Research › Quran and tafsir
89 answers in 29 recordings, 2017 to 2025. 42 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 Islamic punishments like stoning and cutting off hands change with time?
Mufti Abu Layth says that in his understanding the hudud would today be substituted, by demand of the Sharia, with penalties relevant to the age such as custodial sentences.
“in my understanding in this day and age the ha dude would be substituted by demand of the sharia so they would not be things like in my understanding definitely not things like stoning”
2:36TranscriptCite 2017-09-14-S01corrected
· Does the Quran's verse about the touch of Shaytan prove that jinn possess people?
Mufti Abu Layth says the riba verse 2:275 describes how such people will rise on the Day of Judgement or pictures their greed, and that like the zaqqum fruit resembling the heads of devils it is imagery drawing on human imagination, not evidence that possession is real.
“imagery that Allah grows upon the imagination of mankind when he's addressing them let's take another example”
1:00:42TranscriptCite 2017-09-20-S12corrected
· Does the Quran have to mention something for it to be true?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran is not an exhaustive scientific textbook: its statement that everything is created in pairs is a general truth, and it tells people to explore how creation began rather than to reject knowledge absent from scripture.
“Allah wasn't trying to teach you an exhaustive scientific lesson he was giving you a general understanding of life that generally things come in pairs”
48:33TranscriptCite 2018-04-09-S09corrected
· Does the Quran's riba verse prove that Satan can possess people?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the riba verse's image of one driven unstable by Satan's touch is Quranic imagery drawing on human imagination, read by commentators as describing the resurrection or greed, and is not evidence for possession, just as the zaqqum tree's 'heads of devils' is not.
“this verse is one of the key verses that is misused or misinterpreted by people”
12:05TranscriptCite 2018-04-15-S03corrected
· Should I believe something just because people say the Quran or hadith say so?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran calls people to reason rather than to belief because it says so, and that a claim such as possession, which no one would derive from the Quran without a cultural inheritance, must be tested against reason through the Quran.
“the Quran itself comes with this understanding that look you have to resort to reason”
20:24TranscriptCite 2018-04-15-S05corrected
· Are the descriptions of paradise in the Quran meant literally?
Mufti Abu Layth says the afterlife itself is literal but he does not personally believe the Quran's imagery of paradise is, thinking it was just an encouragement.
“I don't personally believe it I think it was just an encouragement the”
3:46TranscriptCite 2018-07-02-S01corrected
· Did the Prophet Nuh really live for 950 years?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Nuh did not literally live for nine hundred and fifty years and that the Quran's use of two different words for year in 29:14, sana and 'am, is deliberate rather than mere rhetorical variation.
“no Ali Salaam did not live for a thousand years like what people think but if you look at this verse of the Quran”
0:00TranscriptCite 2018-08-11-S01corrected
· Why does the Quran call the ruler in Yusuf's story a king but Musa's a Pharaoh?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that in Quran 29:14 the thousand sana follow the counting of Nuh's own people while the fifty 'am are years as we count them, and that the Quran relates narratives in the terms of their own time, as when the ruler in Yusuf's story is called a king and not a pharaoh.
“when allah addresses certain narratives in the quran at times he reflects the reality which they were upon”
10:50TranscriptCite 2018-08-11-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
Mufti Abu Layth says that no verse of the Quran states that Ibrahim was thrown into the fire or that the table was sent down to the disciples, and that reading 2:260 as 'incline them towards you' is the literal wording, so these are readings of the text as it stands rather than reinterpretations, and calling those who hold them deviants is unacceptable.
“on a lot of these occasions people that are saying we are reinterpreting verses were actually just reading the verses as they are”
38:23TranscriptCite 2018-10-20-S07corrected
· Which verses are used to argue that Jesus had a father, and does the Quran rule it out?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quranic account of Mary implies but does not state a virgin conception, that 66:12 is read literally by no Muslim so literal reading cannot be demanded everywhere, and that declaring deviant those scholars who hold Jesus had a natural birth is a huge stretch; he presents 6:85-87 and 6:101 as those scholars' arguments.
