Topics › History and the Prophet's life
History and the Prophet's life
326 segments in 106 recordings · 2014 to 2025 · 0 verified · 243 checked positions · history
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 18 Oct 2025
18 Oct 2025MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestWhy does Mufti Abu Layth see the Quran-only movement as a reaction of anger?
Mufti Abu Layth sees the Quran-only movement as a reaction of anger, sometimes justified, to hadith that are misused, such as the Bukhari report on Aisha's age, the report on killing apostates and reports used to justify abuse; the question is what Quranists actually mean by rejecting hadith.
machine3 min 12 s7:32on YouTube
Earlier answers · 325 · newest first
2023 · 22
9 May 2023video
Was the Prophet harsh with people?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet was soft and attentive with people and came from mercy, unlike harsh dawah that puts others down.
machine3 min 46 s6:18on YouTube
9 May 2023video
LatestHow did the Prophet balance gentleness and strength?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet was tender, kissing his children, yet firm when safety demanded, riding out alone at night to check on a frightening sound.
machine3 min 05 s10:04on YouTube
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
10 Mar 2023video
Who was Imam Malik and where did he come from?
Imam Malik was born in Madinah around 93 AH into an Arab family of Himyarite origin, with a Companion great-grandfather and a grandfather among the tabi'un.
machine5 min 36 s1:06on YouTube
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
10 Mar 2023video
LatestIs it haram for men to wear earrings?
Early imams including Malik wore earrings as boys; Malik disliked golden earrings for boys because of the gold, not the earring.
machine4 min 57 s13:23on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
LatestHow did Imam Malik come to study religion?
His mother gently steered him from singing to study, and that choice made him one of the most influential figures in Islamic history.
machine4 min 32 s17:40on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
What did Imam Malik's teachers teach him about hadith and Sunnah?
Rabi'a taught him that a practice transmitted by a thousand from a thousand outweighs a hadith passed one from one, the living tradition of Madinah.
machine1 min 15 s22:12on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
Was Imam Malik an ascetic?
No: Imam Malik was a wealthy merchant who enjoyed fine clothes and daily meat, unlike the ascetic tradition, and was criticised for it.
machine2 min 34 s23:27on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
LatestIs the Muwatta of Imam Malik more authentic than Sahih al-Bukhari?
The Muwatta, with Malik's 'golden chain', is arguably the most authentic book of hadith and predates al-Bukhari, though others do not rank it first.
machine5 min 01 s26:01on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
Why did Imam Malik sometimes reject authentic hadith?
Malik would cite a hadith and say Madinah did not act on it, a devastating stance for later hadith-centred scholars, given his unmatched authority.
machine6 min 22 s31:02on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
What is the difference between a hadith and the Sunnah in the Maliki school?
The school of Madinah is 'hadith relativist': it accepts a hadith where it matches the living Sunnah and not otherwise, since hadith is historical data and the Sunnah is the Prophet's teaching.
machine5 min 01 s37:24on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
LatestIs studying religious knowledge better than voluntary prayer?
Imam Malik taught that devotion to learning is not lesser than voluntary worship, the paths to God being many, and Mufti Abu Layth urges not underestimating it.
machine4 min 19 s42:25on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
Why did Imam Malik never leave Madinah?
Out of love for the Prophet, Malik held Madinah above Makkah, never left it except once for Hajj, and would not wear shoes or ride near the Prophet's mosque.
machine3 min 14 s46:44on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
LatestWhy was Imam Malik flogged?
Malik was flogged for refusing to stop transmitting that a coerced divorce is invalid, which undercut forced oaths of allegiance to the Abbasids.
machine7 min 29 s49:58on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
Can we ever be completely certain about religious answers?
Only God is certain; every answer we hold is limited by our own understanding and that of those we learned from, a humility Imam Malik modelled.
machine4 min 50 s57:27on YouTube
10 Mar 2023video
LatestWho carried on Imam Malik's teaching after him?
His daughter, who had memorised his hadith and taught his classes after him, while his sons showed little interest.
machine4 min 12 s1:02:17on YouTube
13 Feb 2023video
LatestThe birth of orthodoxy: a nameless main body and the hadith project
Orthodoxy means belief deemed correct by those with power. For two centuries the main body of Muslims had no name and was marked out by involvement in hadith.
machine5 min 46 s0:00on YouTube
13 Feb 2023video
Apophatic definition: the early main body defined by what it was not
Early Muslims had no creed checklist: you belonged to the main body as long as you did not hold the positions of the known sects.
machine5 min 03 s5:46on YouTube
13 Feb 2023video
The created Quran controversy and the birth of a creedal checklist
In his research, orthodoxy began with the created-Quran controversy, which gave rise to the language of divine attributes and to growing creedal checklists.
machine8 min 21 s10:49on YouTube
13 Feb 2023video
Orthodoxy and power: adding to the checklist, ijma and cancel culture
Once creed became a checklist, those in power could keep adding to it, as with ijma; everyone acts from power, even when sincere.
machine7 min 07 s19:10on YouTube
13 Feb 2023video
Why orthodoxy took hold, and who wrote the checklist
Orthodoxy offered clarity, but its checklist was written by men from their own school and position, not by Allah and his Messenger.
machine3 min 59 s30:09on YouTube
2022 · 18
10 Dec 2022video
LatestWho was Imam Abu Hanifa and where did he come from?
Abu Hanifa, a kunya that became his name, was of Persian ancestry with roots in Kabul, was born in Kufa in 80 AH and grew up as a stylish, successful cloth trader before turning to knowledge.
machine6 min 36 s0:00on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
How did Abu Hanifa become a scholar after starting out as a merchant?
Encouraged by al-Sha'bi to join the circles of knowledge, the merchant Abu Hanifa studied with Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman, succeeded him as the central figure of Kufa and became the voice of the school of reason.
machine6 min 29 s6:36on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
Why was Abu Hanifa criticised so much in his own time?
Abu Hanifa was accused in his lifetime of following desire and opinion over the Quran, partly by rivals such as Sufyan al-Thawri, though the imams generally stayed respectful of one another.
machine3 min 56 s13:05on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
Was Abu Hanifa involved in politics?
Abu Hanifa supported Zayd ibn Ali's uprising and fled to Makkah under the Umayyads, and the Abbasids later made him chief supervisor of the building of Baghdad.
machine2 min 36 s22:16on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
LatestHow did Abu Hanifa solve the case of two brides sent to the wrong grooms?
Where Sufyan al-Thawri advised divorces, a waiting period and remarriage to the original spouses, Abu Hanifa had each man marry on the spot the woman he had spent the night with, sparing a waiting period and jealousy.
machine9 min 12 s32:42on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
How did Abu Hanifa die, and what was he known for among people?
Abu Hanifa was imprisoned by the Abbasids for supporting an uprising from the Prophet's family and died, perhaps poisoned, in prison; he was loved above all for his compassion and generosity.
machine3 min 55 s41:54on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
What did Abu Hanifa do about his neighbour who drank and sang at night?
Rather than punishing his drunken, noisy neighbour, Abu Hanifa had him released from custody and asked whether he had let him go to waste, a kindness that transformed the man's life.
machine10 min 35 s45:49on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
LatestWhat is the story of the woman who tricked Abu Hanifa into a marriage proposal?
Abu Hanifa died in 150 AH and is buried in Baghdad. In a story of uncertain accuracy, a woman tricked him into a marriage with a different bride to get him back for the clever reference he once gave a poor suitor.
machine11 min 51 s56:24on YouTube
10 Dec 2022video
What did Abu Hanifa say about Imam Malik?
Abu Hanifa called the younger Imam Malik a blonde, blue-eyed lad. Mufti Abu Layth closes that the Hanafi madhhab became restrictive in recent centuries while schools such as the Maliki kept their freedoms.
machine2 min 27 s1:08:15on YouTube
19 Aug 2022video
LatestWhat was Salman Rushdie's family background?
Mufti Abu Layth describes Rushdie's privileged Muslim family in Bombay, a father who took the name Rushdie from Ibn Rushd, and an English boarding-school education shaped by admiration for the British ruling class.
machine6 min 32 s9:18on YouTube
19 Aug 2022video
LatestWhat are the satanic verses in Islamic history?
Mufti Abu Layth explains that the Prophet's recitation of Surah al-Najm and the prostration of everyone present are documented, but that the added story of him praising the three goddesses is false.
machine8 min 45 s1:00:37on YouTube
19 Aug 2022video
LatestIs Quran 22:52 about the satanic verses incident?
No: he rejects the link to 22:52, noting that Surah al-Hajj is Madinan, that the Prophet refused the Makkans' offers of compromise, and that the Quran calls the idols mere stone.
machine5 min 18 s1:09:22on YouTube
19 Aug 2022video
What does the Mufti think of Ibn Taymiyya and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab?
Mufti Abu Layth says Ibn Taymiyya's contribution is mainly to the Salafis and that Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's misplaced zeal did great harm, while stressing that all scholars are human and make mistakes.
machine5 min 14 s1:42:10on YouTube
19 Aug 2022video
Should loyalty to a scholar ever come before the honour of the Prophet?
