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Hadith in legal reasoning and hadith absolutism
33 segments in 23 recordings · 2014 to 2025 · 0 verified · 29 checked positions · hadith/hadith-in-legal-reasoning · Feed
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 18 Oct 2025
18 Oct 2025MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestIs there a middle way between rejecting all hadith and accepting every hadith?
There is a middle way between rejecting hadith and hadith absolutism: Malik and Abu Hanifa distinguished Sunnah from hadith and accepted reports only if they do not contradict reason, the Quran, the living tradition or a principle of Islam. Mufti Abu Layth says Quranists should be met with love, not cornered, and recalls his own past anger.
machine4 min 54 s10:44on YouTube
Earlier answers · 32 · newest first
2023 · 1
19 Apr 2023video
LatestDid Imam Malik reject the hadith he did not act on?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says Imam Malik respected such hadith by recording them in the Muwatta while noting that Madinah did not act on them, a model of hadith relativism he recommends following.
machine6 min 48 s0:01on YouTube
2021 · 4
13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did one of al-Bukhari's teachers call Imam Malik a disbeliever?
Mufti Abu Layth knows of no such takfir by a teacher of al-Bukhari; harsh words against Malik came from a contemporary who objected to his not acting on some sahih hadith.
machine2 min 37 s2:33:20on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Why does the Muwatta contain hadith that Imam Malik did not follow?
Malik included in the Muwatta reports he did not practise, and the only report about Jesus there shows him telling a pig to pass in peace. Mufti Abu Layth reads this as a sign Malik rejected the reports that Jesus will return to kill pigs.
machine5 min 49 s2:25:05on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
What is wijada, and why does it matter for the hadith on killing apostates?
The guest says the apostasy hadith cannot justify killing, since its own wording is not followed and it reaches us only by wijada; Mufti Abu Layth blames the Salafi call for putting raw hadith in place of the madhhabs.
machine4 min 38 s1:06:26on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestDo I lose good deeds if I keep a dog as a pet?
No, owning a dog does not cost you reward; he reads the dog hadith as hygiene measures against diseases like rabies, citing Ibn Rushd al-Jadd.
machine8 min 27 s40:54on YouTube
2020 · 5
22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is drawing lots or playing the lottery haram in Islam?
Mufti Abu Layth says drawing lots is an established principle of the Shari'ah, and that a small lottery stake is not haram, though he does not encourage it.
machine15 min 17 s1:42:38on YouTube
23 Aug 2020video
Why do Salafis ignore Imam Malik's Muwatta?
Mufti Abu Layth feels Salafis struggle with Imam Malik because he is a master of hadith who also rejects hadith that go against established practice. In the Muwatta he narrates a hadith and then says it is not acted upon.
machine1 min 25 s0:00on YouTube
26 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Can hadith be sifted with criteria, or must the whole corpus be rejected?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet's practice survives as a living tradition in fiqh and that he accepts a hadith only if it passes reason, the texts and the principles. The guest replies that narrators who fabricated a stoning verse forfeit all credibility, like a false witness in the Quran.
machine3 min 53 s48:57on YouTube
26 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Does the Quran abrogate its own verses?
The guest denies abrogation, reading 2:106 as about miracles replaced over time, since ayah in the singular never means a verse. Mufti Abu Layth says he is not against abrogation in principle but that 2:106 does not prove it and that no verse was ever lifted from the Quran.
machine9 min 12 s59:27on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Why do Muslims treat reason as the enemy of tradition?
Historically the Ahl al-Hadith defeated the Ahl al-Ra'y, which preserved the tradition but left reason demonised; today reason and tradition must work together. Mufti Abu Layth says asking whether one prefers reason to revelation is a false framing, since the real choice is between one understanding of the Quran and another.
machine5 min 16 s28:36on YouTube
2018 · 13
20 Oct 2018Responding to Refutations
When is a hadith set aside, and is rejecting hadith acceptable?
Mufti Abu Layth is not in favour of rejecting hadith in general, but follows Imam Malik in setting aside a report where it goes against the established tradition, reason, the principles of Islam or the Quran. He calls the khutbah dangerous and regrets what he sees as Qadhi's turn away from reason.
machine2 min 39 s1:23:42on YouTube
20 Sep 2018Clarifying False Hadith Which Insult Islam
What is the war-wager hadith paradox?
Mufti Abu Layth presents the report that the Prophet was commanded to fight people until they believe, which hadith dogmatists call mutawatir, and notes that the same scholars agree no one may be fought merely for disbelief or compelled into Islam.
machine7 min 54 s0:00on YouTube
20 Sep 2018Clarifying False Hadith Which Insult Islam
Why does hadith dogmatism fail, according to the war-wager paradox?
Using the crocodile paradox, he argues that a sound system cannot produce an unsound result, so hadith dogmatism fails and Imam Malik's method should be followed instead.
machine3 min 46 s15:43on YouTube
17 Sep 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Why should Muslims reject the hadith that the Prophet died of poison?
Following Imam Malik, a hadith that contradicts the overall message of the Quran is set aside; Mufti Abu Layth rules the poisoning report false on chain and content and says that calling the Prophet's death a poisoning insults Islam, God and the Prophet.
machine6 min 04 s12:47on YouTube
3 Aug 2018Responding to Refutations
How should Muslims decide which hadith to accept and which to reject?