“no Muslim that I'm aware of generally believes that to be literal so yet yet you're saying that any other verse must always take every literal implication”
56:09TranscriptCite 2018-10-20-S10corrected
· Is a new interpretation of the Quran the same as claiming to be a new prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says that equating a new interpretation with a claim to prophethood is out of order, that the Salafi movement is itself a radical reinterpretation which rejects the majority and attributes a leg and a foot to God, and that the majority of Muslims have always accepted non-literal usage in the Quran.
“what do you mean declare yourself a new prophet how is not the Salafi movement a radical reinterpretation”
1:20:18TranscriptCite 2018-10-20-S13corrected
· What verses do Muslims use to argue Jesus had a natural birth with a father?
Mufti Abu Layth says that declaring those who read the Quran as not teaching a virgin birth deviant or no longer mainstream Muslims is a huge stretch, when the Quran itself does not actually say it.
“they've lost the plot they they no longer main three Muslims they no longer this they no longer that because they have this reading of the Quran when the Quran itself doesn't actually say that that's a huge stretch”
20:00TranscriptCite 2018-10-25-S03corrected
· How should Muslims read the stories in the Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth says some stories in the Quran suggest supernatural events without explicitly stating them.
“some of these stories have been mentioned in ways at times that suggest suggest I'm using the word here suggest they don't usually explicitly say so but they tend to suggest a very supernatural”
3:50TranscriptCite 2019-01-08-S01corrected
· If God can do anything, why not take the miracles in Quranic stories literally?
Mufti Abu Layth says reason is either all in or out, and one cannot follow it only ninety per cent of the time.
“reason is either all in or or it's out it doesn't happen like you can't say you know what I'll follow reason 90% of the time”
12:45TranscriptCite 2019-01-08-S02corrected
· Was the hoopoe in the story of Sulayman really a bird?
Mufti Abu Layth says the reading of the hudhud as one of Sulayman's intelligence agents makes sense given the verbs used, which refer to human beings.
“he stuffs the image stuff see it is something that does make sense given the kind of constant verbs that are used referring to human beings”
20:26TranscriptCite 2019-01-08-S04corrected
· Did a jinn really bring the Queen of Sheba's throne to Sulayman?
Mufti Abu Layth says the reading that a demon from the jinn would bring the throne does not, in his understanding, make much sense.
“is out one see that in my understanding doesn't make much sense and I'll tell you why in a moment because we are zooming out”
30:04TranscriptCite 2019-01-08-S06corrected
· Did Prophet Sulayman steal the Queen of Sheba's throne?
Mufti Abu Layth says it does not befit prophets to steal thrones.
“i've said before it doesn't befit prophets to steal Thrones okay to me that's a blasphemous allegation”
39:37TranscriptCite 2019-01-08-S07corrected
· What happened when the Queen of Sheba came to Sulayman?
Mufti Abu Layth says that if the Queen of Sheba uncovering her lower legs had been an obscenity, it would not be stated in the Quran.
“obviously if it was an obscenity then it won't be stated in the Quran and it wouldn't be happening in front of prophets”
44:30TranscriptCite 2019-01-08-S08corrected
· Did Jesus really speak as a baby in the cradle?
Mufti Abu Layth says the interpretation that Jesus was a boy debating the Temple elders fits with reality better than a speaking baby.
“to me that interpretation fits with the reality fits with you see when we zoom out it still fits”
50:14TranscriptCite 2019-01-08-S09corrected
· Was the story of Musa and al-Khidr a dream?
Mufti Abu Layth says that he feels earlier scholars overlooked that everything after Musa and his companion fell asleep at the rock happened in a vision.
“the rest of everything that happens happens whilst they were asleep it was a vision”
8:22TranscriptCite 2019-01-14-S03corrected
· Is al-Khidr a real person who is still alive?
