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Views on contemporary scholars
113 segments in 56 recordings · 2017 to 2023 · 0 verified · 17 checked positions · dialogue/views-on-contemporary-scholars · Feed
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 22 Feb 2023
22 Feb 2023video
LatestShould scholars publicly condemn a scholar said to have joined in a libation ritual?
Mufti Abu Layth does not think people have to condemn the scholar; to Mufti, pouring some water at a protest, as the scholar says he did without knowing the ritual's history, is not a big deal.
machine8 min 47 s5:12on YouTube
Earlier answers · 112 · newest first
2023 · 1
6 Feb 2023video
Is Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza consistent in how he criticises hadith?
Not fully, says Mufti Abu Layth: Engineer Mirza's rational critique of others' hadith stops short of scrutinising how sahih hadith were authenticated. Mufti still calls him a legend and a much-needed voice.
machine8 min 28 s0:01on YouTube
2022 · 1
19 Feb 2022video
LatestWhat do you think of the rational readings of the Quran on the Marvelous Quran channel?
Mufti Abu Layth welcomes his fresh, reason-based approach to the Quran but does not agree with some readings he understood from him, such as Zakariya being the father of Jesus.
machine6 min 59 s0:00on YouTube
2021 · 38
17 May 2021video
LatestAre Bin Bayyah and Hamza Yusuf to blame for the UAE's deal with Israel?
No, in Mufti Abu Layth's view: the UAE's ruler does not take direction from scholars, Bin Bayyah is said to have disliked the treaty while deferring to the ruler's decision, and Hamza Yusuf had nothing to do with it. He opens with condolences for the losses in Gaza.
machine3 min 58 s1:22on YouTube
17 May 2021video
Why does Mufti Abu Layth compare the Palestinian situation to facing a knife?
His escrima teacher's rule was to run from a knife and fight only when running is impossible, and he applies it to an enemy that will not back down. He repeats that the UAE deal has brought nothing and that Bin Bayyah and Hamza Yusuf should not be blamed for it.
machine3 min 57 s18:30on YouTube
27 Apr 2021video
Does today's Hanafi madhhab reflect Imam Abu Hanifa?
Not in spirit: Mufti Abu Layth calls later Hanafi rulings fossilised and pedantic, behind the sectarian attacks on Shaykh Aslam, and praises Shaykh Atabek as a fresh voice.
machine4 min 23 s0:00on YouTube
13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Adnan Ibrahim?
Mufti Abu Layth admires Adnan Ibrahim as a voice of reason in the Arabic-speaking world whose message is close to his own and who is what a real imam should be.
machine2 min 38 s1:59:15on YouTube
16 Mar 2021video
What does the Mufti think of Shaykh Dedew?
Mufti Abu Layth has a soft spot for Shaykh Dedew and finds some of his fatawa very interesting, though he is critical in some things and dogmatic in others. Take the critical things from him and stay open-minded on the dogmatic ones.
machine1 min 25 s0:00on YouTube
14 Mar 2021video
What has Yasir Qadhi said about challenging the giants of the Islamic tradition?
A clip circulated by a critic shows Qadhi saying that even the giants' views should not matter to a true researcher and that scholarship has become regurgitation. Mufti Abu Layth notes that the critic accuses Qadhi of exactly what Qadhi accuses Mufti of.
machine3 min 58 s57:59on YouTube
10 Mar 2021video
LatestCan I have a close non-Muslim friend and answer his salam?
Mufti Abu Layth rejects as ignorance and nonsense the view that a Muslim cannot have a close non-Muslim friend or return his greeting. Assim al-Hakeem's answer in the clip, that only acquaintances are allowed and a non-Muslim's salam gets a smile at most, is the view being replied to.
machine5 min 20 s2:37on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is the great love Muslims have for the Prophet a kind of prophet worship?
Muslims' love for the Prophet is not prophet worship: people need a human figure to love, and for Muslims it is the Prophet, though praying to him is wrong. He strongly disagrees with the shaykh and calls it an unnecessary battle.
machine8 min 56 s48:28on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Has Yasir Qadhi said that the views of great scholars should not bind a researcher?
Mufti Abu Layth plays a clip of Qadhi urging researchers to break from inherited scholarship, and notes that the critic sharing it accuses Qadhi of the modernism Qadhi charges others with.
machine3 min 16 s2:01:49on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is Mohammed Hijab breaking away from the Salafis?
