Research › Quran and tafsir
64 answers in 15 recordings, 2018 to 2024. 19 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.
· Does 'before his death' in Quran 4:159 refer to the return of Jesus?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 'before his death' in 4:159 refers to the death of each Christian, not to Jesus, following Ibn Abbas, Mujahid and al-Dahhak and the plural reading of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and that the second-coming reading makes no sense of the Christians who have already died.
“so the true understanding here was that upon death they will realize that this was not the truth”
10:10TranscriptCite 2018-03-15-S04corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says the Bukhari report in which Umar speaks of a verse of stoning that was revealed and recited is disrespectful to Umar and to the Quran, since there is no verse of stoning in the Quran and the report amounts to saying the Quran has changed, and he highlights another Bukhari report in which the Prophet forgets a verse.
“so this is disrespectful to - Omar is disrespectful to the Quran is trying to say that what is saying the Quran has changed”
9:35TranscriptCite 2018-09-01-S02corrected
· Does the Sana'a manuscript show that the Quran was changed?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Sana'a find does not show an evolving Quran: the manuscript dates to the first century like others, the Quran was the one text documented and taught everywhere from the start, and it was too widespread and too distinctive in style to corrupt, so fabrication targeted hadith instead.
“this finding does not show that this was an evolution in Pro in progress or the Quran was for example a working model that people were working on it and changing it”
12:02TranscriptCite 2019-03-01-S04corrected
· 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
· Was the Sana'a palimpsest an official copy of the Quran or someone's personal notes?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest is somebody's personal script with his own notes, not a standard manuscript, and that there is no evidence for the view that it was an official copy.
“I'm not so sure whether it was a student documenting it in a study circle like Dr Asma hilali has said but what I think is this is definitely somebody's personal script”
21:41TranscriptCite 2019-03-01-S07corrected
· What are the differences between the Sana'a lower text and today's Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the lower text of the Sana'a palimpsest is most likely someone's personal notes, possibly a companion's, written from his own and probably mistaken reading, rather than an alternative Quran.
“this is most likely somebody he may have been a companion he may have been I'm not denying that um but somebody's personal notes”
23:38TranscriptCite 2019-03-01-S08corrected
· 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
· Does the Sana'a manuscript prove the Quran evolved over time?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Sana'a discrepancies cannot be a deliberate evolution of the Quran, because they change nothing of substance and no one would have risked his life for such petty alterations.
“to change it with these like petty little differences is meaningless so to me that doesn't hold up at all”
31:16TranscriptCite 2019-03-01-S10corrected
· Does the Sana'a manuscript support or undermine the Muslim account of the Quran's history?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Sana'a find confirms the traditional account of the Quran's history, a first-century text, companions who sometimes misread, and Uthman's standardisation of one reading, and so vindicates the transparency of the Muslim tradition.
“this actually reaffirms for us that the message that we've been passing generally down the generations has been accurate”
32:35TranscriptCite 2019-03-01-S11corrected
· How do I answer Christians who say the Quran could be corrupted like the Bible?
Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims wrongly assume that earlier revelation was like the revelation they have, the Quran.
“you see we as Muslims assume that revelation in the past reflected revelation that we have which is Quran that's not true not true at all”
0:39TranscriptCite 2019-09-14-S01corrected
· If God knew earlier scriptures would change, why not send the Quran first?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, as far as Muslims are concerned, Jesus came only for the Israelites and not for mankind.
“you have to remember Jesus came just for the Israelites he didn't come for mankind like as far as Muslims are concerned”
11:21TranscriptCite 2019-09-14-S03corrected
· If some hadith are unreliable, doesn't that make the Quran unreliable too?
Mufti Abu Layth says those who argue that weakening hadith weakens the Quran have not truly understood how the Quran was transmitted.
“not truly understood how the Koran was transmitted okay these people who are saying this they have just been institutionalized”
2:35TranscriptCite 2019-09-28-S01corrected
· 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
· Was the Quran always fixed word for word, or was it flexible at first?
Mufti Abu Layth says he finds himself in line with the view that the Arabic Quran came into being in the mind of the Prophet, revealed to him and not invented by him.
“i find myself in line with that latter that is in the mind of the prophet”
23:27TranscriptCite 2020-12-10-S04corrected
· Can we substitute words of the Quran today as the companions did?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels that the companions' substituting of words was the default ruling for the Quran rather than merely a dispensation.
“so they may have felt the latter i feel the former that it is by default”
34:18TranscriptCite 2020-12-10-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
· Mufti Tariq Masood's remark on scribal errors, and Islam as a deen of mercy
Mufti Abu Layth says that Islam is a deen of mercy.
“firstly I want to highlight this thing of saying that they should Islam is a dean of Mercy okay the messenger of Allah sallallah alaihi wasallam came as a mercy for the entire worlds”
3:12TranscriptCite 2024-09-29-S01corrected
· Is someone who says something wrong about the Prophet guilty of blasphemy?
Mufti Abu Layth says that when people make mistakes it does not mean they are blaspheming, even if the mistake is horrendous.
“when people make mistakes it does not mean that they are Blas feing even if they get it wrong even if it's horrendous that's not their intention”
6:28TranscriptCite 2024-09-29-S02corrected
· Why is lanasfa'an in Quran 96:15 written with an alif, and is it a mistake?
Mufti Abu Layth says that writing the emphatic nun of lanasfa'an with an alif is the traditional way of writing it.
“that is actually the traditional way of writing it now as time developed and generations became much more a writing people they popularly started to write it the other way”
20:18TranscriptCite 2024-09-29-S04corrected
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
