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70 answers in 36 recordings, 2015 to 2022. 49 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 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
Mufti Abu Layth says the rise in Islamophobia is a reaction to the collective awakening of Muslims to their faith, fed by fear of what people do not understand, by scaremongering and misrepresentation, and marginally by fools who misportray Islam.
“I feel that the part of that rise in islamophobia is associated with the collective Awakening of Islam and the Muslims as a as a as a type of social phenomenon”
44:52TranscriptCite 2015-04-06-S12corrected
· Can I say Merry Christmas to non-Muslims?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is permissible to say Merry Christmas to non-Muslims.
“I've said it's permissible to say Merry Christmas to non-Muslims.”
0:01TranscriptCite 2015-12-27-S01corrected
· Is Islam still relevant in today's confusing times?
Mufti Abu Layth says Islam is for every time and every place, not restricted to the Arabian Peninsula.
“but Islam is for every time and every place it isn't restricted to just a it wasn't just for the Arabian Peninsula”
10:46TranscriptCite 2016-12-21-S03corrected
· Where will the answers to Muslims' problems today come from?
Mufti Abu Layth says the solutions to the problems Muslims face will come from within, from people among them who rise, learn and bring them about.
“so the people the solutions will come within we will step forward people from amongst us will rise they will learn they will Empower they will bring about Solutions”
21:24TranscriptCite 2016-12-21-S05corrected
· Is it wrong to watch Bollywood films and TV series?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, in the bigger picture, he does not necessarily see movies or TV series as high on the priority list.
“given the the the bigger picture I don't necessarily see these things as up there on the priority list uh things like movies or TV series”
56:03TranscriptCite 2016-12-21-S09corrected
· Why is Aisha's age only being questioned now, and is it just to appease the West?
Mufti Abu Layth says he rejects the six-and-nine report with personal certainty and that doing so is a matter of consistency, not appeasement of the West.
“so I don't think this is a matter of sucking up I I believe this is a matter of consistency”
1:24:04TranscriptCite 2017-01-11-S11corrected
· If ethics change over time, how can today's ethics judge the Prophet's marriage?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the question turns on consent, which a minor cannot give, and says he does not believe people will ever come to accept such a marriage, since the prevention of harm is a universal ethical base.
“this issue rests upon the concept of consent and how can there be consent from a girl who is a minor and since she can't reason”
1:36:50TranscriptCite 2017-01-11-S13corrected
· If Aisha's age is a problem, aren't polygamy and the Prophet's wars problems too?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Prophet is a perfect role model for all times and that polygamy and his wars, unlike a marriage to a child who cannot consent, are not irrational.
“I do believe that the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam is a a a great role model a perfect role model for all times”
1:55:11TranscriptCite 2017-01-11-S17corrected
· Should religious leaders be held to a higher standard than everyone else?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the principle that leaders deserve greater scrutiny is a modern Western ethic applied selectively by those who reject modern ethics elsewhere, and that the Prophet instructed overlooking the slips of people of standing.
“people of leadership must be held to greater accountability says who says who where did you I know yes this is a principle of modern 21st century Western ethics”
19:37TranscriptCite 2017-09-29-S07corrected
· Why does Mufti Abu Layth say riba has become a symbol rather than something people understand?
Mufti Abu Layth says that religion for many people is a matter of visible symbols, and that riba has become one such symbol of Islam, held to be incredibly important by people who may not understand what it is.
“So riba has become one of those things that is symbolic. That it is seen to many people to be an important aspect of Islam.”
4:27TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S02corrected
· Are mortgages and bank loans the riba forbidden in the Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that mortgages and bank loans are not the riba forbidden in the Quran, which was declared war on because of a tyrannical loan-shark culture unlike today's regulated banking, in which the borrower gives back more out of necessity and is legally protected.
“Are these things riba? These things are not riba in the Quranic sense, in my understanding.”
22:11TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S07corrected
· How was the economy of the Prophet's time different from today's?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran was revealed in an economy of finite money, in which wealth could only grow by taking it from others, and that this changed entirely when money was dematerialised into paper a few hundred years ago.
“When the Quran was revealed in 7th century Arabia money was finite.”