Mufti Abu Layth thinks Hijab's point against the fatwa is fair, though his language was crude and not Mufti's style, and welcomes what he sees as Hijab outgrowing Salafism.
machine6 min 20 s3:27:30on YouTube
22 Feb 2021video
Did the Prophet say he would kill the lineage of the first Khariji?
Mufti Abu Layth says the speaker, carried away defending the Saudi rulers, attributed to the Prophet words he did not say: in the hadith the Prophet stopped Umar from killing the man. Respect for the Prophet comes before kings.
machine4 min 31 s6:10on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Tonight's clips under the microscope, and a project coming soon
Mufti Abu Layth previews the clips he will respond to tonight, on ear piercing, non-Muslim friends, the Khawarij and drugs, and says a new project is coming soon.
machine3 min 36 s7:30on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does the Mufti think of Fethullah Gulen?
Mufti Abu Layth says he knows little about Gulen beyond his influential network of schools with an Islamic ethos, and will read up on him.
machine1 min 09 s59:27on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did the Prophet tell people to drink camel urine as medicine?
Mufti Abu Layth says camel urine is not medicine and the Prophet never really told anyone to drink it; the report is weak in its chain and, if taken at all, reads as a rebuke.
machine6 min 30 s1:26:20on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Why is quoting science to defend hadith like camel urine risky?
Mufti Abu Layth says Hijab cannot yet leave his Salafi audience, and that using science to prove absurd claims usually backfires, as with camel-urine research and earlier polemics.
machine5 min 47 s1:32:50on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
A mufti's clip on ear piercing: 'decency', 'manipulation' and muthla
Mufti Abu Layth mocks a mufti's argument that piercing beyond the earlobe is abnormal and amounts to muthla, saying muthla means disfiguring a body, not piercing it.
machine7 min 45 s1:53:05on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Can a Muslim have a close non-Muslim friend?
Mufti Abu Layth calls the teaching that Muslims cannot have close non-Muslim friends ignorance and venom that makes the deen suffer.
machine5 min 30 s2:03:51on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did the Prophet say he would kill the first Khariji's descendants?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet never said 'I will kill his lineage'; in the Bukhari report he stopped Umar from killing the man, so the clip misrepresents the Prophet to defend rulers.
machine10 min 37 s2:13:51on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does the Mufti think of Shaykh Dedew, and did Imam Ahmad dislike Abu Hanifa?
Imam Ahmad did say harsh things about Abu Hanifa, he says; of Shaykh Dedew, take his critical views and stay open-minded on his dogmatic ones.
machine2 min 25 s2:24:25on YouTube
2 Feb 2021video
Did Shadee Elmasry mistranslate Ibn Ashur on purpose?
Mufti Abu Layth says the mistranslation shows either incompetence in Arabic or deliberate misleading.
machine1 min 53 s21:10on YouTube
2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What do you think of Abdur Rahman Mangera?
Mufti Abu Layth calls Abdur Rahman Mangera very talented and respectful, but says his thinking is ultimately closed Deobandi thinking.
machine3 min 55 s1:03:47on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
What happened when Shaykh Atabek wrote to Mufti Taqi Usmani about mortgages?
The guest says his respectful open letter to Mufti Taqi Usmani on mortgages got no reply, only an abusive reaction from students, which he does not think the mufti ordered.
machine5 min 45 s33:53on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Could a senior scholar ever publicly change his fatwa on mortgages?
Mufti Abu Layth doubts the jurist could ever publicly accept the guest's view; the guest says almost no scholar is fully independent of politics, audience or salary.
machine7 min 11 s40:13on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does the Mufti think of Pir Naseeruddin Naseer?
Mufti Abu Layth says Pir Naseeruddin Naseer was a widely respected authority across the spectrum of Sunnis.
machine1 min 20 s1:15:25on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
The snowman fatwas: building a snowman as an idol, or permitted by the dolls hadith
Mufti Abu Layth plays and mocks two fatwas on snowmen, one calling them idols and one permitting them by a hadith about dolls, saying such reasoning makes Muslims a laughing stock.
machine6 min 49 s1:45:37on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does the Mufti think of Dr Umar Faruq Abdullah?