No: he says loyalty belongs first to the Prophet, so a report that disparages him must be rejected whoever accepted it, citing Imam Malik's maxim that everyone's words can be accepted or rejected except the Prophet's.
machine5 min 21 s1:47:24on YouTube
19 Jan 2022video
LatestWhere do Neanderthals fit in the Islamic story of Adam?
Islam is not a science manual and says nothing directly about them, but he says the Quran hints that other hominins came before Adam, who was the final 'successor' in that line.
machine8 min 16 s0:39on YouTube
19 Jan 2022video
Neanderthals were more intelligent than people think
Neanderthals were not stupid: he puts their intelligence at roughly that of an eight or nine year old child, far above chimpanzees.
machine1 min 54 s8:16on YouTube
19 Jan 2022video
Did humans and Neanderthals interbreed?
Yes, but in his view not much: Neanderthal DNA was diluted over generations, leaving non-Africans with about one to four percent.
machine3 min 46 s10:10on YouTube
19 Jan 2022video
Is it true that Africans have no Neanderthal DNA?
Generally yes: Neanderthals never lived in Africa, though some people seen as African today have mixed ancestry from migration.
machine1 min 58 s13:56on YouTube
2021 · 67
22 Dec 2021video
What do Sunni Muslims think of the twelve Shia imams?
The Shia imams are generally respected in Sunni Islam but are not used as reference points; he suspects Ja'far al-Sadiq was closer to the Shia picture of him than Sunnis admit, as an assumption. Sunnis and Shia should agree to disagree and be fair to each other.
machine6 min 24 s0:00on YouTube
17 May 2021video
Is Jerusalem really a holy city in Islam?
In Mufti Abu Layth's view Jerusalem was never that sacred in Islam: its glorification began with Abd al-Malik's Dome of the Rock as a rival to Makkah, and he holds that al-Aqsa, 'the farthest' mosque, was in the heavens. Even if holy, it is bricks and mortar, and life comes before buildings.
machine2 min 37 s13:14on YouTube
15 May 2021video
LatestIs there archaeological evidence for David's kingdom, and how did Jerusalem become holy for Muslims?
Archaeology has not found the kingdoms of David and Solomon, and Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims should apply the same scrutiny to their own narrations, where early scholars differed over al-Aqsa and the first qibla and the Umayyads under Abd al-Malik promoted Jerusalem with fabricated hadith to rival Ibn al-Zubayr.
machine3 min 52 s20:57on YouTube
26 Apr 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestDid everyone at the time of the Prophet accept Islam without questions?
The guest says early Muslims, including poets, had real critiques; Mufti Abu Layth says the deen should complement life rather than complicate it.
machine5 min 51 s1:10:04on YouTube
19 Apr 2021video
Why do Mufti Abu Layth's critics defend Bukhari reports that demean the Prophet?
Critics who defend Bukhari reports Mufti Abu Layth regards as insulting to the Prophet, such as marrying a child, forcing Safiyya, forgetting the Quran or being made impotent by magic, cannot claim to love the Prophet. Mariya al-Qibtiyya was a wife, not a concubine, and the critics' real concern is a fantasy caliphate and power.
machine8 min 01 s0:04on YouTube
13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestWhy does Ramadan fall in different seasons each year?
Mufti Abu Layth says the early Islamic calendar was kept in line with the seasons by an extra month, nasi, and Ramadan only began moving through the year after that practice lapsed.
machine5 min 14 s1:23:41on YouTube
13 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
When should reason take priority over religious texts?
Reason always comes first, Mufti Abu Layth says, because every reading of scripture is already an interpretation; hadith dogmatism grew from Ibn Taymiyya's era and revived under colonialism.
machine9 min 07 s2:09:48on YouTube
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
News clip: the Pharaohs' Golden Parade in Cairo, and the Amenhotep III theory
A news clip on the Pharaohs' Golden Parade in Cairo, with Mufti Abu Layth recalling his discussion of whether Amenhotep III may have been Sulayman.
machine4 min 23 s8:14on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
How was Mufti Abu Layth's video on Aisha's age received?
Mufti Abu Layth is proud of the video: many people, especially women, told him it brought them back to Islam, while most clergy resent it because questioning the inherited ruling threatens their authority and livelihood.
machine8 min 09 s1:42:34on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did Imam Malik believe Jesus will return?
There is a statement from Imam Malik that Jesus died, and Malik never taught the second coming in his fatwas or the Muwatta, so it is no huge claim that he did not hold it. Transmitting a report is not endorsing it.
machine7 min 42 s2:17:23on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestWhere does the belief in the Mahdi come from?
The Mahdi belief is disrespectful to the Prophet, who was the rightly guided saviour, and entered Sunni Islam from early Shia political movements; the Mahdi hadith describe figures of that time.
machine8 min2:43:30on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Why does Mufti Abu Layth say it is not a huge claim that Imam Malik denied the second coming?
Malik's record and Ibn Ashur's standing show a Maliki can deny the second coming, and the Dajjal reports insult the Prophet. He invites Qadhi to a dialogue on MindTrap.
machine8 min 12 s2:58:36on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did Noah really live 950 years?
Noah's 950 years refers to an ancient counting system like those of the Sumerian king lists, signalled by the verse's unusual wording, not to ordinary years; he never said the Quran copied an error from the Bible.
machine4 min 30 s3:15:33on YouTube
6 Apr 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did the parting of the sea have a natural explanation?
God acts through the laws of nature, so the parting of the sea can have a natural explanation such as a strong wind, and Moses exposed the magicians' tricks rather than outdoing them with magic.
machine6 min 23 s3:26:41on YouTube
16 Mar 2021video
LatestWho are the Ibadis and what do you think of Ibadism?
The Ibadis are an early, less extreme offshoot of the Khawarij who survive today in Oman and, as a small minority, became known for coexistence. Their independence from Sunnis and Shia helps corroborate early history, such as the place of Makkah.
machine6 min 16 s0:02on YouTube
15 Mar 2021video
What actually separates Sunnis and Shia, and is mut'ah really a Shia thing?
The Sunni-Shia split is only about who has the right to rule, the Shia holding it stays in the Prophet's bloodline. Mut'ah and wiping the feet have nothing to do with being Shia; Sunnis used them as propaganda.
machine4 min 34 s2:24on YouTube
14 Mar 2021video
LatestWho does Yasir Qadhi say first denied the return of Jesus, and what is the Ahmadiyya connection?
Qadhi's clip claims ijma on the return, names Muhammad Abduh as the first to deny it and links deniers to the Ahmadiyya. Mufti Abu Layth calls the association ironic, since that movement is itself messianic, and says Qadhi's own evolution theory comes from Abduh.
machine6 min 35 s15:50on 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
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestWas Ali born inside the Kaaba?
It may have happened but is uncertain, and most likely means the homes of Banu Hashim attached to the Kaaba rather than the cube itself; Ali's greatness does not depend on it.
machine6 min 27 s16:03on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Do I have to believe Umar and Uthman were better than Ali?
No: preferring one close companion over another is a personal preference, and he calls arguing over the ranking childish; treating Ali as infallible is equally wrong.
machine2 min 37 s21:49on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestDoes Ibn Hazm contradict himself in The Ring of the Dove?
Mufti Abu Layth knows of no contradiction; he describes The Ring of the Dove as Ibn Hazm's mature study of the psychology of love and retells one of its bawdy stories.
machine9 min 05 s28:09on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Was the Prophet Moses actually the pharaoh Akhenaten?
Mufti Abu Layth leans towards the theory that Moses was Akhenaten but says his research is ongoing and it is not established; he notes that the Levites bore Egyptian names.
machine2 min 29 s37:14on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestDo Muslims whitewash their own historical heroes?
Yes, every community whitewashes its heroes, because history records what its writers deem accomplishments; a fairer test is what a figure's adversaries said, as with Salah al-Din or Jewish sources on Umar.
machine3 min 49 s39:43on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Has Islam become a religion about Muhammad rather than the religion he brought?
No: there is a deep human need for a human archetype, not someone to pray to, and for Muslims that is the Prophet. He adds that his own life changed in the Prophet's mosque.
machine4 min 21 s55:37on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Why did Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh leave Islam for a time?
Not doubt about the Quran: he feels the man was incentivised by the Makkans and rewarded for intelligence about Madinah, and he later returned to Islam and governed in Egypt.
machine3 min 53 s1:00:37on YouTube
2 Mar 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Was Muhammad Abduh the first Muslim to deny the return of Jesus?
In the clip Qadhi claims ijma on the return, names Muhammad Abduh as the first to deny it and links deniers to the Ahmadiyya; Mufti Abu Layth calls the link ironic, since the Ahmadiyya is built on a messianic claim.
machine6 min 28 s1:19:40on 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
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Were the Mu'tazila really defined by their use of reason?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Mu'tazila were defined by doctrines like a sinner leaving Islam and God being duty-bound, not by reason; the Sunni rejection of reason came later as a reaction.
machine7 min 02 s51:46on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did Imam Ahmad really refuse to say the Quran is created?
Mufti Abu Layth says later Hanbalis made Imam Ahmad a hero of the Mihna, though he likely said the Quran was created to save himself; Ash'ari books also call the worded Quran created.
machine8 min 12 s1:02:31on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did the Prophet order a scribe killed for leaving Islam?