33:05TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S08corrected
· How did Adam Smith and industrialisation change attitudes to greed and lending?
Mufti Abu Layth says that before Adam Smith's promotion of the pursuit of self-interest greed was seen simply as evil, as it was when the Quran condemned riba, and that industrialisation brought a new promise of a better tomorrow, before which people would not lend money.
“So, when the Quran was condemning riba in the time of the Arabs of 7th century Arabia greed was just seen as an evil thing. But everything changes in the 18th century.”
37:43TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S09corrected
· How can a bank lend out more money than it has?
Mufti Abu Layth says that banks being authorised to lend far more money than they hold, although it can be done irresponsibly, is what allowed communities and societies to flourish.
“Now, people might see this as a bad thing. But, it allowed the community and societies to flourish.”
42:12TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S10corrected
· Are student loans, car finance and mortgages haram?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that mortgages, student loans, car finance and other bank loans are not haram, though nobody is obliged to take them, and offers as his own thought, which viewers may discard, that Muslims living as minorities in the West should invest in property and build assets.
“Okay? I do not believe them to be haram based on all of these elements.”
58:36TranscriptCite 2017-10-19-S13corrected
· Is zina today the same issue it was in the past?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that much of the inherited social theory on relationships and marriage no longer matches today's circumstances and that ulama should re-analyse the context and offer suitable ijtihad.
“we are in a huge kind of crisis almost that a lot of our theory is outdated it doesn't match what we are facing today”
1:17TranscriptCite 2018-03-05b-S01corrected
· Why is it so hard for young Muslims to marry, and what are they supposed to do about desire?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that men of eighteen or nineteen are generally not ready for marriage yet have strong sexual needs, that the usual advice to fast and lower the gaze is inadequate, and that, unlike in the past, Islam today has no solution to offer to this problem, which scholarship should acknowledge.
“so this is a huge problem from a religious perspective because there is no solution Islam has zero solutions to offer today”
7:38TranscriptCite 2018-03-05b-S02corrected
· Does Islam stand the test of reason, and why should Muslims not fear examining it?
Mufti Abu Layth says he has certainty that Islam has stood the test of reason as well as of time, that Muslims owe it to Islam to measure it openly, and that the hadith of the grave in which the dead person says he merely repeated what people said is evidence that reason is required in faith.
“i tell you i have that much certainty this is me as a personal person might as a personal opinion and conviction in islam that it has stood not only the test of time but the test of reason”
36:57TranscriptCite 2018-04-09-S07corrected
· Should I refuse to shake hands with the opposite sex where it is the custom?
His own understanding is that one follows the convention of one's society: where people do not shake hands one does not, following the general ulama, but where it is the convention one may act on the fatwa of the scholars who permit it, since, as many ulama say, no clear verse or hadith makes it haram, and Muslims should choose their battles wisely.
“my own understanding is look you go with your conventions okay so if you're in a convention where people don't do this you you don't do this”
11:02TranscriptCite 2018-05-04-S04corrected
· Why did some classical scholars rule that apostates be executed?
Mufti Abu Layth says that where classical scholars prescribed capital punishment they were addressing what would today be treason or rebellion in a very different world, that those rulings do not apply today, and that the whole world doing the same then does not make them right.
“any of these rulings today clearly do not apply many of these scholars have said today”
8:56TranscriptCite 2018-05-10-S03corrected
· Is Islam meant to be applied the same rigid way everywhere?
Mufti Abu Layth says Islam came with the flexibility to incorporate people's backgrounds, perspectives and needs.
“with people Aslam came with the flexibility to not only incorporate these people but their backgrounds their perspectives their needs”
39:23TranscriptCite 2019-05-04-S07corrected
· Is forcing your wife to have sex a sin in Islam?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that coercive sex with one's wife is haram, that Muslims who deny this are the problem, and that, following Imam Malik's saying, the umma is set right by the independence to challenge inherited readings shaped by the patriarchy of past ages.
“he said well oh it's okay to you know it's not a sin to force to have coercive sex with your wife or not it's like what a new thing you want about of course it's a god it's Haram”
33:10TranscriptCite 2019-07-25-S11corrected
· What is liberalism, and do liberals have to follow John Locke?