Mufti Abu Layth calls Dr Umar Faruq Abdullah exceptionally talented, with remarkable Arabic, but says his later turn to a pir-style spiritual role wastes that talent.
machine6 min 33 s2:40:53on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Dawah Man on intimacy positions, citing Ibn al-Qayyim, played and mocked
Mufti Abu Layth plays and mocks a preacher's advice, attributed to Ibn al-Qayyim, against the woman-on-top position as encouraging femininity in men.
machine6 min 33 s2:59:20on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Will you ever do a Mind Trap with Mohammed Hijab?
Mufti Abu Layth would welcome Mohammed Hijab on Mind Trap but doubts he would risk it, and would be glad to host Shaykh Imran Hosein.
machine3 min 41 s21:27on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Does joking and laughing a lot mean I lack high aspiration?
Mufti Abu Layth rejects a preacher's claim that joking and laughing show low aspiration, calling laughter the very definition of happiness and joy.
machine4 min 49 s29:53on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Has Zaytuna College limited what Hamza Yusuf can say?
Mufti Abu Layth says Hamza Yusuf's rise was remarkable but that Zaytuna now constrains him, so he avoids anything controversial; Mufti prefers his own freedom.
machine6 min 20 s1:37:44on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What do you think of a particular Salafi preacher?
From what he has heard, he says the preacher is generally level-headed and balanced within the Salafi dawah, though he has not followed him closely.
machine2 min 33 s30:07on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What do you think of Shaykh al-Sha'rawi?
His thoughts on al-Sha'rawi are positive, though he says he has not been influenced by him.
machine46 s50:44on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What do you think of Harun Yahya and his books?
Mufti Abu Layth says Harun Yahya's scientific-miracles books spread a lot of wrong information, and mocks the 1,000-year sentence given to Adnan Oktar.
machine8 min 06 s51:30on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Why do clever preachers stay stuck in dogmatism?
Mufti Abu Layth says knowing a lot is not the same as reasoning well; much of the dogmatist scene relies on rote learning, and Zakir Naik has done Islam real damage.
machine6 min 55 s1:51:38on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Will you invite Javed Ahmad Ghamidi onto Mind Trap?
Mufti Abu Layth says, as his personal view, that Ghamidi himself is down to earth, but the team around him is protective and hard to reach; Dr Shehzad Saleem is the exception.
machine8 min 05 s2:11:08on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What do you think of a particular online activist?
Mufti Abu Layth warns that anyone who says Muslims need to take over the world should set alarm bells ringing.
machine3 min 12 s2:19:51on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Dawah Man on pigs, wife-sharing and handshakes, played and mocked
Mufti Abu Layth plays and mocks Dawah Man's claims about pigs and handshakes, and says shaking hands is not haram.
machine6 min 17 s1:00:54on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Do Shia scholars treat ordinary people better than Salafi scholars do?
The problem lies in the extremes of both; from the few clips he has seen he cannot promote Ammar Nakshawani, though he may be wrong.
machine2 min 26 s2:14:41on YouTube
2020 · 48
16 Dec 2020video
Is football really more haram than alcohol and gambling?
Mufti Abu Layth calls a fatwa that football is more haram than alcohol and gambling the most ridiculous he has seen recently.
machine2 min 52 s0:02on YouTube
11 Dec 2020video
Did Zakir Naik say masturbation is not haram?
Zakir Naik has said masturbation is not haram but only discouraged. Mufti Abu Layth says those who preached it as haram for decades owe people an admission and an apology, and ridicules the view that only one's own hand makes it haram.
machine5 min 36 s0:01on YouTube
21 Nov 2020video
Why do popular preachers promote belief in jinn possession?
Mufti Abu Layth will answer Omar Suleiman's clip as a prime example of preachers promoting superstition; he says they appease the market that buys their commodity.
machine2 min 39 s0:02on YouTube
21 Nov 2020video
The clip: Omar Suleiman on jinn possession, the riba verse and disobedience
In the clip Omar Suleiman says jinn possession is real and affirmed by the riba verse, that most imams have seen supernatural cases, and that disobedience, especially leaving prayer and riba, removes Allah's protection and invites possession.
machine3 min 53 s2:41on YouTube
21 Nov 2020video
Can there be a balanced view on whether jinn possess people?
A supernatural claim cannot be balanced; possession is either real or not. If disobedience, missing prayer and riba invited possession, most of the globe would be possessed.
machine5 min 15 s6:34on YouTube
21 Nov 2020video
Is Omar Suleiman trained as a scholar, and will anyone debate Mufti Abu Layth on jinn possession?
