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47 answers in 26 recordings, 2014 to 2023. 34 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.
· Do women pray differently from men in the Maliki school?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Maliki school draws no distinction in principle between the salah of men and women, with only advisory guidelines that a woman may be more mindful of modesty in ruku' and sujud.
“the school of Medina the Maliki maab from a principal perspective it does not highlight any differences between men and women in Salah”
35:05TranscriptCite 2017-04-02-S06corrected
· Why are so many 'possessed' people in the community women?
Mufti Abu Layth says that dissociative disorders in the community occur more often among women with backgrounds of trauma, excessive control, forced or pressured marriages and beatings, and that the psyche breaks down under such treatment as the body would, which is what gets called possession.
“a lot of these cases happen usually more so than more often in our communities amongst women and they these people have a background of trauma abuse”
1:46:13TranscriptCite 2017-09-20-S22corrected
· Is a relationship between a leader and a follower automatically abuse?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that a consensual relationship between adults is not abuse merely because one party has status, and that abuse of power means coercion such as a boss demanding sexual acts from a worker to keep her job.
“this must be deemed abuse no it is not abuse it is not abuse women I'm sorry but I find it insulting”
23:33TranscriptCite 2017-09-29-S08corrected
· What should a couple agree before marriage about registering and money?
Mufti Abu Layth advises an open conversation before marriage about registration and finances, encourages women to keep independent income and property, and condemns as cultural and un-Islamic the attitude that a woman may not work.
“woman wants to work or if a woman wants this that she's not allowed to have that or she can't do this that is backwards it is nothing to do with Islam it is cultural”
20:28TranscriptCite 2018-03-05b-S05corrected
· Can a woman travel without a mahram?
Mufti Abu Layth says that of course a woman can travel without a mahram, the ruling having been simply about safety.
“yes of course a woman can travel in Islam without a guardian I'm explaining that first of all so I'm gonna give you the ruling first of all of course she can and this ruling was simply about safety”
1:11TranscriptCite 2018-04-22-S01corrected
· Is it haram for a woman to travel more than 48 miles alone?
Mufti Abu Layth says forbidding a woman to travel 48 miles is absurd and makes a mockery of the religion.
“know that final step that's gonna make it 48 miles that's one small step for a woman one giant leap this is absurd this is ridiculous this one is making mockery of the religion”
19:01TranscriptCite 2018-04-22-S04corrected
· Is it safe and allowed for a woman to fly alone?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is absolutely fine for a woman to travel on her own, the key thing having been safety.
“so yes it is absolutely fine for a woman to travel on her own as and the key thing was all about safety”
37:04TranscriptCite 2018-04-22-S09corrected
· Doesn't the hadith of Zaynab forbid women from wearing perfume to the mosque?
Mufti Abu Layth says Zaynab's report, which mentions only the late Isha and in some versions addresses her alone, was a specific instruction for an unstated reason and not a general prohibition of perfume for women.
“in my understanding this was just an isolated incident that may whatever it was it was not a general ruling because if it was a general ruling the Prophet”
21:55TranscriptCite 2018-05-04b-S04corrected
· Is a woman's prayer rejected if she wears perfume to the mosque?
Mufti Abu Layth says the report that a perfumed woman's prayer is not accepted until she bathes is not from the Prophet, rests on unknown and weak narrators, and is followed by no one.
“that hadith is utterly utterly unacceptable as a hadith from the prophet salallahu alaihe salam whether these things somehow above herrera said them or not is a different story but nobody accepts these rulings”
25:47TranscriptCite 2018-05-04b-S05corrected
· Did the Prophet say women lack intellect and faith?
Mufti Abu Layth says the report that women lack intellect and faith is inauthentic and falsely attributed to the Prophet.
“I'm going to read this hadith and demonstrate today that this hadith is inauthentic it is not true and I'll show the many problems with this attribution misattribution to the Prophet”
3:13TranscriptCite 2018-07-29-S01corrected
· Does the Quran say most people in hell are women?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran never makes a gender differentiation regarding the people of hell, so the report goes against it.
“speaking about people and and the afterlife and people damnation it never makes gender differentiation ever in the Koran right so this seems to be a new principle which is going up against the Quran”
9:43TranscriptCite 2018-07-29-S02corrected
· Is not praying during menstruation a sign of weak faith?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is absurd to say women lack faith for not praying while menstruating, when the religion itself told them not to pray.
“do you not refrain from praying when you menstruating say yes I said well that's the lack of your faith wealthy irony here is that these rules have come to them from the religion so”
25:01TranscriptCite 2018-07-29-S05corrected
· Does the Quran criticise the Queen of Sheba for ruling over men?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran does not rebuke the Queen of Sheba in any sense for her power over an administration of men.
“the Quran does not rebuke her in any sense for that power this is an interesting lesson to be taken from that story”
16:33TranscriptCite 2019-01-08-S03corrected
· Does a hadith tell women to pray in a closet?
Mufti Abu Layth says the makhda' in these reports was the sleeping chamber within the inner part of a house, not a closet or cupboard.
“this was called a Mazda okay now it is not a closet that people had you could even if he said the term chambers he could have said chambers but not a closet it's not a cupboard”
8:08TranscriptCite 2019-05-04-S02corrected
· Is it better for women to pray at home than in the mosque?
Mufti Abu Layth says the reports placing a woman's prayer at home above the Prophet's mosque go against the sahih hadith of women attending the mosque.
“it goes against that which is Asahi ad it goes against the hadith that many women would come inside Buhari they would leave fajr salah”
15:47TranscriptCite 2019-05-04-S04corrected
· Is the hadith about women praying in the darkest part of the house authentic?
Mufti Abu Layth says the narrations about a woman praying in the darkest part of her house are either fabricated or very weak.
