Research › Quran and tafsir › Tafsir and verse study
35 answers in 18 recordings, 2018 to 2022. 28 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.
· Harut and Marut, and how magic 'splits' people
Mufti Abu Layth says nothing like the doll-and-needles understanding of magic has come from the Quran and Sunnah.
“this is our understanding of magic nothing like that has come from the Koran asana”
42:58TranscriptCite 2018-04-15b-S07corrected
· What does the Quran say about the beast of the earth?
Mufti Abu Layth says verses 83 and 84 of Surah al-Naml are clearly speaking about the Day of Judgment.
“did you deny my verses and what was it that you you know we're doing so 83 and 84 are clearly speaking about the day of judgment”
6:25TranscriptCite 2018-05-29-S02corrected
· Does Ibn Ashur say the beast comes before the Day of Judgment?
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”
14:13TranscriptCite 2018-05-29-S05corrected
· Did the journey of Musa and Khidr really happen, or was it a vision?
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”
5:31TranscriptCite 2018-12-24-S02corrected
· Did Jesus really speak as a baby in the cradle?
Mufti Abu Layth says that the popular story of the baby Jesus speaking to save Mary from being stoned is, in his understanding, not true at all.
“this is what a lot of Muslims do believe this unfortunately it's not actually true in my understanding at all”
2:32TranscriptCite 2019-02-23-S01corrected
· What does it mean that Jesus spoke to people in the cradle and in old age?
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”
14:31TranscriptCite 2019-02-23-S02corrected
· Does Quran 60:10 mean a marriage to a non-Muslim is automatically void?
Mufti Abu Layth says he believes a marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim is valid, without saying it is a good thing or advisable.
“it valid and I believe it is valid just as those other of scholars I've quoted”
33:03TranscriptCite 2019-05-10-S07corrected
· What is the iddah after divorce and why does the Quran require it?
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”
7:42TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S03corrected
· What does Quran 65:4 say about the waiting period for women whose periods have stopped?
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”
16:39TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S05corrected
· Does 'those who have not menstruated' in Quran 65:4 refer to little girls?
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”
18:31TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S06corrected
· 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
· Does the word 'women' in Surah al-Talaq rule out children?
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”
24:47TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S08corrected
· Did Imam Malik allow marriage to be consummated with a girl who was not yet nubile?
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”
27:59TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S09corrected
· 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
· Did the Prophet really split the moon in half?
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”
0:39TranscriptCite 2019-10-18b-S01corrected
· Does the Quran actually tell women to cover their hair, or only their chest?
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”
1:22TranscriptCite 2019-11-03-S01corrected
· Who is Uzair mentioned in the Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth says the interpretation of Uzair as Ezra does not really fit the bill and can only be a forced fit.
“this interpretation of it being Ezra doesn't really fit the bill I mean you can you can do a force fit”
3:47TranscriptCite 2019-12-29-S01corrected
· Could Uzair in the Quran be the Egyptian figure Osiris?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, having revisited the question, it appears Uzair in the verse is Osiris of Egyptian mythology rather than Ezra.
“and it appears people that it is not Ezra who's a volatile yahuda was a turning table that was a is the son of God Jose is Osiris the Egyptian myth”
5:45TranscriptCite 2019-12-29-S02corrected
· Why did the Israelites ask Moses for an idol after leaving Egypt?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Israelites emerging from Egypt carried a huge cultural baggage.
“this was the Israelites as they were emerging from Egypt they had a huge baggage a huge culture”
12:37TranscriptCite 2019-12-29-S03corrected
· Why did Moses carry a staff?
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”
15:45TranscriptCite 2019-12-29-S04corrected
· What does 'justice' mean in the Quran's verse on marrying more than one wife?
Mufti Abu Layth says the verse on never being truly just does not mean that polygamy cannot really be done.
“some people said that that meant that oh you can't really do polygamy then I think that that's not what the verse is saying”
59:13TranscriptCite 2020-10-27-S08corrected
· Who were the Bedouin Arabs criticised in Surah al-Tawbah?
Mufti Abu Layth says the verses speak of the tribes of the Hijaz and beyond that were not under established rule.
“he's speaking of the kind of tribes that were in the hij and I suppose expanded out as well, but that weren't under established rule.”
2:24:40TranscriptCite 2020-10-27-S21corrected
· Does the Quran mention the evil eye?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran has never once mentioned the evil eye, only envy, which is a different word.
“the quran has never ever spoken of the evil eye”
3:17TranscriptCite 2020-11-15-S02corrected
· Confirmation bias: reading the evil eye into the Quran
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”
41:06TranscriptCite 2020-11-15-S06corrected
· Does Surah Yusuf prove the evil eye is real?
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”
54:49TranscriptCite 2020-11-15-S07corrected
· Why does the Quran seem focused on men, and why are two women witnesses needed?
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”
23:18TranscriptCite 2021-01-26b-S06corrected
· Does Quran 33:40 mean the Prophet's descendants cannot rule?
Mufti Abu Layth says verse 33:40 is not a proof that the Prophet's descendants are not to rule.
“you read it it's not a proof that his descendants are not to rule but generally speaking his descendants did not rule”
1:15:39TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S22corrected
· Is Quran 22:52 about the satanic verses incident?
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”
1:11:50TranscriptCite 2022-08-19-S14corrected
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