Mufti Abu Layth says liberalism is, in essence, simply a stance against authoritarianism.
“liberalism is simply a stance against authoritarianism that's all it is in essence”
7:01TranscriptCite 2019-08-04-S02corrected
· 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
· Ethics evolve: slavery, human agency and the genetic fallacy
Mufti Abu Layth says that human beings are very capable agents who construct their worldview as they go along, not people who adopt views because they read philosophers.
“human beings we are very capable agents we are constructing our worldview as we going along”
27:59TranscriptCite 2019-08-04-S05corrected
· 'Islam gave these rights first' and blinding people with jargon
Mufti Abu Layth says that throwing in impressive philosophical jargon makes Muslims look much weaker to those who know and to non-Muslims.
“it makes you look much weaker than you actually are”
39:51TranscriptCite 2019-08-04-S07corrected
· Message to critics: criticise truthfully, not with lies
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not accept folkloric, medievalist interpretations of Islam, which he feels are not compatible with this day and age.
“your folkloric and maybe kind of medievalist kind of veneers that you give Islam I don't accept I don't feel that it's compatible with this day and age”
12:46TranscriptCite 2020-04-07-S04corrected
· Is slavery haram in Islam, and did Muslim scholars ban it before the UN?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that slavery is categorically haram today, that Maliki and other scholars forbade it by fatwa long before the UN resolution, and that the Quran's rulings on slavery set a trajectory towards its prohibition once human ethics developed.
“obviously these things don't really exist today so it's this is just a theoretical kind of discussion on it these things would all slavery would be categorically Haram I have explained that”
0:00TranscriptCite 2020-04-28-S01corrected
· How could men in early Islam have sex with their female slaves?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, in his understanding, one reason sexual relations with female slaves were condoned is that the society in which Islam was revealed had a very different mindset: its slavery resembled servitude rather than transatlantic slavery, and it drew no line between a slave's labour and sexual utility, a mindset that could not be changed at once.
“you couldn't change entire mindsets so this is one of the reasons I think that that that was condoned because they saw that they didn't have a delineating kind of factor to sex”
11:18TranscriptCite 2020-04-28-S02corrected
· Why did Islam not abolish slavery outright?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Islam did not abolish slavery outright because the collective consciousness of the age could not yet perceive it as wrong, and that, now that it can be seen, owning another human being is a problem and slavery has always been wrong, though past societies cannot be held to account for a perception they lacked.
“now that we see it yes this is definitely wrong and it has been wrong but because Society and the collective consciousness wasn't perceiving it in that way we can't hold them to task”
18:18TranscriptCite 2020-04-28-S03corrected
· Should Pakistan allow a Hindu temple in Islamabad?
Mufti Abu Layth says he supports building places of worship for other communities in Pakistan, which is a nation-state in which all citizens are equal.
“I actually I do support them building for other cultures in Pakistan Pakistan is not a Khilafah for God's sake it's a nation state”
1:43:29TranscriptCite 2020-07-14-S26corrected
· Should Pakistan allow a Hindu temple to be built in Islamabad?
Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims have become bigoted and intolerant, demanding tolerance for themselves while opposing a Hindu temple in Islamabad, and that he supports building places of worship for other communities in Pakistan, which is a nation-state of equal citizens and not a khilafah.
“i do support them building for other cultures in pakistan pakistan is not a khilafah for god's sake it's a nation-state”
29:14TranscriptCite 2020-07-16-S09corrected
· Is it right to build very elaborate mosques?
Mufti Abu Layth says mosques should really have structures that harmonise with the local geography.
“whereas really they should have structures that harmonize with the local local kind of geography”
1:16:36TranscriptCite 2020-09-22-S13corrected
· Are Sharia rules brand new, or based on what people already did?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Shari'ah took people's existing rulings and placed parameters on them so they do not transgress.
“it was taking their things their rulings and it was telling them it was just placing parameters on them so they don't transgress”
1:41:22TranscriptCite 2020-09-22-S17corrected
· Why do imams in the West wear 'Islamic' robes?
