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37 answers in 23 recordings, 2015 to 2024. 23 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.
· Should Muslims engage with the Prevent programme?
Mufti Abu Layth says Prevent began with good objectives but has become toxic and lost its purpose, so he would no longer advise Muslims to engage with it, while tackling radicalisation remains a duty of Muslims and especially of the learned.
“based on that I wouldn't at this stage having now known what I do know advise engagement with it because I see it as counterproductive”
7:08TranscriptCite 2015-04-06-S03corrected
· What did Mufti Abu Layth actually do as a Prevent mentor?
Mufti Abu Layth says Prevent mentoring as he practised it was voluntary and consensual with no covert element, and that spying on Muslims or landing people in trouble for money or favour would be absolutely haram.
“there was no such thing as spying I mean I would consider that absolutely Haram”
14:49TranscriptCite 2015-04-06-S04corrected
· Is working with the government or Prevent a form of serving false gods?
Mufti Abu Layth says the view of politically active groups that any association with the government is serving a false god is not a correct scholarly interpretation, since assisting non-Muslim authorities does not make them gods besides Allah, while accepting that elements within these programmes have worked against Muslims, himself included, and that Prevent needs review.
“I completely disagree categorically that these are Nots these are not false gods but I do accept that there are negative elements that are within these strategies”
19:59TranscriptCite 2015-04-06-S05corrected
· What does Mufti Abu Layth think of ISIS?
Mufti Abu Layth says ISIS is a ruthless takfiri ideology that threatens Muslims and non-Muslims alike, that holding Muslims collectively guilty for it is unfair, and that Western foreign policy, including the prisons of the war in Iraq, contributed to its creation.
“so it's not that they're just a threat to non-muslims they're a threat to each and all really they do have a mentality that um shows no mercy”
28:51TranscriptCite 2015-04-06-S08corrected
· Should Muslims deny that jihad exists in Islam to counter extremism?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that extremism is tackled by reclaiming traditional Islam and owning the concept of jihad, which exists in the Quran and Sunnah with its context and conditions, rather than by denying it, which feeds groups such as ISIS.
“I do feel that in order to tackle it we need to reclaim traditional Islam”
32:05TranscriptCite 2015-04-06-S09corrected
· Is extremism among Muslims really on the rise?
Mufti Abu Layth says that while militant groups have risen compared with two decades ago, the far greater rise is a worldwide awakening of Muslims to traditional Islam, of which some extremist elements are a side effect.
“I think there is a much greater rise towards true traditional Islam uh by the Muslims in large and in general as opposed to what there was let's say two decades ago”
35:54TranscriptCite 2015-04-06-S10corrected
· Can a life be taken on the basis of a doubtful hadith?
Mufti Abu Layth says there is no verse and no conclusively established hadith for killing apostates, and that life, whose sanctity is conclusive, cannot be taken on the basis of isolated reports that carry doubt.
“there isn't a single verse in the Quran that would ever say this and in fact the Quran is against this message”
50:06TranscriptCite 2018-05-10-S12corrected
· Is the world today dar al-harb, the land of war?
Mufti Abu Layth says that believing the world is the land of war puts people only a step away from declaring the people around them enemy combatants.
“if we are living in that all harm then we are only a step away from declaring the people here as enemy combatants”
10:08TranscriptCite 2018-09-03-S02corrected
· If a mutawatir hadith has to be reinterpreted, what does that say about hadith transmission?
Mufti Abu Layth says that when a report claimed to be mutawatir produces a meaning its own defenders must reinterpret as incomplete, this shows that the hadith transmission system is not airtight and cannot be treated as conclusive.
“if the result is problematic the system is problematic if the system is sound the result must be sound which it isn't”
15:14TranscriptCite 2018-09-20-S02corrected
· What is Yasir Qadhi's background, and where does the Salafi movement come from?
Mufti Abu Layth says Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab was a deviant because he held it permissible to kill Muslims he deemed disbelievers, enslave their wives and take their wealth, including pilgrims on Hajj, and that Wahhabism is in essence a doctrine of literalism and dogmatism hostile to reason.
“he was definitely I mean I would categorically say he was a deviant”
18:27TranscriptCite 2018-10-20-S04corrected
· Is capital punishment, including for apostasy, justified?
Mufti Abu Layth says he finds it ironic and absurd that, to stop people from killing, the state kills people.