Not for apostasy, he says: the scribe was not executed, and the issue was treason, since he exposed Madinah's weak points to its enemies; apostasy laws were treason laws.
machine2 min 33 s1:11:59on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Does Quran 33:40 mean the Prophet's descendants cannot rule?
Mufti Abu Layth says 33:40 simply states that the Prophet is not the father of their men but the seal of the prophets; it is not a proof that his descendants may not rule.
machine1 min 17 s1:15:00on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Was Islam spread by the sword?
No: Islam spread by zeal, not the sword, he says; forced conversion rarely lasts, as British rule in India showed, though Islam is not pacifist.
machine3 min 46 s1:38:37on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is Sidrat al-Muntaha a real tree?
Mufti Abu Layth says the lote tree, Sidrat al-Muntaha, is symbolic language and there is no literal tree.
machine1 min 17 s1:48:43on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
How did the Maliki school spread to North Africa and Spain?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Maliki school had already spread in Imam Malik's lifetime through North Africa to al-Andalus, and into Iraq, especially Basra.
machine1 min 49 s1:50:00on YouTube
16 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Does Islam teach us to show affection?
There are countless hadith on showing compassion and affection, he says, but he cannot follow the question about Raja Dahir.
machine1 min 56 s2:26:50on YouTube
13 Feb 2021video
What do you think of Mu'awiya?
Mufti Abu Layth highly respects Mu'awiya as a great figure and admires his statesmanship, citing a story of his generosity to a woman who favoured Ali.
machine1 min 56 s0:00on YouTube
9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Was al-Ghazali against science and philosophy?
Mufti Abu Layth says al-Ghazali was not against reason at first, but after a crisis of faith he turned to ascetic mysticism, and through later Sufism this indirectly harmed the voice of reason.
machine12 min 41 s34:23on YouTube
9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Were some of the great imams autistic?
Mufti Abu Layth says he feels Imam Ahmad and Imam al-Shafi'i were autistic, and suspects Ibn Taymiyya had bipolar or a psychotic disorder.
machine2 min 33 s47:04on YouTube
9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is it wrong in Islam to want to be rich?
Mufti Abu Layth says Islam is not against wealth; what is haram is arrogance and looking down on others, and he encourages people to make money and enjoy it.
machine10 min 52 s1:44:53on YouTube
9 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Are the Prophet's parents in heaven or hell?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet's parents are unquestionably among the saved.
machine45 s2:14:22on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
How do people react when a scholar from Uzbekistan challenges subcontinent scholars?
Mufti Abu Layth says UK Islam comes almost wholly from Indo-Pakistani and Saudi culture; the guest says challenging subcontinent scholars from Uzbekistan draws harsh reactions, but open-minded people keep him going.
machine4 min 31 s15:01on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Why does Shaykh Atabek want to restore the early Hanafi school?
The guest wants to restore the early Hanafi school of a fully independent Abu Hanifa; Mufti Abu Layth says Abu Hanifa championed reason but his school later became almost his opposite.
machine3 min 51 s46:49on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Was there a power struggle in the early Hanafi school?
Mufti Abu Layth feels the early Hanafi school saw power struggles and that Abu Yusuf lacked Abu Hanifa's reason; the guest calls Ahmad ibn Hanbal the greatest muhaddith but not a jurist of the first rank.
machine3 min 59 s51:13on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Who was Abu Hanifa's most trusted student?
The guest relies chiefly on Zufar, whom he says Abu Hanifa himself authorised to teach, over Imam Muhammad, who was a teenager when Abu Hanifa died; Zufar's sidelining is left for another session.
machine4 min 03 s1:16:23on YouTube
29 Jan 2021MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Did Abu Hanifa really write al-Fiqh al-Akbar?
The guest says Abu Hanifa did write al-Fiqh al-Akbar but the text has later additions, and that Zufar's books survive only in fragments.
machine2 min 44 s1:20:26on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Why does the Quran seem focused on men, and why are two women witnesses needed?
The Quran asks for two women witnesses only for debt contracts, because a lone woman was easier to intimidate, not because women are lesser; otherwise one woman equals one man, and the masculine address reflects historically patriarchal societies.
machine9 min 11 s21:34on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is Prophet Shu'ayb the same as Jethro in the Bible?
At face value they seem to be the same person, since Moses goes to the priest of Midian in both accounts, but he says he has not researched it.
machine1 min 17 s45:11on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Do creation myths in other cultures share a source with the Islamic account?
Mufti Abu Layth feels the world's creation myths probably share a common origin, and suggests the name Adam predates Arabic and Hebrew, possibly from Sanskrit, though he is not sure.
machine3 min 58 s52:59on YouTube
26 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
How could Abu Hurayra narrate 5,000 hadith after only two years with the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is implausible that Abu Hurayra narrated so much after about two years with the Prophet, that Umar restrained him, and that impossible reports such as the Ruqayya comb story should be rejected by Sunnis themselves.
machine9 min 15 s2:50:05on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What is the Ark of the Covenant in Islam?
The Quran mentions the Ark (tabut) without saying what was in it, Mufti Abu Layth says; one early Maliki linguist described the sakinah in a way that resembles the cherubim.
machine4 min 30 s1:06:12on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Who was Ibn Rushd (Averroes)?
Mufti Abu Layth presents Ibn Rushd as a Maliki judge, physician and the great commentator on Aristotle, honoured in Europe but exiled and neglected by Muslims.
machine12 min 46 s1:56:13on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Why did Ibn Rushd fall from favour with the caliph?
Mufti Abu Layth relates two accounts of Ibn Rushd's fall, a remark on a storm and an insult to the caliph, and finds the first believable though unproven.
machine7 min 38 s2:08:59on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What did Ibn Rushd say about women's abilities?
Mufti Abu Layth highlights Ibn Rushd's argument, 900 years ago, that women equal men in ability and that confining them to the home impoverished his cities.
machine6 min 55 s2:20:29on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
How does Ibn Rushd compare to other critical-minded scholars?
Ibn Rushd is the most philosophical and most inclined to reason of the critical-minded scholars, Mufti Abu Layth says, and steadier in temperament than one he calls quick to takfir.
machine3 min 13 s2:27:24on YouTube
19 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
A risque proverb from al-Andalus: 'the nerves are connected'
A bawdy Andalusian proverb, 'the nerves are connected', shared by Mufti Abu Layth as a joke.
machine2 min 31 s3:09:50on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestIf you deny the evil eye, why do you cite scholars who believed in it?
Mufti Abu Layth says scholars who believed in the evil eye were following the science of their day, and one does not take science from them.
machine3 min 50 s1:47:10on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Does Sahih al-Bukhari really say God dangled in front of the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Bukhari report of God 'dangling' before the Prophet is unacceptable, and any hadith that clashes with reason or the Quran must be rejected.
machine12 min 35 s1:58:33on YouTube
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is the hadith 'if there were a prophet after me it would be Umar' authentic?
Mufti Abu Layth says the hadith is a fabrication, made up to glorify Umar; one may revere Umar and still disagree with his opinions.
machine5 min 26 s2:56:34on YouTube
12 Jan 2021video
Why was Ibn Taymiyya put in prison?
Ibn Taymiyya made powerful enemies by declaring Muslims kafir, and Maliki judges finally jailed him over his fatwa, voiced by his student in Jerusalem, that one may not travel to visit the Prophet's grave. Mufti Abu Layth calls the view foolish but says no one should be punished for an opinion.
machine8 min 17 s0:00on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Was the woman who refused the Prophet in Bukhari's divorce chapter his wife?
The chapter's reports are confused and defenders strain to reconcile them; he says hadith scholars, like doctors, were institutionalised in their field.
machine5 min 58 s48:31on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Who was Lilith in Jewish legend?
Mufti Abu Layth retells the Jewish legend of Lilith, Adam's first wife, who left him over equality and became a night demon.
machine7 min 07 s1:08:07on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is the story of Lilith in the Bible?
No: the story comes from Jewish commentary on Genesis; the Bible only names Lilith vaguely in Isaiah as an evil spirit.
machine2 min 15 s1:14:18on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What does rightly guided caliph mean, and did Muawiya see Ali as one?
The term rashidun came later; he thinks Muawiya saw Ali as more pious but himself as the better ruler, and that piety and governing skill rarely coincide.
machine8 min 04 s1:57:34on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did early Muslims really not count Ali as the fourth rightly guided caliph?
Ali is a hero of Islam and preferring him is a personal matter, but he rejects the story of Umar burning Fatima's door and urges moving on.
machine8 min 09 s2:05:48on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestWhy is Yasir Qadhi saying the Prophet was infatuated with Zaynab?
Mufti Abu Layth finds Yasir Qadhi's recent claim, that the Prophet's infatuation with Zaynab was the early normative account, baffling and harmful, and plays clips to show it.
machine9 min 17 s2:30:24on YouTube
5 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Did the Prophet fall in love with Zaynab bint Jahsh?
No: he says the early hadith collections do not carry the love story, and it makes no sense given the Prophet had known Zaynab all his life.
machine7 min2:38:27on YouTube
2020 · 85
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Why don't madrasas teach the Islamic philosophers and the Mu'tazila?
