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.
98 answers in 46 recordings, 2016 to 2025. 68 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
2016answers 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 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”
Mufti Abu Layth says the definite article in the Quran's prohibition of riba refers to a particular kind of riba already known to its hearers, not to every excess, since riba simply means excess and most excesses are agreed not to be haram.
“Because riba simply means an excess. And everybody agrees that not all excesses are haram in fact most excesses are not haram.”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran declared war on riba because of the tyranny of a loan-shark culture in a world of finite money, and that modern bank lending, whose only similarity is that more is repaid than taken, is nothing like it.
“And that's why Allah declares war on it. Because of the tyranny that was happening. That is nothing like banks saying,”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that kahl in 3:46 means mature manhood from about thirty or forty, which Jesus reached on earth as al-Razi said, and that reading the verse as a second coming began only with al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl al-Bajali in the third century.
“you are a complete man and many Olimar said that begins at 30 some said it begins at 40 it doesn't matter it's not a set age it's like saying middle aged”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 4:159 refers to each Christian believing at death, following Ibn Abbas, Mujahid and Ubayy's plural reading, and that 43:61 says Jesus is knowledge of the hour, not a sign, so neither verse establishes a return.
“so the true understanding here was that upon death they will realize that this was not the truth”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that kahl in the verse means mature adulthood, which Jesus reached on earth as al-Razi states, and that the reading of the verse as a prophecy of his return originated with a scholar who died in the 280s AH and was unknown to the salaf.
“who said that this verse could refer to Jesus coming back India his second coming before him nobody said that this wasn't how they understood the Quran”
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”
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”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran's healing is for what is in the hearts, meaning disbelief and superstition, and that ruqya and the du'as taught against omens are a scaffolding, like a walking frame, that steadies people's iman because the human mind clings to ritual.
“rukia and these things have been set as a scaffolding with a large name to guide people to a pure Iman so it is a scaffolding it's like a Zimmer frame to help you walk until you can walk”
Mufti Abu Layth says that Musa exposing the magicians' trickery, rather than outperforming their magic, sits better with his understanding.
“liars they have no connections with the gods that they speak of that they gods do not help them it is a lie that to me sits more right with my understanding”
Mufti Abu Layth says Islam gives freedom of faith and condemns coercion, and that neither the Quran nor the established Sunnah says an apostate must be killed.
“an apostate must be killed that is not true an apostate is not killed in Islam”
Mufti Abu Layth says that, in his understanding, Ibn Ashur's remark about nearness does not mean the creature emerges close to the Day of Judgment rather than on it.
“he means that it has it won't happen on the day of judgment it'll happen close to they could take that but he's not I know you know he's not saying that in my understanding”
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.
“this is where a lot of I feel the scholars in the past for whatever reasons overlooked this the rest of everything that happens Happ happens whilst they were asleep it was a vision”
Mufti Abu Layth says the verse means that Jesus, when he preached, would have such wisdom that he could relate to people of every age, from the very young to the old.
“what that means is that Jesus when he will preach that he will have such wisdom”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet could not have restored original Abrahamic rituals of Safa and Marwa, since nothing was in Makkah when Ibrahim arrived and the Quran presents Safa and Marwa only as symbols for remembering God, without linking them to Ibrahim.
“is that possible no because it's not possible because you have to remember when Ibrahim aleihsalaam goes to Makkah there's nobody there”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the iddah in Surah al-Talaq serves to establish pregnancy and to prevent suspicion and conflict after a divorce, and that the divorced woman is entitled to remain in the home during it.
“there were other many other wisdoms to it as well it also prevented a lot of suspicion it prevented a lot of social unrest”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the promise in 65:2-3 that God makes a way out and provides from unexpected places is addressed to the vulnerable party in a divorce, who need not accept oppression for the sake of shelter and food.
“so if a relationship is is ending it could be daunting people could think well what's gonna happen now should i grovel should I beg should I put up with oppression just so I can get food”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the doubt in 65:4 is the men's doubt about whether a woman has reached the menopause, in which case her iddah is a flat three months so that pregnancy can be excluded.