Mufti Abu Layth says there was never an Islamic clothing to begin with.
“There was never an Islamic clothing to begin with.”
1:21:34TranscriptCite 2020-10-27-S13corrected
· Has Islam become more polarised between puritans and liberals?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels Islam has become massively polarized in the modern age, in many ways much more than historically.
“islam has become massively polarized in this modern age in many ways much more than it has historically”
35:36TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S08corrected
· What do you think of the Muslim community in Birmingham?
Mufti Abu Layth says the youth are not listening to the scholars because the scholars are irrelevant and outdated.
“but the truth is because you guys are irrelevant okay you are outdated”
27:31TranscriptCite 2021-01-19-S08corrected
· Is trading stocks, crypto or on margin halal?
Mufti Abu Layth says he believes trading such as CFDs, stocks, forex and crypto is permissible, while noting there are regulations.
“I do believe all of this is permissible. Obviously, there's regulations, but this kind of trading, whether it's uh CFDs and stocks or shares or whether it's going to be um forex or whether it's going to be crypto”
2:30:11TranscriptCite 2021-02-02b-S22corrected
· 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
· What does the Mufti think of liberal Islam?
Mufti Abu Layth says labels such as liberal and conservative are very difficult to apply to Islam, which never really worked in that way.
“it's very difficult applying these parameters to islam because islam never really worked in that way there was never really a papacy or a pope system in islam”
35:23TranscriptCite 2021-02-16-S10corrected
· Without colonialism and the Mongols, would the Muslim world have had its own enlightenment?
Mufti Abu Layth says he thinks that, left to their own devices, Muslims would have been the pioneers of enlightenment.
“because you see i think muslims would have if left to our own devices we would have been the pioneers of enlightenment”
25:40TranscriptCite 2021-03-02-S05corrected
· Will traditional religious institutions survive if they do not adapt?
Mufti Abu Layth predicts that denominations which refuse to adapt, including many Deobandi institutions in the UK, will become fossilised, while those that adapted, as many Barelvis have, remain approachable to young people.
“five years from today some of these very kind of neanderthal kind of like uh denominations will just be absolutely fossilized they'll either have to adapt or they'll just become fossils”
1:01:14TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S15corrected
· Do I need a religious authority to own my faith?
Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims can take ownership of their own faith, since Islam has no papacy and no one can expel a person from the deen.
“we can once again take ownership of our own faith i we don't need this is not a you know a papacy we don't need to go through the pope”
1:06:16TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S17corrected
· Will religious dogmatism ever disappear?
Mufti Abu Layth says dogmatism will not disappear because it is built into institutionalised religion, and that his aim is not to end it but to keep the voice of reason alive so that people can choose.
“i don't feel dogmatism will go i don't feel it will unfortunately because religion with a capital r an institutionalized religion has dogmatism in its very bones”
1:51:19TranscriptCite 2021-04-13-S30corrected
· What solutions are possible for Palestine?
Mufti Abu Layth says that Israel is here to stay, which leaves a limited set of solutions: a two-state solution, naturalisation of Palestine within Israel, or relocation as in al-Albani's fatwa of hijrah, which he compares to evacuating a house whose fire cannot be put out.
“tyrannical as israel is it is here to stay it is not going anywhere now that only leaves a certain amount of solutions one would be a two-state solution”
15:31TranscriptCite 2021-05-15-S04corrected
· What can people realistically do for Palestine, and is migration an option?
Mufti Abu Layth says ordinary people are largely helpless beyond pressuring members of parliament, economic boycotts and dua, that no land is worth a genocide, and that, since the Prophet taught people to migrate, an assessment that a genocide is under way calls for migration or else meaningful negotiation.
“it is not this land is never worth the genocide the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did teach people to migrate”
29:02TranscriptCite 2021-05-15-S07corrected
· Should all religions be free to compete without state backing?
Mufti Abu Layth says nobody has the right to force religion on others and that people may criticise religions freely, but that analytical criticism differs from insult, which only aims to hurt.
“people have the right to criticize things if you don't believe in something you have the right to criticize criticize it you have the right to show where it doesn't make sense”
55:31TranscriptCite 2022-08-19-S11corrected
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