Mufti Abu Layth says al-Khidr was part of Musa's vision and not actually a real person who roams among us.
“he was part of that vision he was not actually a real person and he's not actually somebody who roams around amongst us”
27:48TranscriptCite 2019-01-14-S05corrected
· Did classical scholars really say Quran 65:4 includes little girls?
Mufti Abu Layth concedes that commentators such as Ibn Kathir and al-Qurtubi wrote that 65:4 can include little girls, condemns this as a mistake, and holds that a commentator's reading does not make the Quran say it.
“scholars have said it does not mean that the Quran said it the Quran simply said those who do not have this who have not had this cycle”
22:53TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S07corrected
· How does the rule that a clear verse overrides an ambiguous one apply to Quran 65:4?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that by the usuli principle that a clear text governs an ambiguous one, the opening term nisa in Surah al-Talaq cancels any reading of 'those who have not menstruated' that would include girls.
“whenever there's a slight challenge between something that may go one of two ways it has some let's say let's let's say there's some level of ambiguity right and there's something clear the clear always overrides”
31:15TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S10corrected
· Is the Quran's description of paradise and hell literal or symbolic?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the imagery of the afterlife in the Quran is symbolic, chosen to appeal to the people it was revealed to, while there is a real continuity beyond this life that no human can conceptualise, and he says people are free to disagree with this reading.
“if you can't even conceptualize something how can you express it in words so to me the afterlife the imagery in the Quran is symbolic”
3:51TranscriptCite 2019-08-21-S02corrected
· Can old interpretations of the Quran be revisited, and what role does reason play?
Mufti Abu Layth says the voice of reason is always paramount and that he gives it primacy, because through it one can understand that the deen of Islam holds true.
“and yes reason the voice of reason is always paramount and I do give primacy to it because through it we can understand that the deen of islam has validity that is to us it holds true”
46:59TranscriptCite 2019-11-03b-S11corrected
· Did angels really fight at the Battle of Badr?
Mufti Abu Layth says the evidence suggests the Quraysh army at Badr was probably at least a thousand strong, outnumbering the believers.
“they were outnumbered that part seems to be you know what the evidence clearly suggests that the army of grace were probably at least a thousand strong”
0:38TranscriptCite 2019-12-31-S01corrected
· Does mushkil mean ambiguous or problematic?
Mufti Abu Layth says mushkil has been used technically both for texts that seem to conflict and need reconciling and for what cannot be determined, so both sides have a point, and that Yasir Qadhi was probably using it as the common Arabic word for problematic.
“you see now to be fair the mushkil could mean both ways i mean it wasn't mushkil is sometimes used historically to be technically used to mean something um that may appear ambiguous”
6:47TranscriptCite 2020-09-02-S03corrected
· Was Jesus born without a father according to the Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth says he would be in line with the scholars who say Jesus was of natural birth.
“to make it coherent to me that makes sense that hmm you know i i'd be in line with those scholars that say well no you know that jesus was of natural birth”
16:44TranscriptCite 2020-10-13-S05corrected
· Does the Quran say Adam was made from clay or from a drop of sperm?
Mufti Abu Layth says taking the whole of Surat al-Mu'minun 23:12-14 literally leaves one stuck.
“so to take that entire verse literally you're stuck you know it's a very difficult thing most people don't take it absolutely literally”
53:06TranscriptCite 2020-10-13-S11corrected
· Did God really command Ibrahim to sacrifice his son?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the command to sacrifice his son did not come from God, and that the Quran in Surah al-Saffat reports only that Ibrahim saw a dream which his son urged him to carry out.
“focusing on the question this commandment did not come from god okay now unfortunately it is widespread that it came from god”
0:36TranscriptCite 2020-10-28-S01corrected
· Does the Quran say the sacrifice of Ibrahim's son was a test from God?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the words 'this was indeed the clear trial' in 37:106 do not say the trial came from God, that Allah never says he showed Ibrahim the dream, and that the ransom of the ram rescued the son and declared human sacrifice forbidden thereafter.