The guest says traditionalists value only a narrow sliver of Islam's diverse intellectual heritage, ignoring the philosophers, the early Qadariyya and Mu'tazila, Shia thinkers and modernists, and that he found answers on religion and science in Ibn Rushd.
machine3 min 58 s15:30on YouTube
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Does traditional orthodoxy lead to extremism?
The guest says today's orthodoxy promotes reactionary conservatism that can mutate into groups like the Taliban and ISIS, and proposes reviving the philosophers, Mu'tazila and modernists; Mufti Abu Layth agrees some non-violent groups create a springboard for extremism.
machine3 min 11 s19:28on YouTube
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Did angels really fight at the battle of Badr?
The guest says the angels at Badr are a literary description of God strengthening the believers' hearts, since the named Muslims who killed the enemy chiefs are known, and that the same reading applies to earlier prophets' stories.
machine4 min 06 s1:34:56on YouTube
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Who were the riders seen at Badr?
Mufti Abu Layth takes the Badr angels as strength and vigour rather than a physical event and floats a theory that the riders seen were Persian knights of the House of Karen; the guest prefers a purely literary reading.
machine3 min 23 s1:39:02on YouTube
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Should archaeology worry believers about the Quran's stories?
The guest, as a self-described Islamic modernist following Fazlur Rahman, says believers need not fear archaeology, since the Quran re-attributes Jesus' miracles to God for theological rather than historical ends.
machine3 min 12 s1:42:25on YouTube
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Who was Dhul Qarnayn, and who are Gog and Magog?
Mufti Abu Layth identifies Dhul Qarnayn most likely with Cyrus the Great and reads Gog and Magog as havoc-wreaking forces, later the colonial powers; the guest says this already relies on ad hoc literary reinterpretation.
machine4 min 55 s2:01:55on YouTube
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Is the Dhul Qarnayn story based on the legend of Alexander?
The guest says scholarship shows the Dhul Qarnayn story derives from a Byzantine Christian legend of Alexander walling in Gog and Magog, known to the Quran's first audience; Mufti Abu Layth asks why the Quran then tells it so ambiguously.
machine4 min 34 s2:06:50on YouTube
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Why does the Quran tell the story of Dhul Qarnayn so briefly?
The guest says the Quran retells the known legend concisely to show the Prophet's knowledge from God, while stripping its Christian imperial ending; Mufti Abu Layth objects that its unusual wording is too vague for that.
machine5 min 40 s2:11:24on YouTube
11 Dec 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
What do the unusual words in the Dhul Qarnayn verses mean?
Mufti Abu Layth argues the wording of 18:83-90 is too vague to be a retelling of the Alexander legend; the guest says the Syriac subtext explains it and that without it the passage invites endless speculative readings, and they agree to differ.
machine8 min 39 s2:17:04on YouTube
6 Dec 2020video
Why don't Sunni imams like Malik and Abu Hanifa transmit from Imam Jafar al-Sadiq?
Mufti Abu Layth's theory is that the early imams of the Ahl al-Bayt were for the most part as the Shia describe them, so Malik and Abu Hanifa, though respectful of them, did not transmit from them because it would have caused a political storm. He adds that this does not make the Shia theological claims more authentic.
machine6 min 35 s0:02on YouTube
6 Dec 2020video
Did Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa study under Imam Jafar al-Sadiq, and what did they learn from him?
Malik and Abu Hanifa kept Imam Jafar's company and attended his circles but transmitted nothing from him, which Mufti Abu Layth explains by their disagreement with teaching that largely reflected the Shia da'wah. He calls the claim that they took only 'spirituality' from him absurd.
machine2 min 09 s6:37on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
Why did so many cultures believe in the evil eye?
Because people long believed the eye actively shot out rays, and the belief helped explain sudden illness and misfortune. He says the evil eye itself is nonsense.
machine10 min 48 s17:44on YouTube
28 Oct 2020video
Where did the idea of sacrificing a son come from in Ibrahim's time?
Human sacrifice to gods such as Moloch and Baal was a widespread practice of the ancient Near East, and the Bible's story of Jephthah sacrificing his daughter shows it. Mufti Abu Layth says this surrounding culture explains how such a dream could come to Ibrahim.
machine3 min 57 s3:58on YouTube
28 Oct 2020video
Why does the biblical tradition say God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Israelites adopted the name Yahweh, a Near Eastern war god from the household of El, and that god's brutal character carried over into their picture of God, making such a command plausible to them. For Muslims, he says, that is not the true image of Allah.
machine3 min 57 s17:12on YouTube
27 Oct 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Which civil war did early Muslims mean by 'the fitnah'?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is often unclear which civil war early scholars meant by 'the fitnah', as several upheavals were each called the great one.
machine4 min 24 s7:47on YouTube
27 Oct 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Are there other narrations of Aisha's age besides Bukhari's?
Mufti Abu Layth says every chain on Aisha's age was engineered, with Hisham as the common link and Iraqi narrators throughout.
machine5 min 56 s1:27:50on YouTube
27 Oct 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Who were the Bedouin Arabs criticised in Surah al-Tawbah?
Mufti Abu Layth says the a'rab of Surah al-Tawbah were semi-nomadic raiding tribes not under settled rule, some of whom joined only as a power play.
machine6 min 11 s2:22:11on YouTube
17 Oct 2020video
What were soma and haoma in the Hindu and Persian traditions?
Ancient traditions such as the Vedic soma and the Avestan haoma point to the same entheogenic experiences, which those cultures had no vocabulary to explain; soma is argued to be Amanita muscaria, which may explain the deification of cows and the drinking of their urine.
machine3 min 43 s18:24on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
LatestWhat is the Sunni view of Karbala?
Karbala was unquestionably a great tragedy, and Mufti Abu Layth says Muslims generally agree on that; the major events are known and only details are disputed.
machine1 min 49 s0:01on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Who were the Shia who invited Husayn to Kufa?
The Shia who invited Husayn to Kufa were a political faction favouring Ali, not today's sect; a force of perhaps a couple of hundred under Umar ibn Sa'd intercepted him at Karbala.
machine4 min 35 s1:50on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Where did the rivalry between Banu Umayya and Banu Hashim come from?
The rivalry behind Karbala began before Islam between Banu Umayya and Banu Hashim; Mufti Abu Layth holds that Makkah and Quraysh mattered far less in pre-Islamic Arabia than later Muslims assumed.
machine4 min 15 s6:25on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
How was Abu Bakr chosen as leader after the Prophet died?
Mufti Abu Layth rejects the idea that the companions knew leaders must come from Quraysh, and cites Umar's own words in Bukhari that Abu Bakr's hasty election must not be repeated and leaders should be chosen by shura.
machine4 min 20 s10:40on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Why did Uthman appoint his relatives as governors?
In Mufti Abu Layth's assessment, Uthman lacked Umar's iron fist for an empire that had doubled, so he relied on his own Umayyad relatives as governors, reviving the old clan rivalry.
machine6 min 33 s15:00on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Why did the Muslims fight each other at Siffin?
When Ali tried to remove Uthman's Umayyad governors the old rivalry flared into civil war, and Mufti Abu Layth calls Siffin the point of no return that left Muslims forever divided.
machine2 min 45 s21:33on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Why did Hasan ibn Ali give up the caliphate to Muawiya?
Mufti Abu Layth feels Hasan was the wisest of Ali's family, a diplomat who opposed fighting at Siffin and handed power to Muawiya for peace, fulfilling the hadith on reconciling two factions.
machine3 min 22 s24:18on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Was Muawiya a good ruler?
Under Muawiya there was stability, expansion and economic growth, helped by Sasanid revenue methods, but Banu Umayya's hold on power was cemented.
machine2 min 03 s27:40on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Why did Muawiya make Yazid his heir?
Muawiya named Yazid heir while senior companions lived, and Mufti Abu Layth feels his recognition of Ziyad as Abu Sufyan's son was a political move.
machine2 min 21 s29:43on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Why does Mufti Abu Layth admire Muawiya?
Mufti Abu Layth admires Muawiya for knowing how to handle people, saying ruling is a matter of political skill rather than piety, and that Umar's era was the exception.
machine3 min 07 s32:04on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
What kind of ruler was Yazid?
Mufti Abu Layth calls Muawiya's choice of Yazid a grave mistake: Yazid was a Muslim but a disappointment who attacked Madinah and installed the tyrant Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad in Kufa.
machine5 min 40 s35:11on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Why did Husayn go to Kufa when he was warned not to?
Mufti Abu Layth says Husayn was invited by thousands in Kufa but warned by his relatives and Ibn Abbas, who urged Yemen instead, while Ibn al-Zubayr resisted Yazid from Makkah.
machine4 min 19 s40:51on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Why did the army at Karbala not let Husayn go back?
After Muslim ibn Aqil was killed, Husayn's party was intercepted and the men martyred; Mufti Abu Layth thinks the army may have refused to let him go because some of its own clans had invited him.
machine5 min 10 s45:10on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Are the stories that Husayn's family was denied water at Karbala true?