“but what makes sense is that if you are in doubt as in the men about whether they have had the menopause or not”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 'those who have not menstruated' in 65:4 refers to women whose cycles are absent through illness or irregularity, not to prepubescent girls, as Abu Hayyan, Ibn Ashur and other commentators read it.
“or does it mean those who don't have not had their cycle due to some kind of abnormality now this that's what this verse very clearly meant”
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”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the word nisa with which the passage opens is never used of a little girl, any more than rijal is used of a boy, and that the passage's provision for pregnancy shows it concerns adult women.
“nobody refers you do not refer to a six-year-old girl as a woman or a seven-year-old girl or an eight-year-old girl”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Imam Malik ruled sexual relations with a wife haram unless she was nubile, and that the commentators who read 65:4 to include girls were wrong and influenced by the patriarchy of their age, which is not Islam.
“Imam Malik was very clear in his fatwa that it was Haram right to have to have any kind of sexual relationship with any with a woman I mean through marriage unless she was nubile”
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”
Mufti Abu Layth says that a burn mark on the forehead from prostration has nothing to do with Islam and is not a sign of piety, and that the verse about the believers' mark on their faces refers to a radiance and visible commitment rather than a burnt forehead.
“now this is this is nothing to do with Islam okay this is ridiculous it's a misunderstanding it's a misconception”
Mufti Abu Layth says the moon was not split and that the verse of the Quran on the moon splitting has nothing to do with that alleged event.
“I have explained that there is no the moon was not split okay this and then the verse of the Quran earth and has nothing to do with that alleged phenomenon”
Mufti Abu Layth says there is nothing explicit in the Quran or the established Sunnah about covering the head: hijab is a modern term, the verse of al-Nur commands covering the jayb with the khimar women already wore, and whether the khimar itself is an obligation or a circumstance of the time is an open question.
“is there anything in the Quran and Sunnah that clearly speaks about the head covering the truth is there isn't there's nothing explicit in the or are nor in the Sun neither speaks about the head covering”
Mufti Abu Layth says the verse that believers will not be found loving those who oppose Allah and His Messenger was revealed about Muslims who kept ties with tribes confederating to attack the Muslims, and that it does not forbid friendship with non-Muslims, as the permission to marry Christians and Jews shows.
“this verse was revealed at a time when Muslims were being attacked and they and the non-muslims were forming allies and a confederation of different tribes to attack the Muslims”
Mufti Abu Layth says he thinks part of Moses' staff was the culture of the Pharaohs he grew up in, where the pine-cone staff symbolised Osiris.
“I actually think part of this stick thing was the culture in which Moses grew up with the Pharaohs see the Pharaohs this stick and especially the pine cone staff was symbolic of Osiris”
Mufti Abu Layth says that, to him, the descriptions of the afterlife are more symbolic, an approximation of something we can never conceptualise.
“to me these things all about the afterlife are more so kind of symbolic so they're not like I don't take these things as I think that we can never conceptualize the afterlife”
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”
Mufti Abu Layth says the verse on the Prophet's dinner guests shows that micro-transgressions such as imposing on people are not to be disregarded, and that these etiquettes are building blocks of a healthy society.
“he also mentions micro transgressions that don't harass people don't become a burden on people unnecessarily don't kind of impose yourself that these etiquettes two are the building block of a healthy society”
Mufti Abu Layth says Islam never set out to convert other religions' holy sites into mosques: Umar did not convert Jerusalem's churches, and Quran 22:40 counts monasteries, churches and synagogues among the places where Allah's name is glorified and which He protects.
“i don't think islam encourages you to convert holy sites into masjids so for example if we look at the the quran”
Mufti Abu Layth says the parable of light in 24:35 is an approximation that resonates with people whose consciousness has expanded, and that entheogenic experience was part and parcel of the Islamic tradition without having a name.
“What I'm trying to show is that I feel that this has been part and parcel of the tradition but it's just it didn't have a name.”