“we can go on and on with these narrations these narrations are either fabricated or very weak they clash with the sahih hadith”
29:48TranscriptCite 2019-05-04-S05corrected
· Supporting women's rights while rejecting hostility to masculinity
Mufti Abu Layth says he seriously does not understand the hostility of this age against masculinity.
“I seriously do not understand the problem of this age against masculinity people seem to there seems to be this hatred against men being men”
5:49TranscriptCite 2019-08-14-S02corrected
· Can a husband or father force a woman to wear hijab?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that for men to coerce women into covering their hair is categorically wrong and does greater harm, and that the pressure to do so comes from male insecurity about women and from guilt imposed through fatwas, both of which he calls inaccurate and wrong.
“but to enforce that to kind of coerce people that would in my understanding be categorically wrong category wrong and you'd be doing much greater harm in my understanding”
11:49TranscriptCite 2019-11-03-S03corrected
· Is it a Sunnah for women to pray in a wardrobe or the innermost room?
Mufti Abu Layth says the report used to call women praying in a wardrobe a Sunnah is a weak and in fact false hadith, not a saying of the Prophet.
“because he is this weak hadith which is a false hadith people it's not even a saying of the Prophet”
5:05TranscriptCite 2020-01-17-S02corrected
· Is it wrong to preach modesty to society?
Mufti Abu Layth says there is nothing wrong in having a message about modesty.
“wear as modesty gone and so on but there's nothing wrong in having a message about modesty”
10:30TranscriptCite 2020-04-28b-S03corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says Aisha unquestionably stood up for women's rights.
“that unquestionably Aisha was somebody who stood up for women's rights and she has many hadith critiquing certain narrations that people were misattributing to the prophet”
37:33TranscriptCite 2020-08-04-S08corrected
· Is the niqab required, and is it right to make women take it off?
Mufti Abu Layth says the face veil has no basis in the Quran and Sunnah, but force of any kind to remove it is wrong.
“that's my views on it that it has no basis but force of any kind is wrong”
6:04TranscriptCite 2021-01-05b-S01corrected
· Why do some women feel they must wear the niqab?
Mufti Abu Layth says that, although women who wear the niqab will not admit it, it is really men who have convinced them they need it.
“although even the women that wear nihab won't admit to this but really it's the men who've convinced”
6:31TranscriptCite 2021-01-05b-S02corrected
· Do I have to be in a state of purity to say verses of the Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth says these kinds of hadiths are to him an encouragement showing that the deen ought to be very natural to our lives.
“these kind of hadiths are to me and an encouragement to show that the deen ought to be very natural to our lives”
43:52TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S09corrected
· Can a woman lead the prayer or give the khutbah?
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not believe it is haram or invalid for a woman to lead the prayer, give the khutbah or be the imam.
“i don't believe it's haram i don't believe it's invalid for a woman to lead the prayer um or for her to give a khutbah or to be the imam”
1:36:31TranscriptCite 2021-01-12-S24corrected
· Is it halal to perform music or dance at concerts for a living?
Mufti Abu Layth says dance in and of itself is not haram.
“look dance in and of itself is not Haram but obviously there are sociocultural perspectives”
1:11:21TranscriptCite 2021-01-19-S18corrected
· 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
· Can a woman be an imam and lead the prayer?
Mufti Abu Layth says a woman can be an imam and her leading the prayer is permissible and valid, though whether imamship works in practice depends on whether her society accepts it.
“she can become an imam islam is concerned but then imamship has certain interactions it's it's a working it's a working model”
50:35TranscriptCite 2021-01-26b-S13corrected
Mufti Abu Layth says a woman can become a mufti, that the field of Islamic scholarship is neglected and attracts little talent because it lacks support, and that anyone who wants to become a mufti must persevere through often dogmatic institutions.
“anybody can become a a mufti um you know but it does require going through the studies and then you got a soldier through it”
1:04:27TranscriptCite 2021-01-26b-S15corrected
· How should I deal with the misogynistic things some scholars wrote about women?
Mufti Abu Layth says contemporary misogyny should not be allowed to hijack one's Islam, and that past scholars' writings about women reflect their own age and do not confine Islam, which each age reflects in its own way.
“when you read things of the past just know that this is their day and age this is not a reflection it doesn't um you know it doesn't capture or imprison islam within it”
1:08:47TranscriptCite 2021-01-26b-S16corrected
· What does Islam say about the red pill movement?
Mufti Abu Layth says he finds hating on any gender, whether men or women, to be ridiculous.
“but i i i find hating on any gender whether it's hating on men or hating on women to be ridiculous”
2:39:17TranscriptCite 2021-02-09-S31corrected
· Did the Prophet say a wife should prostrate to her husband?
Mufti Abu Layth says the report that the Prophet would have ordered wives to prostrate to their husbands is not authentic and was probably circulated to support the family hierarchy of a patriarchal society, and that the report urging violent jealousy over female relatives is likewise fabricated.
“no this hadith isn't authentic but um I feel that people may have”
50:44TranscriptCite 2021-04-06-S09corrected
· Did scholars let slave women uncover more than free women?
Mufti Abu Layth says the claim in the books that nobody would desire a slave girl is the biggest nonsense, since men would of course desire them.
“and the most the biggest bs is people say in the books oh yeah but it's okay she's a slave girl who who would desire her”
8:21TranscriptCite 2021-05-09-S02corrected
· Who carried on Imam Malik's teaching after him?
Mufti Abu Layth says it was Imam Malik's daughter who carried his legacy forward, continuing to teach his classes after him.
“it was actually his daughter that that took the the lamp of his legacy and marched forward with it she continued to teach his classes and things after him”
1:02:54TranscriptCite 2023-03-10-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