Mufti Abu Layth doubts many details of the Karbala story, including the denial of water, and thinks Yazid did not want Husayn killed but was not troubled that it happened.
machine4 min 35 s50:20on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Should Muslims mourn Husayn every year on Ashura?
Mufti Abu Layth does not see annual mourning for Husayn as an Islamic practice and does not do it, but he does not condemn those who do.
machine1 min 56 s54:55on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Was Yazid a kafir, and is it right to curse him?
No: Mufti Abu Layth calls Yazid a wretched, arrogant tyrant, but he does not call him a kafir or curse him, since he rejects a culture of cursing. He can believe Yazid would not have killed Husayn himself.
machine3 min 09 s56:51on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Who was really responsible for the killing of Husayn at Karbala?
Mufti Abu Layth blames first the Shia who invited Husayn, then Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad as the active agent, and Yazid as the passive one.
machine1 min 53 s1:00:00on YouTube
16 Oct 2020video
Is it right to curse the companions or beat oneself in mourning for Husayn?
Mufti Abu Layth condemns using Husayn's mourning to curse the companions, a disservice to Husayn, and calls self-flagellation ignorance that many Shia authorities also reject.
machine2 min 10 s1:01:53on YouTube
13 Oct 2020video
Why do most Muslims believe in the virgin birth?
Mufti Abu Layth says the belief spread through the dominance of the Christian narrative across the empires surrounding Arabia.
machine1 min 50 s19:49on YouTube
13 Oct 2020video
Does evolution contradict the Quran's account of Adam?
No: he says evolution does not clash with Islam, reading 23:12-14 as Adam passing through a womb and Adam as the first human with full consciousness.
machine9 min 37 s21:39on YouTube
13 Oct 2020video
If humans evolved, why are there still chimpanzees?
Nobody claims humans came from chimpanzees; both share a common ancestor, and evolution is now shown through genetics, which he says poses no problem for Islam.
machine5 min 46 s37:20on YouTube
12 Oct 2020video
Why the circumstances of the marriage rule out a six-year-old Aisha
Aisha cannot have been six when the Prophet married her, because the marriage was meant to give him companionship, household help and support after the year of sorrow, which a child could not provide. Her engagement of several years before that, and the fear that she would convert her fiance, point the same way.
machine5 min 13 s0:00on YouTube
12 Oct 2020video
Writers who place Aisha in her teens, and how narrators exaggerated ages
Several modern writers conclude that Aisha was in her teens at marriage, and the speakers explain the hadith's figures as numbers garbled and exaggerated downwards by narrators. Khadija's age, by contrast, was exaggerated upwards from about twenty-eight to forty.
machine4 min 05 s5:13on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Were the hadith about the black flags against the Abbasids?
Mufti Abu Layth doubts the black-flag hadith were anti-Abbasid; if anything, he says, they were part of Abbasid propaganda.
machine1 min 50 s25:42on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Doesn't Aisha's marriage age justify child marriage?
Paedophilia is unacceptable; he says defending the Prophet by comparing him to kings who married children is no defence and, in his view, blasphemous.
machine6 min 28 s1:10:44on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is the hadith that Aisha was married at six authentic?
Mufti Abu Layth holds the hadith on Aisha's young age to be fabricated, since every transmitter is Iraqi, and says sectarian scholars defend it out of loyalty to their teachers.
machine5 min 44 s1:17:12on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Is al-Aqsa really in Jerusalem?
Mufti Abu Layth says Jerusalem was not originally so sacred in Islam and that, in his understanding, al-Aqsa refers to a place in the heavens.
machine2 min 37 s1:54:29on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Was the ifk in Surat al-Nur really about Aisha?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the Quran's ifk verses were revealed about rumours concerning Mariya, though he believes an earlier incident with Aisha also happened.
machine6 min 09 s2:26:25on YouTube
24 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Why did only Mariya bear the Prophet a child in Medina?
Mufti Abu Layth shares Yasmin Amin's theory that Mariya conceived because, living outside Medina, she did not follow the other wives' ascetic diet, and says he is still researching it.
machine2 min 39 s2:32:34on YouTube
16 Jul 2020video
Was it haram for Muslims to turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque after the conquest?
No, he says: it was the politics of conquest in medieval times, done by Muslims and Christians alike and neither encouraged nor prohibited by Islam, but it was not a good thing. The building later became a museum, and the argument now is only that it was once a mosque.
machine2 min 37 s7:58on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Is wearing my hijab turban-style allowed?
Yes, he says a turban-style covering is fine, because covering the hair is not clearly proven from the Quran or Sunnah; the emphasis was on modesty.
machine6 min 48 s17:43on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
What do you think of Shah Wali Allah?
Mufti Abu Layth calls Shah Wali Allah an amazing scholar, ahead of his time, who revived hadith studies and wrote on the objectives of the Sharia without using the word maqasid.
machine2 min 32 s31:30on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Did the Prophet Muhammad ever kill anyone himself?
Mufti Abu Layth is not aware of such a killing and doubts the usual example, though it may have happened in battle; the Prophet's battles were all defensive in essence.
machine1 min 53 s40:56on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Is al-Zamakhshari's tafsir al-Kashshaf worth reading?
Mufti Abu Layth praises al-Kashshaf as linguistically overwhelming and al-Zamakhshari as a legend, while noting the Mu'tazili oddities in it; the Mu'tazila were great scholars, often over-demonised.
machine4 min 24 s45:21on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Was Aisha really 48 when she married the Prophet?
No: he has never heard of 48, but says it is clear Aisha was in her late teens to about twenty when she married, not six or nine.
machine2 min 25 s52:50on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Where did the idea that Aisha was six or nine come from?
Mufti Abu Layth says the six-and-nine narration seems to originate with Aisha's nephew Urwa, countering rumours spread against her, and that every chain runs through him.
machine4 min 19 s54:44on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Was Aisha Abu Bakr's sister rather than his daughter?
No, she was definitely Abu Bakr's daughter; her being in her twenties during the Prophet's lifetime fits her personality, not her being fifty.
machine3 min 04 s1:04:13on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Was it haram for the Ottomans to turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque?
The original conversion was not haram but the politics of conquest, practised by Muslims and Christians alike, and he does not think it was good.
machine2 min 35 s1:22:25on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Isn't the Prophet clearing the Kaaba of idols a precedent for the Hagia Sophia?
No: removing the idols from the Kaaba was about ending superstition, and cannot justify converting a museum in a secular country, which he calls a political stunt.
machine2 min 36 s1:47:58on YouTube
14 Jul 2020live stream
Arabic poetry: Antara ibn Shaddad's love for Abla
Mufti Abu Layth reads and translates love poetry by Antara ibn Shaddad for Abla, including his lines of pride in his dark skin and his courage.
machine6 min 19 s2:01:41on 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
10 Jul 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Is there an order and coherence to the surahs of the Quran?
Mufti Abu Layth and the guest trace Farahi's school of Quranic coherence, which the guest illustrates with surahs that come in pairs.
machine7 min 04 s14:32on YouTube
10 Jul 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
How did Iqbal see Western civilisation?
The guest sets out Iqbal's two-layer view of the West; Mufti Abu Layth says the prophets' message was simply to reconnect creation with the Creator.
machine3 min 49 s1:12:44on YouTube
3 Jul 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
How reliable is the story of the first revelation in the cave?
The guest doubts the historicity of the cave story, attributing it to al-Zuhri; Mufti Abu Layth says he would take the whole description with a pinch of salt.
machine5 min 38 s57:30on YouTube
26 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Does the guest think every hadith is fabricated?
The guest says not every hadith is evil, but truth is mixed with falsehood and even genuine sayings cannot be a source of religion, since the Quran makes God the only source of law and limits the messenger's duty to delivery.
machine3 min 54 s27:59on YouTube
26 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Are any hadith genuine, and what about reports confirmed by history?
The guest says even genuine sayings of the Prophet are not religion and that the hadith paint contradictory portraits of him. Mufti Abu Layth agrees that the Mi'raj negotiation, the child-marriage report and the Uraynah torture reports are false narrations.
machine7 min 57 s41:00on YouTube
26 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Does the Quran say the Israelites were slaves in Egypt?
A chat question cites 26:22, where Moses says Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites; Mufti Abu Layth says historians describe them as outcast second-class citizens rather than slaves but grants the verse deserves a closer look.
machine2 min 32 s2:24:24on YouTube
19 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
What was the qira'a al-'amma, and why does Morocco recite a different reading?
The common reading of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and the companions, al-qira'a al-'amma, is the mushaf we have, while the other readings stayed in scholars' books; Morocco reads Nafi' only because a third-century ruler imposed it on account of Imam Malik's preference. Mufti Abu Layth adds that the early generations were more secure in their faith than later, institutionalised Islam.
machine5 min 14 s48:32on YouTube
19 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Where does the claim that the Quran is preserved to the very dot come from?
Mufti Abu Layth says the slogan that the Quran is preserved to the very dot is not traditional but a creed cemented in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when religious people entrenched themselves in fundamentalism against modernity and colonialism. Early Muslims were comfortable with a Quran that was preserved while allowing variation.
machine3 min 29 s1:21:11on YouTube
19 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Which reading of the Quran reached India, Malaysia and Indonesia, and why?