Mufti Abu Layth challenges any shaykh to debate jinn possession on his show and says Omar Suleiman, though commendable for his civil rights work, is not trained as a scholar or qualified to give rulings.
machine4 min 27 s49:49on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
A clip of Shaykh Hassan Ali on the evil eye from loved ones
A played clip in which Shaykh Hassan Ali says the evil eye can come even from loving relatives, with a story about his own son.
machine2 min 41 s0:00on YouTube
5 Nov 2020video
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf?
Mufti Abu Layth loves Hamza Yusuf as an icon for Western Muslims and a key inspiration for his own studies, while disagreeing with his neo-traditionalist views. He adds second-hand reports that his personal manner can seem unwelcoming, and says their personalities would probably not match.
machine5 min 54 s0:00on YouTube
20 Oct 2020video
Why do preachers attack views in public that they tolerate in private?
Most preachers are controlled by the crowd that follows them: the same figures who are friendly off camera attack Mufti Abu Layth on camera because their followers expect it. Al-Farabri likewise took an opportunity that brought fame, which does not oblige others to be blind.
machine3 min 56 s6:37on YouTube
12 Oct 2020video
Is the preacher Muhammad ibn Munir actually a qualified mufti?
Mufti Abu Layth says Mufti Munir turned out not to be a certified mufti, the title being a nickname, but seems a cool, funny and charismatic person he would like to host.
machine4 min 23 s0:00on YouTube
22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Mufti Abu Layth rates Dawah Man's video marketing
Mufti Abu Layth rates Dawah Man's marketing and production as clever, while saying his religion is skewed.
machine3 min 16 s2:21:50on YouTube
22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Clip: a Dawah Man and Daniel Haqiqatjou interview that calls Omar Suleiman a fasiq
A clip in which Dawah Man and Daniel Haqiqatjou call Omar Suleiman a fasiq, which Mufti Abu Layth introduces as part of the Pagan-gate row.
machine1 min 55 s2:25:06on YouTube
22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What is the Pagan-gate row about Omar Suleiman?
Mufti Abu Layth sees Pagan-gate as a power game: imams may seek status, but wrapping it in high religiosity is what invites attacks like this.
machine6 min 50 s2:27:01on YouTube
22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Clip: Daniel Haqiqatjou's video on the libation ritual
A clip, played by Mufti Abu Layth, in which Daniel Haqiqatjou accuses Omar Suleiman of joining a pagan libation ritual and calls his denial deceptive.
machine5 min 10 s2:33:51on YouTube
22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did the scholars now attacking Daniel Haqiqatjou once promote him?
Mufti Abu Layth says Daniel Haqiqatjou's critics in Omar Suleiman's circle created and promoted him for years, so they cannot now claim they did not know him.
machine10 min 03 s2:39:01on YouTube
22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is it haram to take part in another religion's rituals, like eating prasad at a gurdwara?
Mufti Abu Layth would personally avoid ritual-filled protests, but says joining another faith's rituals to experience them is not haram or shirk, as intention decides.
machine7 min 49 s2:49:43on YouTube
2 Sep 2020video
What did Daniel Haqiqatjou say about Yasir Qadhi calling verses mushkil?
In a clip, Daniel Haqiqatjou argues that Yasir Qadhi's explanation of 'problematic' verses as mushkil fails, since he says mushkil classically means ambiguous, not at odds with reason or science.
machine2 min 37 s0:00on YouTube
2 Sep 2020video
What is the background to the feud between Daniel Haqiqatjou and Jonathan Brown?
The feud goes back to Haqiqatjou's dismissal from Yaqeen Institute and his replacement by Jonathan Brown; Mufti Abu Layth says Haqiqatjou has since accused Yaqeen of selling out, and he calls his views extreme.
machine2 min 34 s2:37on YouTube
2 Sep 2020video
Does mushkil mean ambiguous or problematic?
Both sides have a point: mushkil was used technically for texts needing reconciliation and for the indeterminable, while Yasir Qadhi most likely meant it simply as 'problematic'.
machine4 min 06 s6:30on YouTube
2 Sep 2020video
What does Mufti Abu Layth make of the Brown and Haqiqatjou dispute over mushkil?
Mufti Abu Layth says Brown tends to nitpick Arabic instead of engaging the argument, rejects Haqiqatjou's claim that his credentials are irrelevant, and calls both sides strangely dogmatic.
machine4 min 39 s9:17on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is it a problem that Muslim scholars today have no secular education?
