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Mutawatir and certainty
33 segments in 15 recordings · 2018 to 2025 · 0 verified · 20 checked positions · hadith/mutawatir-and-epistemology · Feed
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 18 Oct 2025
18 Oct 2025MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestIs the Quran-only position an argument from epistemology or from principle?
The guest says the Quran-only position rests on principle, since God refers earlier communities only to their books, and is confirmed by epistemology, since hadith are contradictory and insulting; Quranists reject the religious authority of hadith, not history or narrations as such.
machine6 min 51 s18:31on YouTube
Earlier answers · 32 · newest first
2021 · 12
14 Mar 2021video
What does Yasir Qadhi claim about the hadith on Jesus's return being mutawatir?
Qadhi's clip claims the hadith of the return are too numerous to discount, narrated from about ten companions, held to be mutawatir and found in dozens of theological works, including those of the Maliki school's leading figures. Mufti Abu Layth responds with sarcasm and says the reply is still to come.
machine5 min 16 s10:34on YouTube
14 Mar 2021video
What does Yasir Qadhi say about the claim that the return of Jesus came from Judeo-Christian sources?
Qadhi's clip calls the claim that the return of Jesus entered Islam from Judeo-Christian sources through Wahb, Ka'b or al-Zuhri a preposterous charge without evidence that would mean the faith was corrupted and the ummah misguided for fourteen centuries. Mufti Abu Layth asks listeners to remember these words.
machine2 min 34 s30:17on YouTube
14 Mar 2021video
Did Yasir Qadhi say that majority scholarly opinion rests on socio-political factors?
In the clip Qadhi says correct opinion is independent of the names and number of scholars and that dominant positions rest on socio-political factors such as the Ghaznavids, the Hanbalis of Baghdad and the Seljuks. Mufti Abu Layth says this is exactly what modernists say and contradicts Qadhi's appeal to the giants on the return of Jesus.
machine3 min 57 s1:01:57on YouTube
14 Mar 2021video
Is there really ijma that Jesus will return, and did Muhammad Abduh invent the denial?
Mufti Abu Layth says none of Qadhi's claims hold: not one of the hundred narrations is sound, Ibn Hazm recorded Muslim disagreement on the return nine centuries ago, major creed works omit it, and the Maliki authorities Qadhi cites held the reports not to be mutawatir. He announces a reply series, Disclosure with a big D.
machine5 min 13 s1:09:48on YouTube
14 Mar 2021video
Can the hadith on Jesus's return be questioned, and how many of them depend on Abu Hurayra?
Reports that go against reason can be questioned, and not one unquestionable hadith establishes the return: eighty percent of them come through Abu Hurayra alone, about half through one man, and the other companions cited are obscure. Mufti Abu Layth promises a continuing series, Disclosure with a big D.
machine3 min 48 s2:13:58on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Are the hadith about Jesus's return mutawatir, as Yasir Qadhi claims?
In the clip Qadhi says the hadith on Jesus's return are mutawatir, found in dozens of tafsir and creed works and held by the Maliki authorities; Mufti Abu Layth answers with sarcasm.
machine5 min 44 s1:13:56on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does Yasir Qadhi say about the return of Jesus coming from Jewish and Christian sources?
In the clip Qadhi calls the claim that the return came from Judeo-Christian sources baseless and says it would destroy Islamic epistemology; Mufti Abu Layth marks his words for later.
machine2 min 43 s1:33:47on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Does the majority of scholars holding a view make it right?
Mufti Abu Layth shows Qadhi saying that majority opinion rests on socio-political factors and that numbers do not make a view right, against his own appeal to the giants on the second coming.
machine4 min 09 s2:05:05on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is there really scholarly consensus that Jesus will return?
Mufti Abu Layth rejects Qadhi's claims one by one: the Quran does not suggest a return, no narration is sound, Ibn Hazm recorded disagreement on it, and the Maliki authorities did not hold the reports to be mutawatir.
machine5 min 21 s2:12:52on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Can the hadith about Jesus's return be questioned?
No report on the return is beyond question: about eighty percent come through Abu Hurayra and about half through one narrator, none from Abu Bakr, Umar or Ali; the series will continue.
machine3 min 41 s3:17:49on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did the debate with Dr Abdullah Abdul Majid answer the BukhariGate challenge?
Mufti Abu Layth says the discussion did not settle BukhariGate but strengthened it, since doubts about the book's transmission mean reports contradicting reason or the Quran should be set aside.
machine5 min 14 s1:16:45on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
If a hadith is also in other books besides Bukhari, does that confirm it?
Not necessarily: he says transmitters and editors, often with good intentions, aligned names and texts with versions they knew, as Ahmad Shakir did in al-Muhalla, so parallel versions may not be independent.
machine7 min 51 s1:56:22on YouTube
2020 · 5
19 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
How was the Quran preserved: by memory or in writing?
The Quran was preserved primarily by thousands of companions memorising it and passing it on generation to generation, which is what tawatur means; writing was secondary and always needed a hafiz's testimony.
machine3 min 55 s17:05on YouTube
19 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Is the hadith that the Quran was revealed in seven ahruf authentic, and what does it mean?
The guest says the seven-ahruf hadith is ambiguous, as al-Suyuti admitted, that its forty-odd interpretations are inconsistent and its versions unsoundly reported and contradictory, so they cancel each other out. He refrains from guessing what the Prophet originally said.
machine5 min 12 s38:06on YouTube
19 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
How did the seven canonical readings of the Quran come about?
In the second and third centuries leading reciters were given the privilege of ikhtiyar, choosing one of the inherited variants for each verse by their own criteria, and Ibn Mujahid later popularised seven of them. Mufti Abu Layth says he agrees these readings are not mutawatir and not on the level of the common reading.
machine5 min 16 s53:49on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Can a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari be questioned?