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”
Mufti Abu Layth says the traditional view that God commanded the sacrifice entered Islamic thought through Jewish and Judaeo-Christian narratives taken by early Muslims, and he cites the reading attributed to Ibn Abbas that Ibrahim saw something that suggested to him he had been commanded.
“you have to understand that a lot of our early islamic thought has been influenced by the israelites by jewish judeo-christian narratives that have been floating”
Mufti Abu Layth says the scholars of the past discussed every subsidiary question of the sacrifice story without ever asking whether God would want a father to kill his son.
“uh nobody's discussing the fact that wait a minute god said kill your son i mean what to make me happy can somebody discuss this”
Mufti Abu Layth says people approached the Quran with a confirmation bias, already believing in the evil eye, and so found it in verses that do not mention it.
“there is not one verse in the quran that mentions the evil eye but they approach this trying to find it”
Mufti Abu Layth says Jacob told his sons to split up at the gates to look out for them, not because of the evil eye, which makes no sense since they had already been to Egypt.
“split up because if you are gonna go then go like that because he's trying to obviously look out for them the evil eye makes no sense”
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”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 14:22, in which Satan says he had no power over people and only invited them, rules out jinn possession, because if the devil could physically prevent prayer or cause illness people could not be blamed and moral responsibility would be meaningless.
“if a jinn is beating me up when i'm praying why do i have to pray that's stupid and why is it my fault for not praying then”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran's requirement of two women witnesses applies only to debt transactions, because a lone woman was easier to intimidate, and not because women are deficient, and that otherwise one woman's testimony equals one man's.
“hence if there were two women it would complicate that process a bit so that's um and that so it's only to do with that otherwise one woman is equivalent to one man”
Mufti Abu Layth says 66:1 addresses the Prophet for forbidding himself something permissible to console others, not for legislating, and that because everything is permissible by default, declaring something haram is a weighty matter, while a prohibition lapses when its reason disappears.
“you see things are permissible by default making them haram is is a big call okay”
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”
Mufti Abu Layth says that in the verse on speaking in the cradle and in maturity it is the people Jesus addresses, the child and the mature man, who are meant, not Jesus speaking at an older age.
“it's not jesus who's going to be speaking like that it's the people he will address he will address the child in the crib and he will address the old man or the mature man”
Mufti Abu Layth says it makes much more sense to read 43:61 as speaking of the Quran, since revelation ends with it, than of Jesus as a sign of the Hour.
“and that actually makes much more sense if you think about it that the entire revelation will now end makes a lot more sense than rather saying jesus is a sign for the hour”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 'he will speak to people in the cradle and in maturity' refers to those Jesus addresses, children and grown men, not to a return, that the first to read it as a return was al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl al-Bajali (d. 282 AH), a transmitter of strange reports, and that 'before his death' was recited as 'before their death' and read by commentators as referring to Jesus, the Prophet, the truth or Allah.
“it's not jesus who's going to be speaking like that it's the people he will address he will address the child in the crib and he will address the old man or the mature man”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 43:61 means the Quran is knowledge of the Hour, as Hasan and others said, and that 5:75, 21:34 and 43:59 count against a second coming, since Jesus ate food and was subject to natural laws, no human before the Prophet was given eternal life, and Jesus is called an example for the children of Israel alone.
“notice that this is actually a verse to show that jesus will not be coming back”
Mufti Abu Layth says the prostration of everyone present when the Prophet recited Surah al-Najm is documented, possibly out of respect at the mention of their gods, but that the narrations claiming the Prophet praised the three goddesses are false.
“the people fall into sujud they go into such that this incident is documented it is in bukhari it is in muslim”
Mufti Abu Layth says the story that the Prophet praised the idols, or that Satan spoke in his voice, is absurd, and that 22:52, in a Madinan surah, has nothing to do with it.
“first of all this verse is not speaking about anything to do with that okay this verse suratul hajj right is in the surah of hajj which is an issue of madinah”
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.