“I find that so ironic that to stop people from killing people we kill people”
34:49TranscriptCite 2019-08-04-S06corrected
· Did the Salafi movement play a part in producing modern extremism?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, although Salafis today are against terrorism, a huge part of the terrorism seen today came from these Wahhabis.
“I accept that these selfies are anti-terrorism yeah I accept this but it was only yesterday that these people gave birth to terrorism this terrorism that we seen today a huge part of it is only from these wahhabis”
41:16TranscriptCite 2019-11-03b-S10corrected
· What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, forced to choose, he would probably classify Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab as negative, a puritan dogmatist allied with the Saud family who demolished tombs and killed pilgrims, and that the Salafi movement he inspired did more harm than good and is the number one springboard for extremism, though it also revived hadith and challenged blind following and superstition.
“if I was to group him in one and I could only group him in negative or positive then at a simple level I would probably put him in negative”
0:00TranscriptCite 2020-04-19-S01corrected
· Will there be a discussion with someone from Hizb ut-Tahrir?
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not respect HT at all and thinks they are a cancer in this ummah.
“Yeah, sure. I mean, I'm, you know, I don't respect his at all. I think they are a cancer in this ummah.”
1:23:35TranscriptCite 2020-08-04-S16corrected
· What does Mufti Abu Layth think of preachers linked to extremism?
Mufti Abu Layth says that his approach is that any extremist sympathisers are poison.
“That's that's my approach that any extremist sympathizers definitely the these people are poison.”
2:22:51TranscriptCite 2020-08-04-S27corrected
· Does Islam justify killing someone for showing cartoons of the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says the killing of the teacher was utterly unacceptable from an Islamic perspective.
“i have expressed that this is utterly unacceptable from an islamic perspective you cannot commit these acts of barbarity”
3:12TranscriptCite 2020-10-29-S02corrected
· What do you think of a particular online activist?
Mufti Abu Layth says that anybody who tells you that we need to take over the world should set alarm bells ringing.
“anybody who's just after political you know global domination anybody who tells you that we need to take over the world”
2:21:08TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S33corrected
· What is Birmingham really like for Muslims?
Mufti Abu Layth says he thinks several drugs should be legalised, especially things like cannabis.
“drugs should be legalized i i do feel that you know especially things like cannabis and stuff like because it would just cut out this entire market and then it could be regulated”
1:33:35TranscriptCite 2021-02-09-S18corrected
· Why is Pakistan so full of religious extremism?
Mufti Abu Layth says the CIA and the war against the Russians played a facilitating, enabling role in boosting the extremist tradition in Pakistan and the Islamic world, though they are not solely responsible.
“the cia and the war against the russians you see you can't ignore the role that these people played now it's not entirely their fault they're not re solely responsible for the phenomenon but they played a facilitating enabling character”
1:57:10TranscriptCite 2021-02-09-S24corrected
· What was Mufti Abu Layth's madrasa in Pakistan like?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Barelvi scene in Pakistan has only recently become extreme.
“you understand like so the brillvi scene in pakistan has only recently become extreme”
2:06:08TranscriptCite 2021-02-09-S26corrected
· What does the Mufti think of Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia?
Mufti Abu Layth says his impression is that Malaysia and Indonesia have absorbed the deen in a natural way that does not hinder their day-to-day lives.
“they seem to have ingratiated themselves kind of immersed themselves absorbed the deen in a way that it doesn't hinder the day-to-day lives it seems to be a natural that's my impression of them”
23:34TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S07corrected
· Does Islam allow attacking Salman Rushdie?
Mufti Abu Layth condemns the attack on Salman Rushdie as cowardly and an abomination, saying Islam does not teach such acts and that those who speak against Islam must be answered with speech.
“i want to first of all very clearly in categorical terms condemn this attack for the cowardice and the abomination that it is okay islam does not teach anybody to do things like this”
0:01TranscriptCite 2022-08-19-S01corrected
· Is someone who prays but commits major sins better than someone who doesn't pray?
Mufti Abu Layth says the claim that a murderer or abuser who prays is still better than a person who does not pray is categorically wrong.
“he prayed Salah he would still be better than a person who doesn't praise Salah or something like this and that's categorically uh wrong okay that's not true at all”
2:36TranscriptCite 2022-12-16-S01corrected
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