Mufti Abu Layth agrees secular education matters but says it is no cure for obsession, and holds that other people being gay does not make anyone gay.
machine7 min 23 s1:03:21on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is it right to attack critics of Islam personally?
Mufti Abu Layth says Mohammed Hijab bears some responsibility for provoking the Quran-tearing, and urges Muslims to attack arguments, not people and their families.
machine5 min 36 s1:35:34on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Are Abdullah bin Bayyah and Hamza Yusuf to blame for the UAE-Israel deal?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is unfair to blame Abdullah bin Bayyah and Hamza Yusuf for the UAE-Israel deal, since the UAE's ruler does not care what scholars think.
machine4 min 30 s1:41:10on YouTube
19 Aug 2020Responding to Refutations
What did the leak of Yasir Qadhi's emails on the Quran's preservation lead to?
The leak of Yasir Qadhi's emails set off a fitna in which people doubted or left Islam, and Yasir Qadhi's own explanation made it worse. Being clever and well-read does not make someone an academic.
machine3 min 07 s8:46on YouTube
4 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Will there be a discussion with someone from Hizb ut-Tahrir?
Mufti Abu Layth says he does not respect Hizb ut-Tahrir but respects one of its members personally and will reach out for a discussion.
machine54 s1:23:35on YouTube
4 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of a young Leicester mufti?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Leicester mufti seems enlightened but, like others from his background, is too worried about backlash to speak out.
machine2 min 40 s2:00:05on YouTube
4 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of preachers linked to extremism?
Mufti Abu Layth says extremist sympathisers are poison and that he retracted earlier praise of one preacher after learning of his past.
machine3 min 49 s2:19:29on YouTube
4 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is it haram to shake hands with women?
Mufti Abu Layth defends a preacher caught on camera shaking a girl's hand and says shaking hands with women is not haram anyway.
machine1 min 54 s2:39:37on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
What do you think of the scholars on Mohammed Hijab's podcast?
Mufti Abu Layth says those now promoted as representatives of mainstream Islam have only mediocre knowledge, while those with more knowledge, like himself, lack the image.
machine2 min 32 s43:29on YouTube
10 Jul 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Who did Shaykh Omar Baloch study with?
The guest describes studying with Dr Israr Ahmed from the age of about thirteen and then with Imran Hosein in New York.
machine5 min 48 s3:50on YouTube
10 Jul 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
What is Imran Hosein's approach, and why did he disagree with Israr Ahmed?
Mufti Abu Layth praises Imran Hosein's stand on the age of Aisha but finds his outlook almost conspiratorial; the guest says Imran Hosein and Israr Ahmed fell out over eschatology.
machine4 min 54 s9:38on YouTube
29 Jun 2020video
Is alcohol under forty percent permissible, as a Pakistani mufti reportedly said?
Mufti Abu Layth says he cannot tell what the mufti meant: forty percent strength would be ridiculous, a diluted drink might rest on the Hanafi view on nabidh, and the cigarette analogy made no sense to him. He wants to hear the mufti's explanation before judging.
machine4 min 40 s1:13on YouTube
19 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Is the Quran preserved exactly as it was revealed?
The guest says the Quran is preserved absolutely, dot for dot and in the revealed order, and that the other readings need a separate explanation; preservation in its original language is what distinguishes it from the Bible. His view develops Farahi's thesis as transmitted through Islahi and Ghamidi.
machine6 min 33 s13:10on YouTube
17 Jun 2020video
What did Yasir Qadhi say to Mohammed Hijab about the preservation of the Quran?
In Mufti Abu Layth's account, Yasir Qadhi said there were 'huge problems' with the preservation of the Quran, discussed only the problem and not the answer, and pointed people to his paid course. Mufti himself says the standard narrative has holes and leaves pressing questions unanswered.
machine2 min 36 s0:00on YouTube
17 Jun 2020video
Why does he say the backlash against Yasir Qadhi is his own doing?
Mufti Abu Layth says Qadhi and Hijab built the refutation culture that has now turned on them, and that a shaykh who calls Halloween, Christmas greetings, music and the beard too controversial should not open with the preservation of the Quran.
machine3 min 57 s6:27on YouTube
9 Jun 2020video
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Hasan Farhan al-Maliki?