The common reading, later called the reading of Hafs, reached the subcontinent and the Far East through the masses, while the other readings took root only where scholars arrived first. Mufti Abu Layth sums up: the Quran is preserved as the qira'a al-'amma of the Prophet's final recitation, and Hafs coincides with it because he made no choices of his own.
machine4 min 53 s1:46:43on 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
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet?
Writers such as Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood and Jamal Badawi conclude that Aisha was in her teens, and the report that her sister Asma died at a hundred in the year 73 puts her at about eighteen when she moved in with the Prophet. The guest explains the hadith's six and nine as numbers exaggerated downwards, as Khadija's forty was exaggerated upwards.
machine8 min 55 s33:52on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Why do the circumstances of the Prophet's marriage rule out a six-year-old Aisha?
The marriage after the year of sorrow was meant to give the Prophet a companion, a carer for his children and a support in the da'wah, which a six-year-old could not provide, and Aisha had been engaged for years to a man whose mother feared she would convert him. Mufti Abu Layth suggests her age was exaggerated downwards after the ifk slander to defend her purity.
machine6 min 34 s41:29on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Is questioning Aisha's age just an attempt to please non-Muslims?
The guest says he once made the same accusation, but came to see that a girl of nine is not fit for marriage and that Muslims themselves do not marry girls at that age. A report being in Bukhari does not make it the final word, since scholars have always differed with Bukhari where something more authentic exists.
machine6 min 30 s49:19on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
What does the Quran mean by 'what your right hands possess', and did the Prophet have a concubine?
The guest reads the Quran's 'right-hand possessions' as a category of wife who was not free, since 4:25 speaks of marrying slave girls, and thinks Mariya al-Qibtiyya may have been a wife misunderstood as a concubine. Mufti Abu Layth says Mariya was a wife, as he has taught, and that under trajectory hermeneutics slavery would have become haram.
machine7 min 13 s1:42:42on YouTube
19 Apr 2020video
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab?
On balance Mufti Abu Layth places Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in the negative: a puritan dogmatist who demolished tombs, killed pilgrims and inspired the Salafi movement, which he feels did more harm than good and is a springboard for extremism. He adds that the movement also revived hadith and challenged blind following and superstition.
machine3 min 29 s0:00on YouTube
19 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Where did Shaykh Kashif Khan study, and what is the difference between Salafi and Ahl al-Hadith?
The guest studied with Salafi scholars in Pakistan, mostly privately; he says Madinah graduates prefer the name Salafi and the Pakistani Ahl al-Hadith prefer Ahl al-Hadith.
machine5 min 12 s3:16on YouTube
19 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Were the people who refused zakah after the Prophet's death apostates?
The guest says taxes that fund welfare can count as zakah, and that the refusers fought by Abu Bakr were rebels against the state rather than apostates; Mufti Abu Layth says he is inclined to that view.
machine7 min 47 s47:29on YouTube
7 Apr 2020video
Does the Mufti teach disrespect for the Prophet?
No: he says he has repeatedly defended the Prophet, denying that he married a child and rejecting narrations he finds insulting. Those accusing him took none of these stances.
machine4 min 27 s8:19on YouTube
8 Mar 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
Did the Prophet marry his cousin?
Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet's marriage to Zaynab bint Jahsh, a relative only through her mother, is unlike families where everyone marries cousins; he also says marriage without a wali is valid.
machine3 min 37 s2:16on YouTube
28 Feb 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
What was Fadak and why did it matter?
Fadak was fertile land near Khaybar that came to the Prophet as fay', without war, and he used its produce for travellers, his household and public needs.
machine5 min 42 s4:33on YouTube
28 Feb 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
Why did Abu Bakr refuse to give Fadak to Fatima?
Abu Bakr cited the hadith that prophets leave no inheritance; Shia sources say Fadak had been gifted to Fatima, while Sunni sources say the Prophet did not give it to her.
machine6 min 24 s10:15on YouTube
28 Feb 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
LatestWho was right about Fadak, Fatima or Abu Bakr?
Both, in his view: Fatima was right that prophets can be inherited from, but Fadak was fay' belonging to the public, so Abu Bakr was right to keep it under the state.
machine3 min 13 s16:39on YouTube
28 Feb 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
Why didn't Ali take back Fadak when he became caliph?
Mufti Abu Layth finds it a huge open question that Ali never reclaimed Fadak as caliph, and says the Shia answers he heard did not make sense to him.
machine5 min 13 s19:52on YouTube
28 Feb 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
Why might Abu Bakr have refused Fatima's claim so quickly?
Mufti Abu Layth speculates, stressing it is only speculation, that the size of the claim at a time of crisis may have led Abu Bakr to refuse it at once.
machine3 min 14 s25:05on YouTube
28 Feb 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
Was Abu Bakr wrong to refuse Fatima Fadak?
Not in his view: Abu Bakr was right that Fadak was public fay', while Fatima was right that prophets can be inherited from, so both were right from different angles.
machine2 min 33 s28:19on YouTube
28 Feb 2020From the Mind of a Mufti
What did Mufti Abu Layth think of Mu'awiya?
Mufti Abu Layth highly respects Mu'awiya as a great figure and an astute statesman, while acknowledging the Companions' disagreements.
machine1 min 32 s34:46on YouTube
2019 · 38
31 Dec 2019On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Did angels really fight at the Battle of Badr?
Mufti Abu Layth says many take the angelic help at Badr as symbolic language for strengthened resolve, and the companions' later descriptions as storytelling or what they felt they saw.
machine7 min 42 s0:00on YouTube
31 Dec 2019On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Were the angels at Badr actually Persian knights?
Mufti Abu Layth finds the theory that Persian knights summoned by Salman al-Farisi were taken for angels at Badr interesting but most likely untrue, and harmless even if true.
machine7 min 24 s7:42on YouTube
19 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Why are Indo-Pak Muslims adopting Gulf Arab culture?
Mufti Abu Layth dislikes the push to Arabise Indo-Pak Islam, from Gulf dress to saying Allah Hafiz, feeling it is political and that culture should be natural, not imposed.
machine5 min 34 s0:00on YouTube
17 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Was pre-Islamic Makkah really a significant city?
Mufti Abu Layth thinks the revisionists have a point: Makkah was not a significant city or even a popular town, and its later image was an innocent reconstruction by Muslims rather than propaganda. He notes that Crone and Cook placed Makkah further north without settling on Petra.
machine2 min 35 s0:01on YouTube
17 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
What is Dan Gibson's Petra theory and are his measurements trustworthy?
Gibson measured around 160 early mosque foundations and found the earliest pointing to Petra rather than Makkah. Mufti Abu Layth says the data are transparent and not falsified, though Gibson is somewhat mischievous, and that his explanation of the south-pointing North African mosques is ridiculous.
machine2 min 39 s2:36on YouTube
17 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Who was Qusayy ibn Kilab and where was he raised?
Mufti proposes that Petra shaped early Islam through the Prophet's great-grandfather Qusayy, who was raised as a foreigner in Wadi al-Qura, which Mufti Abu Layth identifies with Petra. Qusayy's name means 'little stranger', and his longing for belonging drew him back to Makkah.
machine5 min 16 s5:15on YouTube
17 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Why do early Islamic books call the Ka'bah 'the Shami Ka'bah'?
Mufti Abu Layth suggests Qusayy, raised in Petra, rebuilt the Ka'bah and settled Quraysh around it in a Shami style, which is why early books call it the Shami Ka'bah. It does not mean the Ka'bah was in Sham.
machine3 min 55 s10:31on YouTube
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
17 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Why did the earliest mosques face Petra instead of Makkah?
Most likely, he says, because Muslims inherited Nabataean devotion sites already aligned to Petra's constellation, so Gibson is right about the measurements but wrong that Petra was Makkah. Makkah was called Umm al-Qura, he suggests, after Petra's name, brought by Qusayy.
machine3 min 31 s18:21on YouTube
17 Dec 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Is growing a beard compulsory in Islam?
Growing a beard was an ancient Arab custom shared by Muslims and their opponents, not an Islamic requirement in itself. The command to grow it is worded like commands to dye the hair and pray in shoes that nobody treats as obligatory, and no sahih hadith says how to grow it.
machine7 min 50 s0:00on YouTube
16 Dec 2019Responding to Refutations
Was Islam spread by the sword?
Mufti Abu Layth says it is simply not true that Islam was spread by the sword, though there was surely compulsion in some places, and that it was wrong.
machine3 min 10 s2:33on YouTube
16 Dec 2019Responding to Refutations
Why did people in the past convert to new religions so readily?
People in the past were far more open to new gods than we are, adopting them in hope of good luck, so judging their conversions by today's identity-bound religion misleads.
machine5 min 04 s3:11on YouTube
16 Dec 2019Responding to Refutations
If Islam was not forced on people, why did so many convert?
