off was nothing to do with reason, but doctrines such as a sinner no longer being a Muslim and God being duty-bound to reward good.
“therefore there has to be that god is duty bound to recompense and so these issues are what split them off it was nothing to do with reason nothing to do with oh they were rationalists”
53:01TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S15corrected
· Did Imam Ahmad really refuse to say the Quran is created?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, to be honest, the account that Imam Ahmad said the Quran was created to please the caliph and was let off is not hard to believe, since saying so to save one's life would not be haram.
“he said yes the quran is created to please the caliph and then got let off and to be honest with you this is not hard to believe because it wouldn't be haram to do that”
1:07:40TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S18corrected
· Did Imam Malik believe Jesus will return?
Mufti Abu Layth says there is a statement from Imam Malik that Jesus died, that Malik never taught the second coming in his fatwas or the Muwatta, and that transmitting a report is not endorsing it, so it is not a huge claim that Malik did not hold the belief.
“He never teaches you that, oh, I'm telling you that you should or that we should believe in the second coming of Jesus.”
2:21:19TranscriptCite 2021-04-06-S24corrected
· Did one of al-Bukhari's teachers call Imam Malik a disbeliever?
Mufti Abu Layth says he knows of no teacher of al-Bukhari who declared Imam Malik a disbeliever, and that harsh statements against Malik came from a contemporary, Ibn Abi Dhi'b [?], over Malik not acting on some sahih hadith.
“there are some harsh statements that he said about imam malik but he was a contemporary”
2:35:05TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S38corrected
· What do Sunni Muslims think of the twelve Shia imams?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels that Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq may have been closer to what the Shia claim him to be than to what the Sunnis claim, while calling this an assumption and not a known fact.
“i feel that because maybe he was closer to what the shia claim him to be than what the sunnis claim him to be allah but i i feel that may be the case”
1:58TranscriptCite 2021-12-22-S01corrected
· What does the Mufti think of Ibn Taymiyya and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab?
Mufti Abu Layth says Ibn Hajar and al-Suyuti contributed greatly to Islam and Ibn Taymiyya to a lesser degree, while Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, in his view not a scholar of depth, had a misplaced zeal that did great harm to Muslims.
“misplaced passion like his passion was very passionate about islam wanted to do something but ended up doing a lot of harm”
1:44:46TranscriptCite 2022-08-19-S19corrected
· Should loyalty to a scholar ever come before the honour of the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says that when a report disparages the Prophet, loyalty belongs to the Prophet rather than to any scholar who accepted it, and that everyone's words may be accepted or rejected except the Prophet's.
“if you find an incident that is doing that your loyalty is first and foremost with the prophet salallahu not with this great mahadev great person”
1:49:23TranscriptCite 2022-08-19-S20corrected
· How did Abu Hanifa become a scholar after starting out as a merchant?
Mufti Abu Layth says Abu Hanifa concretised the school of reason in Kufa and was a legendary voice of reason whose story is inspiring.
“he concretizes this school which becomes known as the school of reason and he was a legendary voice for the voice of reason honestly a legend and it's so inspiring”
12:11TranscriptCite 2022-12-10-S02corrected
· Why was Abu Hanifa criticised so much in his own time?
Mufti Abu Layth says the hostility Sufyan al-Thawri often showed towards Abu Hanifa was not a good thing, and that he has never read Abu Hanifa being venomous about others.
“sophiana thori who's a great Imam but he often hated on Imam which wasn't really you know a good thing to be honest”
15:22TranscriptCite 2022-12-10-S03corrected
· What did Abu Hanifa say about Imam Malik?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Hanafi madhhab became very restrictive and controlling, especially in the last two or three centuries, whereas other schools such as the Maliki kept their freedoms.
“the mother did become quite regimental of especially in the latter centuries you know the last maybe two through 200 300 years whereas some of the other meth have still kept their freedoms”
1:09:37TranscriptCite 2022-12-10-S12corrected
· Can a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth?
Mufti Abu Layth says the old reports of pregnancies lasting years, as with Imam Malik's, can be explained by phantom pregnancies.
“so research in recent times has shown and several Muslim researchers and medical researchers have found have researched what they call Phantom pregnancies”
6:53TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S02corrected
· Is it haram for men to wear earrings?
Mufti Abu Layth says many of the great imams of the early period, Imam Malik among them, used to wear earrings.
“many of the Great imams in the early Islamic period especially in Arabia uh the great had the theme like Imam Malik like Sofia like all these people used to wear earrings”
13:22TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S03corrected
· What did Imam Malik's teachers teach him about hadith and Sunnah?
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”
22:46TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S05corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says Imam Malik was not from the ascetic tradition in Islam; he enjoyed the wealth God had given him.
“there is a tradition like that in Islam but Imam Malik was not from that tradition he spent money he enjoyed money”
24:44TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S06corrected
· Is the Muwatta of Imam Malik more authentic than Sahih al-Bukhari?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Muwatta is arguably the most authentic book of hadith from a hadith perspective.
“it is the mother is arguably the most authentic book in Hadith from a hadithi perspective”
28:33TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S07corrected
· Why did Imam Malik sometimes reject authentic hadith?
Mufti Abu Layth calls Malik's saying that his city does not act upon a hadith a catastrophe for the later hadith dogmatists.
“so he says we in our city do not act upon this Hadith this is a catastrophic meteor hahaha in the face of the second wave mahadithin project”
31:37TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S08corrected
· What is the difference between a hadith and the Sunnah in the Maliki school?
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”
38:42TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S09corrected
· Is studying religious knowledge better than voluntary prayer?
Mufti Abu Layth says one should not underestimate the value of devotion to learning, or think voluntary prayer is somehow more valuable to God.
“there is something about the Legacy about being devoted to learning that don't don't don't don't as underestimate its value”
45:25TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S10corrected
· Why did Imam Malik never leave Madinah?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Maliki school holds Madinah to be more virtuous than Makkah, while the other schools disagree.
“in the Maliki method we consider Medina to be more virtuous than Makkah the other methods disagree”
47:22TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S11corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says he doubts Malik stayed away from the mosque because of ill health, since he kept teaching at home for hours until his death.
“some people say maybe it was because he his health was really bad after the beating and I doubt it I mean it could be but then he used to teach at home”
55:33TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S12corrected
· Can we ever be completely certain about religious answers?
Mufti Abu Layth says the ultimate certainty is God alone, and whatever we think is the answer is ultimately limited by our understanding.
“the ultimate certainty is just Allah we have to understand that whatever we think is an answer is ultimately our understanding of what we think is the answer”
1:01:08TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S13corrected
· Who carried on Imam Malik's teaching after him?
Mufti Abu Layth says it was Imam Malik's daughter who carried his legacy forward, continuing to teach his classes after him.
“it was actually his daughter that that took the the lamp of his legacy and marched forward with it she continued to teach his classes and things after him”
1:02:54TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-S14corrected
· Did Imam Malik reject the hadith he did not act on?
Mufti Abu Layth says, as his own thought, that someone choosing an imam to guide them in a broad methodology should look to legends like Imam Malik.
“you're going to see these names come up again in a very problematic way look to Legends like Imam Malik they were in the time of the salaf”
3:37TranscriptCite 2023-04-19-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