Mufti Abu Layth admires Hasan Farhan al-Maliki's open-minded rejection of folkloric Islam but disagrees with his dismissive, Shia-inclined stance on companions such as Mu'awiya.
machine2 min 24 s0:00on YouTube
29 May 2020video
Was the arrest of Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza justified?
No: Mufti Abu Layth calls the arrest unacceptable and the product of jealousy and sectarianism, praising Engineer Mirza as an open-minded scholar.
machine3 min 07 s0:00on YouTube
28 Apr 2020video
The backlash to Maulana Tariq Jamil's dua on media, modesty and the pandemic, and the clip
Mufti Abu Layth sets out the controversy over Maulana Tariq Jamil's dua, in which he criticised media lies and spoke of modesty, reads critics who called it misogynistic, and plays the clip.
machine5 min 59 s0:00on YouTube
28 Apr 2020video
Did Maulana Tariq Jamil blame women for the coronavirus?
Mufti Abu Layth did not feel Tariq Jamil was blaming women for the pandemic; he heard a call to self-examination in a calamity. Despite disagreements, he supports him as a caring voice for unity and reflection.
machine3 min 53 s5:59on YouTube
28 Apr 2020video
Is it wrong to preach modesty to society?
There is nothing wrong with a message about modesty: like avoiding profanity in front of children, social propriety has a place even when one disagrees on details. Tariq Jamil's apology, he says, was big of him.
machine2 min 20 s9:52on YouTube
6 Apr 2020video
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi?
Mufti Abu Layth regards Shaykh al-Yaqoubi as a level-headed scholar who has spoken against extremism and would point someone set on joining a Sufi order to a figure like him, while thinking his admirers overdo it. He himself once took issue with al-Yaqoubi's statements on Bukhari.
machine2 min 37 s0:00on YouTube
6 Apr 2020video
What was in the letter attacking Shaykh al-Yaqoubi, and who sent it?
A Bradford-based board wrote to Shaykh al-Yaqoubi demanding he declare Shia, Deobandi and Salafi figures kafir and condemn The Study Quran and Hamza Yusuf, which Mufti Abu Layth calls a sectarian bullying session. He recognised only two signatories and was surprised to see Pir Saqib Shaami's name.
machine5 min 14 s2:37on YouTube
6 Apr 2020video
Why does Mufti Abu Layth say both the attackers and the admirers of Shaykh al-Yaqoubi need balance?
People cannot be bullied into beliefs, and al-Yaqoubi has rightly not responded to the letter. But his admirers also need balance: claims that he performs miracles or read the Shama'il in four hours go too far and provoke hatred of him.
machine3 min 56 s11:31on YouTube
6 Apr 2020video
Why is demanding that a scholar make takfir a form of bullying?
It is bullying because it pushes a sectarian agenda by threatening to declare al-Yaqoubi a deviant or a kafir for refusing to pronounce on others' beliefs. The deen belongs to Allah, and it is nobody's duty to expel people from it.
machine1 min 25 s15:27on YouTube
22 Mar 2020On Current Events
Abdul Raheem Limbada and the dream of the coronavirus as a man
Mufti Abu Layth mocks a preacher's account of a dream in which the coronavirus appeared as a man sent to punish, calling it nonsense that people are preaching and sharing.
machine10 min 12 s0:01on YouTube
3 Mar 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
What does the Mufti think of Shaykh Ramadan al-Buti?
Mufti Abu Layth regards al-Buti as a great scholar of his time whose books, especially Ma'a al-Nas, he benefited from. He says it is a shame al-Buti got caught up in Syrian politics.
machine1 min 24 s0:00on YouTube
17 Jan 2020Responding to Refutations
Reaction to Daniel Haqiqatjou's post about Mufti Menk writing 'Almighty' instead of 'Allah'
Mufti Abu Layth mocks Daniel Haqiqatjou's complaint that Mufti Menk tweets 'Almighty' rather than 'Allah' as petty, says Haqiqatjou is not trained in the Sharia, and says he is driven by hostility to the left rather than scholarship.
machine5 min 05 s0:00on YouTube
17 Jan 2020Responding to Refutations
Is it a Sunnah for women to pray in a wardrobe or the innermost room?
The claim that women praying in a wardrobe is a Sunnah rests on a weak, indeed false, hadith that is not a saying of the Prophet. Mufti Abu Layth sees the following of such claims as dogma and herd mentality.
machine2 min 24 s5:05on YouTube
2019 · 15
12 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Mohammed Hijab's aggressive debating style?