Forced conversion was never the norm: Islam's power, trade and prestige drew people, and nobody could have policed the faith of a rural population. Some were surely forced, but not most.
machine4 min 14 s8:15on YouTube
28 Sep 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Why people fabricated hadith: good intentions, false memories, money and politics
Hadith were fabricated for many reasons: pious intentions, false memories, malice, commercial interests, and political and sectarian aims on all sides.
machine5 min 09 s7:38on YouTube
19 Sep 2019On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Is it okay to criticise the companions of the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth advises most people to view the companions with veneration, but says anyone who chooses critical, academic study must apply it to every companion, Ali included, rather than selectively.
machine13 min 28 s1:19on YouTube
19 Sep 2019Responding to Refutations
How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth says the report that Aisha was six or nine is false and that she was in her late teens, about seventeen to nineteen. Promoting the child-marriage story and then taking offence at the charge of paedophilia is irresponsible.
machine4 min 27 s2:30on YouTube
19 Sep 2019Responding to Refutations
Are the hadith about Aisha's young age authentic?
Mufti Abu Layth says every chain for Aisha's young age is flawed, resting on narrators accused of tadlis and all going back to Urwa. Those who defend them put al-Bukhari's sanctity above the Prophet's honour.
machine6 min 10 s6:57on 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
Did Mufti Abu Layth mock Imam al-Nawawi?
Mufti Abu Layth says he did not mock al-Nawawi but read his own words, which assume as a given that young boys are prettier than many women and that anyone would be tempted by them. Al-Yaqoubi, he says, should have watched the whole video before judging.
machine3 min 50 s13:09on YouTube
21 Aug 2019BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Why did medieval scholars like al-Nawawi write that boys are prettier than women?
Mufti Abu Layth says al-Nawawi voiced a sentiment of his age, shared by many medieval Muslims and by the Greeks, in which attraction to adolescent boys was assumed; reporting this is not mockery. A Saudi critic's reply that many women are ugly, he says, proves the point.
machine3 min 55 s16:59on YouTube
2 Aug 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
What did Ibn al-Arabi write about a classmate who was both bearded and breasted?
Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi recorded a classmate with a beard and breasts who came to al-Ghazali's lessons with two servant girls and whose nature puzzled him for years. Mufti Abu Layth reads this as an example of people in the past finding outlets with servants and slaves.
machine5 min 42 s11:42on YouTube
24 Jul 2019Quick Fiqh!
Have men historically worn earrings, or is it a recent fashion?
Men have worn earrings for thousands of years, in Assyria, Egypt, among the Israelites, in Persia, India and Europe, usually as a mark of nobility or soldiery. Only the European church restricted them to women, which is why defiant groups such as pirates kept wearing them.
machine7 min 45 s2:37on YouTube
24 Jul 2019Quick Fiqh!
Did men and boys wear earrings in the time of the Prophet and the early Muslims?
In the Prophet's society and among the Salaf boys commonly wore earrings, and many considered it sunnah for a boy. Later Sunni clergy prohibited the practice, perhaps influenced by the Christian church, while the Shia kept it alive.
machine2 min 38 s10:22on YouTube
24 Jul 2019Quick Fiqh!
Did Hasan and Husayn wear earrings?
Ibn Abbas lists piercing the ear among seven sunnahs for a newborn boy, and Hasan and Husayn had their ears pierced and wore earrings, Husayn wearing two. The reports come through Imam Jafar al-Sadiq's chain and an eyewitness account from Karbala.
machine3 min 58 s13:00on YouTube
24 Jul 2019Quick Fiqh!
Did early Sunni hadith scholars such as Sufyan ibn Uyayna wear earrings?
Yes: the Musnad of Abu Ya'la records a hadith student wearing two earrings, and al-Dhahabi's Siyar A'lam al-Nubala describes the young Sufyan ibn Uyayna sitting in Amr ibn Dinar's hadith class with an earring in his ear.
machine2 min 35 s16:58on YouTube
24 Jul 2019Quick Fiqh!
Did Imam Malik wear an earring?
Yes: his teacher's biography of Imam Malik records that Malik, while still a youth studying with Rabi'a, had an earring in his ear, and another Maliki work on the hadith of the Mudawwana says the same.
machine2 min 39 s19:33on YouTube
19 Jul 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
Was the first qibla really Petra, as Dan Gibson claims?
Mufti Abu Layth is not convinced that the first qibla was Petra: the statistical argument is a fallacy and Sunnis, Shia and Khawarij would never all have agreed on the Ka'bah. He still finds revisionist research compelling on some other matters and says Muslims should engage with it.
machine6 min 45 s0:00on YouTube
18 Jul 2019From the Mind of a Mufti
What is al-Suyuti's book about sex?
Al-Suyuti wrote about sex, including a section on names for the penis, and endorsed a saying that the two greatest worldly pleasures are horse riding and sex. Mufti Abu Layth agrees with al-Ghazali that orgasm is the closest worldly pleasure to those of paradise.
machine2 min 32 s0:00on YouTube
8 Jul 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Why did God stop Abraha's army but let the Qaramita steal the Black Stone?
The Black Stone has no sanctity of its own: it was most likely a remnant of pre-Islamic stone worship that Islam kept as a ritual of submission to God, so its theft by the Qaramita, though wrong, was no great matter. Umar himself said it was only a stone that can neither harm nor benefit.
machine15 min 38 s0:00on YouTube
8 Jul 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Is the story of Hajar running seven times between Safa and Marwa true?
Mufti Abu Layth thinks the story of Hajar running seven times between Safa and Marwa was most likely added later to give the ritual an Abrahamic link, though he believes the Zamzam story is true. The Quran mentions Safa and Marwa only as a remembrance of God, without linking them to Hajar or Abraham.
machine9 min 08 s15:38on YouTube
8 Jul 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Did the Prophet restore the original rituals of Ibrahim at the Kaaba?
No: nothing was in Makkah when Ibrahim arrived, and although he and Ismail built the house of remembrance, Safa and Marwa are never linked to him. The Quran presents them only as symbols for remembering God, so there is no point guessing at older origins.
machine1 min 56 s24:46on YouTube
10 May 2019video
Did Islam invent marriage?
No: Aisha's hadith lists four kinds of pre-Islamic marriage, and the ordinary one of proposal and acceptance continued with Islam's approval.
machine4 min 59 s15:25on YouTube
10 May 2019video
Did any early scholars allow marrying Zoroastrians or idol worshippers?
Yes: some companions and early scholars allowed relations with Zoroastrian and even idol-worshipping women. Same-faith marriage was stressed because early Islam needed stable Muslim families, and it remains strongly encouraged.
machine5 min 46 s27:17on YouTube
4 May 2019On Current Events
Musaylima, Sajah and the poem that shows what makhda' means
Musaylima's poem to the false prophetess Sajah uses makhda' for a bedchamber, showing the word never meant a cupboard.
machine5 min 45 s9:26on YouTube
22 Mar 2019The School of Madinah
Why does Mufti Abu Layth follow the Maliki school rather than the Hanafi?
Mufti Abu Layth follows the Maliki school of Madinah because it is built on welfare and rooted in evidence and made the most sense to him. He says the Hanafi school, despite Abu Hanifa's greatness, has been hijacked into a controlling school.
machine4 min 46 s2:35on YouTube
1 Mar 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Did the companions ever read or understand the Quran differently from each other?
Muslims already accept that the Quran was revealed with fluidity: the Prophet approved different recitations, and the tradition openly records companions such as Ibn Mas'ud holding mistaken views about what was part of the Quran and pronouncing letters by their tribal dialect. None of this is a shock to Muslims.
machine3 min 54 s13:02on YouTube
1 Mar 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
How did Uthman standardise the Quran, and does that explain the Sana'a text?
Uthman locked in one reading in an undotted script that still allowed the known variant readings, so the lower text is either a person's mistaken note or, less likely, a reading not locked in at that time. Mufti Abu Layth prefers the first, as simple human error from memory.
machine3 min 56 s24:43on YouTube
23 Feb 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
What does it mean that Jesus spoke to people in the cradle and in old age?
Mufti Abu Layth says the verse means Jesus would relate to people of every age when he preached, not that he spoke as a baby; that story likely came from apocryphal infancy gospels.
machine3 min 37 s13:57on YouTube
2018 · 62
20 Dec 2018From the Mind of a Mufti
Were there Muslim scholars and caliphs in history known to be homosexual?
Mufti Abu Layth reports, without endorsing their views, that several celebrated Abbasid-era figures were known for homosexuality, including a chief judge of Basra who argued for it from the Quran, the caliphs al-Amin and al-Ma'mun, and Muhammad ibn Dawud al-Zahiri. He cites al-Dhahabi and the poetry of the period as his sources.
machine10 min 31 s7:56on YouTube
6 Dec 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Does the Quran support human evolution?
Mufti Abu Layth reads several verses as arguing for evolution and says Eve is not named in the Quran. No one has to accept evolution, but those who do should not be called heretics.
machine9 min 49 s0:00on YouTube
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
30 Nov 2018Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Why was a marriage suggested to the Prophet after the year of sorrow?
After the year of sorrow, Khawla suggested the Prophet marry and named Aisha and Sawda. Mufti Abu Layth says a wife was meant to help him with the home and children, companionship, intimacy and his mission.
machine3 min 54 s6:33on YouTube
30 Nov 2018Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
What evidence suggests Aisha was older than nine when she married?