“allah is saying that you had a dream and you said you carried it out you were truthful to what you saw yeah allah does not say we showed you that dream”
8:52TranscriptCite 2020-10-28-S03corrected
· If God never commanded the sacrifice, why do the early sources all say he did?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the absence of early sources for his reading is explained by early Muslims absorbing Israelite narratives and projecting a brutal environment onto God, that nothing established from the Prophet says God commanded the sacrifice, and that Allah's silence on the command's origin ends the debate.
“it's not from god and allah clearly did not say it was from him and he could have so that to me ends the debate”
29:23TranscriptCite 2020-10-28-S09corrected
· Does the riba verse prove that jinn can possess people?
Mufti Abu Layth says the riba verse 2:275 uses the image of being struck by the devil as a frame of reference the Arabs knew, just as 37:65 likens the tree of hell to the heads of devils, and that it does not establish jinn possession.
“the actual verse has nothing to do with jin possession everybody is in agreement the actual verse is speaking about people who consume riba on the day of judgment”
17:22TranscriptCite 2020-11-21-S05corrected
· Why wasn't the Quran compiled as a book in the Prophet's time?
Mufti Abu Layth says he would feel the Quran was not collected as a book because it was dynamic in nature, allowing substitutable variations that did not change the meaning.
“i would say that the fact that the quran wasn't all collected as a book was because the quran was dynamic in its nature that it allowed certain”
1:18:51TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S19corrected
· Why didn't the Prophet explain every verse of the Quran himself?
Mufti Abu Layth says that leaving the Quran to human understanding, read in light of each age, rather than defining everything, is what gives it its timelessness.
“it would have restricted everything and the fact that it was left to human understanding to be able to read it in light of their own day and age is what gives the quran it's kind of timelessness”
25:56TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S08corrected
· Does the Quran really say Jesus had no father?
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not believe in the virgin birth, as many of the mufassirun do not.
“but first of all i mean i don't obviously believe in the virgin birth as many of the mufasirin don't”
29:10TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S09corrected
· Is Sidrat al-Muntaha a real tree?
Mufti Abu Layth says the language of the lote tree, Sidrat al-Muntaha, is all symbolic and there is no tree.
“sidratul muntaha this kind of language is all really symbolic there's nothing um it's just symbolism there is no tree people”
1:48:43TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S33corrected
· Does the Quran use metaphors, like calling people angels?
Mufti Abu Layth says there are many metaphors in the Quran, such as Allah saying he is light, which is not meant in a literal sense.
“allah himself saying he is light he's the light that we see in the heavens um obviously we don't you know it's not a literal sense that's it's spoken as a metaphor”
3:15:43TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S56corrected
· When should reason take priority over religious texts?
Mufti Abu Layth says reason necessarily comes first because scripture can only be understood through human interpretation, and that hadith dogmatism took shape in the era of Ibn Taymiyya and revived under colonialism, when attacks on religion amid instability pushed people towards fundamentalism.
“all perception and sensation is based on the human interpreting it it's based on interpretation so whether you like it or not you are already interpreting something”
2:13:12TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S35corrected
· Can I skip fasting because of work, exams or health, and what do I do instead?
Mufti Abu Layth says whether one can fast is one's own decision, that those who cannot should make the fast up later or, if their situation will not change, give fidya on the apparent reading of 2:184, and that fasting is a personal commitment, not a punishment.
“in that case i would say that you give fidya for each day that you miss okay and this is based on the apparent reading of the quran”
3:28:57TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S49corrected
· What does the Quran say against the satanic verses story?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran itself rules out the satanic verses story, since it says the Prophet does not speak from desire and that Satan has no power over people beyond calling them, so he cannot speak in the Prophet's voice.
“shaytan does not have the power to be talking impersonating your voice this is what qadha yad mentions this is what ibn arabi mentions”
1:30:52TranscriptCite 2022-08-19-S17corrected
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