Mohammed Hijab is intelligent, articulate and shows maturity of thought, but deliberately shouting at and dominating opponents on the claim that Allah commands harshness towards those who challenge Islam is, if that is what he meant, nonsensical and unacceptable.
machine2 min 38 s0:02on YouTube
12 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Does the Quran forbid Muslims from being friends with non-Muslims who challenge Islam?
The verse about not loving those who oppose Allah was revealed when tribes were confederating to attack the Muslims and concerns loyalty to them, not friendship with non-Muslims. Permission to marry Christians and Jews shows love and friendship with non-Muslims are allowed.
machine3 min 53 s2:40on YouTube
12 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Why does Mufti Abu Layth say Salafis cannot debate atheists without borrowing Ash'ari arguments?
Salafis argue from a standpoint that cannot hold its own against atheists, so Salafi-background debaters end up using Ash'ari and Maturidi arguments. The Hanbalis were literalists, not the theologians of the tradition.
machine1 min 19 s6:33on YouTube
9 Nov 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Shaykh Imran Hosein?
Mufti Abu Layth has not watched much of Imran Hosein but finds him preoccupied with doomsday culture, which he opposes. Islam, he says, is about optimism and seizing the day, as the hadith about carrying on planting when the Hour comes shows, and doom and gloom can fuel death cults.
machine5 min 31 s0:00on YouTube
3 Nov 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Is it a sin for a Muslim woman not to cover her hair?
Contemporary scholars who say covering the hair is not obligatory hold a valid position, and not wearing hijab is an equally valid opinion to wearing it, which Mufti Abu Layth calls good as part of a woman's identity. What the Quran explicitly establishes is modesty, and the choice is a personal journey, not something to impose.
machine2 min 39 s9:10on YouTube
18 Oct 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Mufti Menk?
Mixed: Menk fills a real demand for simple, uplifting stories and is likeable and funny, but Mufti Abu Layth says such preachers spread inauthentic stories and cement false beliefs, and he suspects Menk is less strict than he portrays himself.
machine9 min 15 s0:02on YouTube
19 Sep 2019Responding to Refutations
Islamic institutes, preachers' depth of learning, and passionate converts
Mufti Abu Layth says the preacher was, he believes, referring to the Yaqeen Institute, and that if this is what they promote they need to revisit themselves. He says he respects and applauds Omar Suleiman's social justice work and protests for discriminated communities, but says such preachers have not really studied Islam in depth or qualified through a formal institute, are put on a pedestal by the institution and must then cement it, and were mostly very Wahhabi-inclined at one point. He says Asadullah al-Andalusi [?] once held ridiculous views about killing ex-Muslims and apostates, which he thinks he has since turned away from. He applauds converts for a step he thinks few born Muslims would take, mentioning Hamza Yusuf as one who studied deeply and to whom many are indebted, while noting that some converts with turbulent backgrounds embrace Islam as a cause.
machine3 min 15 s13:07on YouTube
21 Aug 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
How should I deal with religious circles that pressure me into beliefs?
Leave the judgmental bubble of religious circles and be true to your faith and yourself rather than letting people bully you into beliefs. He cites a shaykh attacked for calling for updated thinking and Usama Canon's regret at having deprived himself for fear of what others said.
machine6 min 31 s9:10on YouTube
21 Aug 2019BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Opening: al-Yaqoubi's heated public remarks about Mufti Abu Layth, and the title 'His Eminence'
Al-Yaqoubi criticised Mufti Abu Layth in a public gathering for mocking al-Nawawi, for his remarks on homosexuality and for calling himself a mufti; Mufti says he was surprised and partly flattered, and teases the title 'His Eminence'.
machine2 min 35 s0:00on YouTube
21 Aug 2019BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi?
Mufti Abu Layth likes al-Yaqoubi as one of the more level-headed and knowledgeable pirs, from a family of scholars, though he has only seen his generic talks. He recalls meeting him in Damascus two decades ago as an ordinary, respected academic with no entourage.
machine4 min 01 s2:35on YouTube
21 Aug 2019BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
How did Shaykh al-Yaqoubi become so influential in the UK?
After his earlier UK hosts parted with him, al-Yaqoubi found a devoted following in the Barelvi community of the Midlands and the north, learnt to avoid praising Deobandi scholars, and rose to prominence, wealth and power on its back.
machine3 min 57 s6:36on YouTube
21 Aug 2019BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Does Mufti Abu Layth regard Sufi tariqahs led by pirs as cults?
