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21 answers in 12 recordings, 2018 to 2023. 16 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.
· How does Mufti Abu Layth explain an exorcist who says he is possessed by a jinn?
Mufti Abu Layth reads the exorcist's 'jinn', who professed sexual love for him, as a displacement of guilt, the projection of desires the man could not own as a religious figure, sincerely believed but not true.
“so displacement of guilt it's easy look at psychoanalysts explain it all the time you just project your demons onto”
1:03:35TranscriptCite 2018-04-15-S16corrected
· Does Islam say homosexuals should be thrown off buildings or executed?
Mufti Abu Layth says there is no sahih hadith in which the Prophet spoke about homosexuals, that he does not believe the reports of Ali ordering executions to be authentic, and that the claim of a consensus that anyone who commits homosexual acts deserves death is false, since the jurists disagreed and the Hanafis held it is not a hadd.
“now people have started to say that there is ijma that these people have anybody who commits homosexuality deserves death this is what they're saying that is nonsense that is nonsense”
5:24TranscriptCite 2018-12-20-S01corrected
· Is homosexuality haram in Islam, and why were the people of Lut destroyed?
Mufti Abu Layth says the overwhelming majority of scholars held homosexual acts to be haram and he accepts that they are haram, while saying that the punishments scholars assigned varied between places and changed over time, that the people of Lut were destroyed primarily for rejecting their prophet, and that the ruling does not require hatred.
“most outright majority did say it's haram some did disagree so just being honest and being objective and transparent majority accepted it haram and we accept it's haram”
22:31TranscriptCite 2018-12-20-S03corrected
· Why does Islam forbid homosexual activity?
Mufti Abu Layth says that Islam did not address homosexuality directly but outlawed all sexual activity outside marriage in order to build strong family units, so that homosexuality was prohibited as a by-product, and that there are no clear sahih hadith on it.
“homosexuality became outlawed as a byproduct the main thing what Islam was trying to do was set up a family unit that's in my understanding because there are no clear hadith to do with homosexuality at all”
2:32TranscriptCite 2019-08-02b-S01corrected
· How did classical scholars treat intersex people (khuntha) and their right to marry?
Mufti Abu Layth says the classical ruling that a khuntha can never marry was ridiculous and absurd, and a case study of scholarship failing to provide a truly Islamic answer to a challenge of its age.
“that's a perfect case study to show the failing of scholarship in a particular IRRI that they that the scholars failed in providing a truly Islamic answer to the challenge”
10:48TranscriptCite 2019-08-02b-S02corrected
· 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
· Should Muslims campaign against LGBTQ people, and is homosexuality unnatural?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels Muslims should really leave LGBTQ people alone and let them be.
“I feel that we as Muslims should really leave the LGBTQ people alone”
13:21TranscriptCite 2019-08-04-S03corrected
· Does Islam allow gender transition for someone diagnosed with gender dysphoria?
Mufti Abu Layth says he believes there is permissibility where there are legitimate biological concerns, with medical experts giving their input.
“where these cases are legitimate biological concerns I believe that there is permissibility where there are legitimate biological concerns and the medical experts can have their input”
1:18TranscriptCite 2019-08-14-S01corrected
· 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
· Does the Quran clearly forbid homosexuality?
Mufti Abu Layth says there is nothing in the Quran that explicitly prohibits homosexuality, though it may target it implicitly.
“it is true there is nothing in the quran that um explicitly prohibits just targets homosexuality explicitly so it it may implicitly”
1:20:42TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S20corrected
· Did Mufti Abu Layth say incest is natural, and is homosexuality unnatural?
Mufti Abu Layth says he never said incest is natural; he said that calling homosexuality unnatural is not scientifically accurate because it occurs in most species, while one may still hold it haram, and he cited Imam Malik's ruling not to interfere in other people's way of life.
“So to say the statement that homosexuality is not natural, it's not scientifically accurate and it's not a it's not to to make statements about nature is not the realm of religion.”
59:50TranscriptCite 2021-04-06-S10corrected
· What was the real crime of the people of Lut?
Mufti Abu Layth says the crime for which the people of Lut, like the other peoples in the stories of the prophets, were destroyed was their rejection of God, other behaviours mentioned being secondary signs of arrogance.
“it's not the reason that they met their doom it was because they denied god that's the same with every single prophet”
2:42:28TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S40corrected
· Should Muslims tell gay people what the Quran says about homosexuality?
Mufti Abu Layth says that when speaking generally about issues in a country such as America one speaks about its norms, not its exceptions.
“so when you're speaking generally about issues in a country you're going to speak about the Norms not the exceptions”
11:27TranscriptCite 2023-02-22-S02corrected
· Did some Muslim scholars say homosexuality is not haram?
Mufti Abu Layth says that many scholars of Islam clearly had an appreciation for bisexuality, whether or not they practised it.
“many countless Scholars of Islam uh they they appreciated bisexuality”
18:27TranscriptCite 2023-02-22-S03corrected
· Will gay people around us make Muslims gay?
Mufti Abu Layth says the fear that people being gay will make Muslims gay is, in his view, an unnecessary insecurity.
“you know it doesn't I think this is an unnecessary insecurity like some people have like oh my God oh my God we're all going to become gay”
28:02TranscriptCite 2023-02-22-S05corrected
· Is it okay for adults or children to change gender?
Mufti Abu Layth says children should not be put through gender transition until they can make the decision for themselves, setting aside intersex conditions.
“you shouldn't put children through this kind of stuff until they can't make a decision for themselves”
34:31TranscriptCite 2023-02-22-S06corrected
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
