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Science, the universe and big questions
15 segments in 10 recordings · 2017 to 2023 · 0 verified · 14 checked positions · arts/science-and-the-universe · Feed
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 10 Mar 2023
10 Mar 2023video
LatestCan a pregnancy last for years, as was said of Imam Malik's birth?
No: reports of years-long pregnancies are best explained by phantom pregnancies followed by real conception, not dismissed as lies or taken literally.
machine7 min 07 s6:54on YouTube
Earlier answers · 14 · newest first
2021 · 3
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is it haram to believe the universe will never end?
It is not haram: creation, including the afterlife, once brought into being remains forever in some form while still being other than God.
machine1 min 24 s1:34:16on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Can atheism explain consciousness?
Mufti Abu Layth says atheists have strong points, but their case collapses at consciousness and quantum physics; atheism only works against Newtonian, institutional religion.
machine4 min 28 s1:42:23on YouTube
2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Clip: a raven mimicking human speech
Mufti Abu Layth shows a raven mimicking speech and says crows and ravens are equally intelligent corvids.
machine4 min 50 s2:10:08on YouTube
2020 · 1
15 Nov 2020video
Is the evil eye based on science?
It rested on the old belief that eyes shoot out rays, which people once took as science; Ibn al-Qayyim described envious 'arrows' from the eye. Ibn al-Haytham and later science showed that eyes only take in light.
machine12 min 34 s28:32on YouTube
2019 · 4
17 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Did ancient civilisations have knowledge that was later lost?
Mufti Abu Layth finds convincing the view that advanced ancient civilisations were destroyed around the Younger Dryas and left knowledge seen in old maps and constellation-aligned sites. He believes the Nabataeans built on earlier sites at Petra and set up devotion sites aligned to its constellation.
machine3 min 55 s14:26on YouTube
18 Sep 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Does sound exist if nobody hears it?
Sound, colour, taste and smell are the brain's interpretations of vibrations and waves, so the universe itself is silent and colourless. A tree falling with nobody to hear it makes no sound, only vibrations.
machine3 min 53 s48:15on YouTube
18 Sep 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
What is Mufti Abu Layth's final verdict on whether music is haram?
Music is not haram: no clear sahih hadith prohibits it and the default law makes everything permissible unless proven otherwise. Mufti Abu Layth calls it the nourishment of the soul, notes that sound is only vibration interpreted by a listener, and cites music therapy in medieval Muslim hospitals.
machine4 min 42 s1:06:32on YouTube
4 Aug 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Is music haram in Islam?
No: he says music is not haram and is arguably nourishment for the soul, pointing to its use for healing in medieval Muslim hospitals.
machine2 min 39 s0:00on YouTube
2018 · 3
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
What medical conditions could have been mistaken for possession in the past?
Conditions such as palinopsia, where after-images persist, and Charles Bonnet syndrome, where people see faces, teeth and buildings that are not there, have known brain causes today but would once have looked like demons. Oliver Sacks's patient knew her visions were unreal, unlike the persecutory beliefs of psychosis.
machine3 min 58 s36:39on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
If exorcisms and ruqya sometimes work, does that prove possession is real?
No: real symptoms can be produced or relieved by belief alone, as Ted Kaptchuk's study with fake pills and retractable needles showed, so an exorcism or ruqya can 'work' through the placebo effect. Some people would also have recovered regardless.
machine3 min 56 s40:37on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
What is the 'jinn of the gaps'?
It is Mufti Abu Layth's name for blaming the jinn for anything not yet understood, as atheists accuse believers of a god of the gaps. He lists conditions such as Capgras delusion, hemispatial neglect, aphantasia and foreign accent syndrome that have or will have natural explanations but would once have been called possession.
machine6 min 34 s48:28on YouTube
2017 · 3
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Could seeing figures or faces that are not there be a brain condition rather than a jinn?
Yes: palinopsia makes after-images persist and Charles Bonnet syndrome makes an overactive fusiform gyrus produce faces, teeth and buildings, as Oliver Sacks's patient saw men with long teeth while knowing they were not real. In the past such visions could only be explained as demons.
machine3 min 55 s1:27:25on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
If someone got better after ruqya or an exorcism, does that prove it worked?
Not necessarily: the placebo and nocebo effects produce real relief and real symptoms, as Kaptchuk's trial with cornstarch pills and retractable needles showed. Some patients would also have recovered anyway and are counted as cures.
machine3 min 56 s1:31:20on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Could strange symptoms blamed on jinn have medical explanations?
Yes: face blindness, mirror-touch synaesthesia, phantom limbs, alien hand syndrome, the Capgras delusion, hemispatial neglect, aphantasia and foreign accent syndrome are all documented conditions that the past could only call demons. Blaming the unexplained on jinn is a 'jinn of the gaps'; the Prophet's hadith on cures says go and find the knowledge.
machine7 min 56 s1:37:52on YouTube