Mufti Abu Layth says all such tariqahs are in essence cults, though al-Yaqoubi's is a better and less harmful one than the usual exploitative pir. The SKT charity boycott, he says, shows how much power such shaykhs now wield.
machine2 min 36 s10:33on YouTube
21 Aug 2019BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Is al-Yaqoubi's edition of Sahih al-Bukhari really the most authentic copy on earth?
No special claim can rest on being based on the Sultaniyya, Mufti Abu Layth says, since every copy of Bukhari is. He sees the advertising as business, which he does not mind in itself, but calls the tactics problematic.
machine3 min 55 s20:54on YouTube
21 Aug 2019BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Would Mufti Abu Layth debate Shaykh al-Yaqoubi on Sahih al-Bukhari?
Yes: he invites al-Yaqoubi to a civil, respectful discussion because he rejects the claim that Sahih al-Bukhari is impossible to doubt. He expects it will never happen.
machine2 min 15 s24:49on YouTube
17 Aug 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Shaykh Saqib Shaami?
Mufti Abu Layth respects Saqib Shaami for turning people lost to drugs and crime into good human beings and finds his influence in the East unique for a Western-raised shaykh. He sees him as focused on spirituality and tasawwuf rather than academic or contemporary intellectual issues.
machine4 min 47 s0:00on YouTube
2018 · 6
30 Nov 2018Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Was Aisha really nine, as Yaqeen Institute concluded?
Mufti Abu Layth rejects the conclusion that Aisha was six at marriage and nine at its consummation, saying such a marriage would be morally abhorrent and did not happen. He disputes the claim that the question is not a moral one and says the chains of the report are unreliable.
machine6 min 33 s0:00on YouTube
9 Apr 2018The Voice of Reason in Islam
Was Zakir Naik right to dismiss evolution as 'just a theory'?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says Naik's mocking reply to an ex-Muslim did Islam a disservice, and that in science a theory can be an established fact, as with gravity, not merely a hypothesis.
machine3 min 52 s41:47on YouTube
15 Mar 2018Responding to Refutations
Reaction to being called a probable kafir by Shadee Elmasry and others
Mufti Abu Layth rejects being called a probable kafir and apostate by Shadee Elmasry and others, says no pressure can remove him from Islam, and calls the readiness to throw people out of Islam a god complex.
machine2 min 36 s0:00on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
Critics sharing clips of al-Dedew and al-Awni: double standards in scholarship
Critics are circulating old clips and articles by scholars they otherwise reject; Mufti Abu Layth says this is cherry-picking and poor scholarship, and that others have held his view before him.
machine3 min 25 s14:16on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
Reply to Shadee Elmasry and Hamza Maqbool: 'probably an apostate'
Mufti Abu Layth rejects being called a probable apostate: no one can expel him from Islam by pressure, and declaring people kafir over this shows a god complex.
machine2 min 37 s2:03:34on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
Shaykh Abdul Majid's civility; the 'Mufti' remark clarified; music in front of one's daughters
Mufti Abu Layth praises a critic's civility, clarifies that he objects to attacks on his qualification rather than seeking a title, and says that not wanting music or dancing before one's daughters does not make them haram.
machine5 min 16 s2:25:54on YouTube
2017 · 3
29 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
What happened with Nouman Ali Khan and Mahira Khan online?
Two online campaigns in the same week, against Nouman Ali Khan over allegations and against the actress Mahira Khan over a photograph, show the same Muslim attitude to responding, which Mufti Abu Layth sets out to examine.
machine2 min 39 s0:00on YouTube
29 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
Was it wrong to publish the allegations against Nouman Ali Khan?
Releasing ambiguous allegations of abuse against Nouman Ali Khan, later said to concern flirtatious messages, was clear-cut haram and character assassination in Mufti Abu Layth's view. He calls the handling despicable and contrary to the Prophet's message.
machine3 min 57 s2:39on YouTube
29 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
Why does it matter that the word 'abuse' was used about Nouman Ali Khan?
Calling flirtatious messages abuse misuses a word people understand to mean molestation or rape, in Mufti Abu Layth's view, and it was used to destroy a man who made the Quran relevant in English. He calls the campaign coordinated, driven by ulterior motives, and an act of Judas.
machine3 min 54 s32:43on YouTube