Sahih means Bukhari and Muslim verified the chains, which says little about the content, since reliable narrators still err and insert explanations; only the few mutawatir reports, mostly practices like the number of units in prayer, are beyond doubt. Mufti Abu Layth says he believes all the hadith on Aisha's age are weak.
machine6 min 33 s55:51on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Can Sahih al-Bukhari be proven to be the book Imam al-Bukhari wrote?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that what is really mutawatir is the living tradition, not any hadith, and that Sahih al-Bukhari cannot be proven to be Bukhari's exact book since it rests on one unvouched transmitter, Farabri. Each report should therefore be weighed against reason, the Quran and the principles of Islam like any other hadith.
machine3 min 59 s1:01:06on YouTube
2019 · 1
28 Sep 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Why the Quran could not be corrupted like hadith, and the fashion for chains
Corrupting the Quran was next to impossible because it was recited en masse everywhere; hadith, written down a century later, were easy to fabricate, and chains for the Quran came later as a fashion.
machine10 min 59 s12:47on YouTube
2018 · 14
30 Nov 2018Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Why do some scholars still insist Aisha was nine?
Lacking an earlier authority is no reason to keep the young age, since medieval scholars also accepted slavery and other rulings no one would defend today. No hadith gives certain knowledge, so an inconclusive report that blemishes the Prophet's honour is rejected.
machine4 min 36 s15:43on YouTube
20 Oct 2018Responding to Refutations
What are the three points of Yasir Qadhi's khutbah on orthodoxy, and is hadith certain knowledge?
The khutbah's three points are that reinterpreting the Quran through reason or science is heresy, that doubting the hadith sources is heresy, and that a radical new interpretation amounts to claiming prophethood. Mufti Abu Layth agrees that rejecting hadith wholesale is wrong but says the hadith quoted for it is weak and that hadith is khabar ahad, not certain knowledge.
machine6 min 33 s3:53on YouTube
20 Oct 2018Responding to Refutations
Is hadith the same as the sunnah, and is hadith certain knowledge?
The sunnah is distinct from hadith and reaches Muslims through the living tradition of fiqh, not from hadith books. Hadith are khabar ahad, not certain knowledge, so the Ash'ari and Maturidi orthodoxy does not build beliefs on them, and the Hanafis and Malikis reject solitary reports that contradict reason or their principles.
machine6 min 35 s1:13:18on 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
If a mutawatir hadith has to be reinterpreted, what does that say about hadith transmission?
Mufti Abu Layth says that because its defenders must reinterpret a report they call mutawatir, the transmission system itself is shown to be fallible rather than airtight.
machine7 min 49 s7:54on 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
10 May 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Can a life be taken on the basis of a doubtful hadith?
There is no verse and no conclusively established hadith for killing apostates, and a life, whose sanctity is conclusive, cannot be taken on isolated reports that carry doubt; defending it while demanding religious freedom in the West is a double standard.
machine5 min 17 s48:25on YouTube
1 Apr 2018Islamic Eschatology
On what principles can a hadith in Bukhari be rejected, and may ordinary Muslims do so?
A valid chain is not enough: a report must not go against reason, the established Quran and Sunnah, or the principles of Islam, and the Hanafi-Maturidi majority require mutawatir hadith for creed. Lay people may suspend a hadith that troubles them while seeking guidance; the gecko hadith is given as a report Mufti Abu Layth considers made up.
machine3 min 55 s18:17on YouTube
15 Mar 2018Responding to Refutations
Does Quran 43:61 say Jesus is the sign of the hour?
No: Hasan al-Basri read 'knowledge of the hour' as the Quran, others as the Prophet, and the verse says knowledge, not sign, so the critics must interpret it too. Mufti Abu Layth adds that the Mahdi was also called mutawatir by Ibn Hajar, al-Shawkani and others yet is absent from al-Tahawi's creed.
machine2 min 36 s10:26on YouTube
15 Mar 2018Responding to Refutations
What are the main problems with the hadith about Jesus returning?
Mufti Abu Layth says the return narrations conflict with the Quran, the Sunnah and Islam's principles, rest on solitary reports that cannot found aqidah, and contradict one another, from Constantinople to who the Dajjal is. He notes that the hadith of Jibril on faith and the Prophet's answers on the signs of the hour do not mention Jesus.
machine2 min 07 s15:42on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
Isn't the return of Jesus established by ijma and mutawatir hadith?
There is no consensus on what ijma is, and tawatur is applied selectively: the same scholars reject the Gospels, Hindu miracle reports and Shia transmissions that would qualify by their own definition.
machine3 min 54 s1:34:43on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
Anwar Shah Kashmiri's claim of ijma, and the scholars who rejected the return
Kashmiri's compilation of over a hundred return hadith contains mostly weak reports by his own count, and a line of Azhar and other scholars from Abduh to Muhammad al-Ghazali rejected the second coming.
machine2 min 38 s1:47:50on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
Shawkani against claimed consensus: music, following a madhhab, four wives, raf' al-yadayn
Those who cite Shawkani's claim that the return is mutawatir do not follow him when he rejects other consensuses or calls raf' al-yadayn mutawatir; claimed consensuses have been overturned before.
machine3 min 55 s1:53:04on YouTube
21 Feb 2018Responding to Refutations
Can a hadith narrated by Jabir alone be mutawatir?
No: mutawatir requires so many transmissions that a lie is impossible, which a report from Jabir alone cannot be, and he says the report is not even sahih. He defends following the critics who weakened the narrator rather than those who graded him reliable.
machine5 min 01 s19:41on YouTube