Follow Imam Malik: accept some hadith and reject others. A report is accepted if it does not clash with reason, the Quran, the transmitted and corroborated Sunnah such as the practice of Madinah, or a principle of Islam; otherwise it is treated with caution.
machine3 min 26 s15:35on YouTube
12 Jun 2018Quick Fiqh!
Do I have to grow a beard?
The beard was the custom of all Arabs, not something the Prophet introduced, and the 'be different from the Jews and Christians' wording is applied selectively, since the same words command dyeing hair and praying in shoes. The Prophet never defined what a beard should look like, and scholars disagree whether the command was binding.
machine4 min 34 s0:00on YouTube
10 May 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Were apostates punished for disbelief or for fighting against Muslims?
The classical punishment targeted apostates who took up arms against the community, not disbelief itself: Umar preferred to restrain and persuade, al-Tahawi tied it to waging war, and the Hanafis exempted women because they were not combatants.
machine7 min 46 s15:42on YouTube
10 May 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Which hadith are used to justify killing apostates, and were the scholars who used them right?
Some scholars did rule that apostates be killed, and he says they were clearly wrong, products of a ruthless age; the time given to apostates in the reports makes sense only as time to withdraw from rebellion.
machine2 min 38 s23:28on YouTube
22 Apr 2018Clarifying False Hadith Which Insult Islam
Can a woman travel without a mahram?
Yes: Mufti Abu Layth says a woman can travel without a mahram, since the ruling was about safety. The reports behind it disagree on how long a journey they mean.
machine9 min 31 s1:12on YouTube
22 Apr 2018Clarifying False Hadith Which Insult Islam
Why did the Prophet say women should not travel without a mahram?
For their safety: Mufti Abu Layth says the limits tracked how far the safe zone around Madinah reached, widening as treaties spread, not a rule to confine women.
machine4 min 27 s23:01on YouTube
22 Apr 2018Clarifying False Hadith Which Insult Islam
What did the Maliki scholars say about women travelling with a safe group?
Mufti Abu Layth cites al-Baji that a woman is safe without a mahram in large caravans and busy highways, and reads Imam Malik's ordering of the hadith as showing they were about safety.
machine4 min 28 s30:39on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
Stop calling Bukhari the most authentic book after the Quran; fiqh preserved the living Sunnah
Sahih al-Bukhari is an excellent effort but should not be called the most authentic book after the Quran; hadith are sifted, while fiqh and the madhhabs carry the Sunnah in living form.
machine3 min 59 s2:21:55on YouTube
2 Jan 2018Responding to Refutations
Refute me with sahih evidence: lying about the Prophet and the charge of misguidance
Mufti Abu Layth invites refutation but only on categorical evidence from the Quran and sahih hadith, and says quoting weak reports falsely attributed to the Prophet is shameful.
machine3 min 55 s36:43on YouTube
2017 · 6
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Premise two: hadith absolutism versus hadith relativism
Scholars were divided from the start between treating every authenticated hadith as binding and reading it against Islam's wider principles. Imam Malik and the school of Madinah left many sound-chained reports they did not hold to be the sunnah.
machine13 min 02 s16:58on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Unacceptable reports in the Sahihayn and judging a hadith by its content
Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim contain some reports scholars reject as wrong, so a report is judged by its content as well as its chain. Their sanctification came centuries later.
machine3 min 58 s30:00on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Why is Aisha's age only being questioned now, and is it just to appease the West?
The age was treated as an issue historically through rulings against marrying girls incapable of marriage, and it is prominent now because Islam faces more scrutiny. Mufti Abu Layth rejects the report with certainty and calls the appeasement charge preposterous.
machine10 min 25 s1:18:33on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Why is the report that Aisha was six and nine so much better known than the others?
The six-and-nine report became prominent as a by-product of hadith absolutism and the later sanctification of Bukhari and Muslim. Ordinary Muslims historically knew only that Aisha was young.
machine7 min 53 s1:27:41on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Can an ordinary Muslim reject a hadith that seems irrational?
An ordinary Muslim should refer puzzling hadith to scholars rather than reject them, but may decline to act on a report that clearly clashes with Islam's universal teachings. Going through the hadith books one by one is not the duty of the unskilled.
machine7 min 50 s1:42:08on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Is judging hadith by their content a modern invention of jurists rather than hadith scholars?
Judging a report by its content is not modern; it goes back to Ibn Abbas and Imam Malik, who left authentic reports they did not hold to be the sunnah. Hadith absolutism displaced it only at times.
machine5 min 13 s1:49:58on YouTube
2014 · 3
12 Apr 2014video
What do the sound hadith about the beard actually say?
Only three hadith on the beard have undisputed chains, and each pairs trimming the moustache with the beard and gives the reason of differing from the Jews and Christians, the Majus or the mushrikin. Many read this as an obligatory command, but Mufti Abu Layth says other hadith show otherwise.
machine4 min 02 s9:16on YouTube
12 Apr 2014video
Is it haram to trim my beard shorter than a fist's length?
Trimming the beard below a fist is not haram according to many great scholars, a well-founded view in the tradition, though others may follow stricter opinions.
machine12 min 48 s0:04on YouTube
12 Mar 2014video
If the madhhabs differ so much, how can they all be valid?
Compare the hadith an imam relied on with the hadith you quote, not the imam's fatwa with the hadith. The schools differ in application under one constitution of Quran and Sunnah, like US states, and learning every ruling from its evidence without a school is impractical.
machine3 min 59 s7:47on YouTube