Mufti Abu Layth argues that a six-year-old could not have been the help the Prophet needed, and that the battle reports, her earlier engagement, her age at death and her memory of a Makkan verse point to her being at least seventeen.
machine5 min 16 s10:27on YouTube
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
10 Nov 2018From the Mind of a Mufti
Did Adam come from Neanderthals?
No: Neanderthals were cousins of Homo sapiens, not ancestors. He believes Adam was the father of the cognitive revolution about 70,000 years ago.
machine7 min 10 s0:01on YouTube
17 Sep 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Was the Prophet Muhammad poisoned, and did he die from it?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet did not die of poisoning. The report in Bukhari that he felt the poison cutting his aorta in his final illness is, in his view, a fabricated story that contradicts itself and fails on its chain.
machine3 min 25 s0:01on YouTube
17 Sep 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
How can the same poison kill one companion at once and the Prophet three years later?
The story contradicts itself: the companion who ate the food died at once, so the same poison cannot have killed the Prophet three years later, and the Prophet in Muslim's version says Allah would not let the woman do it.
machine3 min 42 s6:49on YouTube
17 Sep 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Does the hadith that the Prophet died of poison contradict the Quran?
Yes, in Mufti Abu Layth's view: the Quran promises that Allah will protect the Prophet from the people, and it describes cutting the aorta as the punishment for one who forges revelation, so a report that the Prophet died that way humiliates him.
machine2 min 16 s10:31on 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 Sep 2018Responding to Refutations
Are the hadith about the khilafah authentic?
Mufti Abu Layth says every hadith about the khilafah is fabricated, since the notion did not exist in the Prophet's lifetime and the Companions did not know them.
machine2 min 38 s12:04on YouTube
3 Sep 2018Responding to Refutations
Did al-Ghazali say Muslims must establish a caliphate?
When al-Ghazali argued for a caliph he meant a king who keeps law and order, as opposed to anarchy, not a system to be set against democracy.
machine3 min 49 s14:42on YouTube
1 Sep 2018BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
What does Mufti Abu Layth say about the Bukhari report of the Prophet falling unconscious when he uncovered himself?
The Bukhari report that the Prophet removed his izar while carrying stones for the Kaaba, fell unconscious and was never seen naked again is, in Mufti Abu Layth's words, nonsense that disrespects the Prophet, and he dismisses the scholars' attempts to soften it.
machine2 min 39 s10:23on YouTube
1 Sep 2018BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
What is the Bukhari deathbed report in which the companions ask whether the Prophet is delirious?
The Bukhari deathbed report in which the companions dispute and ask whether the Prophet is speaking deliriously portrays the companions badly and is not true, Mufti Abu Layth says, and Sunnis hand the Shia a weapon by accepting it.
machine2 min 37 s15:38on YouTube
1 Sep 2018BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Does Sahih al-Bukhari say the Prophet pointed to Aisha's house as the source of fitna?
The Bukhari report in which the Prophet points to Aisha's house and says the fitna and the horn of Shaytan will rise there is, Mufti Abu Layth says, disrespectful to the Prophet and to Aisha, and Muslims should question what they pass off as authentic.
machine1 min 20 s28:43on YouTube
30 Aug 2018BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Problematic reports in Bukhari: the Isra, Moses and the rock, magic on the Prophet
Several reports in Bukhari are factually wrong or disrespectful: the Isra dated before prophethood, a woman spurning the Prophet, Moses chasing a rock, a verse corrected on the spot, and magic making the Prophet forget intercourse. He also holds the night journey to have been a vision.
machine9 min 39 s18:23on YouTube
30 Aug 2018BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Solomon's ninety women, the rich held back from paradise, Fatima angry with Abu Bakr
The reports of Solomon's ninety women, the rich held back from paradise and Fatima dying angry with Abu Bakr are all in Bukhari, and he calls the first disgusting and disrespectful to a prophet.
machine4 min 01 s28:02on YouTube
30 Aug 2018BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
The marriage to Aisha at six: consent, and the command to pray at seven
The report that the Prophet married Aisha at six dishonours him: Bukhari itself requires a virgin's consent, which a six-year-old cannot give, and the command to separate children's beds at ten contradicts the claim that a nine-year-old had a woman's body.
machine7 min 52 s36:02on YouTube
30 Aug 2018BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Bukhari's persecution and why his book reaches us through one transmitter
Bukhari was persecuted and boycotted in his last years by Hanafis and Hanbali literalists, so few transmitted his book and it reaches us through Farabri alone. The same two groups now insist it reaches us with certainty.
machine3 min 57 s58:29on YouTube
30 Aug 2018BukhariGate: Issues with Sahih al-Bukhari
Replies to critics: Jonathan Brown, academic dialogue, going public, the Aisha debate
The problems with Bukhari should be discussed openly, because hiding them is what makes people lose faith. He finds Jonathan Brown's response emotional rather than academic and will take up the debate on Aisha's age.
machine7 min 57 s1:40:37on YouTube
11 Aug 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Why do ancient texts say people lived for hundreds or thousands of years?
The enormous reigns in the Sumerian king lists reflect a different counting system, likely based on sixty, and the numbers shorten after the flood. Mufti Abu Layth believes the Old Testament's long lifespans were inherited from this Babylonian material.
machine5 min 16 s3:53on YouTube
11 Aug 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Why does the Quran call the ruler in Yusuf's story a king but Musa's a Pharaoh?
The thousand sana follow the counting of Nuh's own people and the fifty 'am are years as we count them. The Quran relates narratives in the terms of their own time, as when Yusuf's ruler is a king and Musa's is Pharaoh.
machine3 min 08 s9:09on YouTube
3 Aug 2018Responding to Refutations
Why does Mufti Abu Layth call the Sunni Defence channel blasphemous?
Mufti Abu Layth says the group's own words, asking what is wrong with the Prophet being sexually impotent and defending the report of Musa running naked, are blasphemous. That, he says, is why he described them as he did.
machine3 min 50 s0:00on YouTube
10 May 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Did the Prophet ever execute anyone for leaving Islam?
The Prophet never executed anyone for disbelief or apostasy: he spared the hypocrite Abdullah ibn Ubayy, traded with Jews until his death, did not act against Ibn Sayyad and pardoned Abdullah ibn Abi Sarh.
machine3 min 53 s11:49on 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
4 May 2018Clarifying False Hadith Which Insult Islam
What evidence do scholars use to allow men and women to shake hands?
Scholars who permit it cite 'do not frighten people away', the verse on returning greetings, Abu Musa having a woman comb his hair on Hajj, and the Sahih report that Umm Haram combed the Prophet's hair and let him nap at her house. The Umm Haram report is one scholars struggled with.
machine2 min 37 s6:33on 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
Did the Prophet foresee women travelling alone safely?
Yes: Mufti Abu Layth cites the Prophet's prophecy to Adi ibn Hatim of a lone woman travelling from Iraq to Makkah, which Adi lived to see.
machine3 min 11 s27:28on YouTube
20 Apr 2018From the Mind of a Mufti
Was Abu Hanifa considered a deviant by the scholars of his time?
Many leading scholars of Abu Hanifa's time considered him misguided. His school rose to dominance because his student Abu Yusuf became chief judge and appointed only Hanafis, which Mufti Abu Layth says shows that power, not evidence, often decides which views prevail.
machine3 min 57 s0:00on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Why great scholars accepted it: sectarian turf war with the Mu'tazila
Mufti Abu Layth argues that belief in magic, even on the Prophet, hardened as a sectarian reaction against the Mu'tazila, just as other issues hardened against Salafis or Shia.
machine10 min 12 s30:12on YouTube
9 Apr 2018The Voice of Reason in Islam
Why did Muslims become hostile to reason?
Mufti Abu Layth traces Muslim hostility to reason to the centuries-long sectarian conflict with the Mu'tazila, in which the mainstream answered the Mu'tazila's use of reason by disparaging reason itself and defending absurd narrations.
machine6 min 35 s49:33on YouTube
9 Apr 2018The Voice of Reason in Islam
How did the Golden Age backlash and the clergy contribute to Muslim hostility to reason?
The philosophy and reason promoted in the Golden Age provoked a reaction that dumbed reason down, and institutionalised clergy found 'who said the deen is supposed to make sense' a useful tool of control.
machine2 min 36 s56:08on YouTube
9 Apr 2018The Voice of Reason in Islam
When should a hadith be rejected, and can a Muslim refuse a religious command that makes no sense?
A hadith is accepted only if it does not contradict reason, the transmitted sources or an established principle, as Ibn al-Jawzi wrote; the companion who refused an order to jump into a fire shows reason rightly judging a command.
machine5 min 12 s1:09:12on YouTube
9 Apr 2018The Voice of Reason in Islam
If Mufti Abu Layth admires Qadi Iyad, must he accept everything in al-Shifa?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says al-Shifa was written to instil love of the Prophet in a context of insults and knowingly includes weak and fabricated reports, and that admiring Qadi Iyad, who himself disagreed with Malik, does not make him a clone.
machine3 min 57 s1:19:39on YouTube
9 Apr 2018The Voice of Reason in Islam
Should loyalty to Sahih al-Bukhari outweigh how a report presents the Prophet?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says loyalty belongs to the Prophet, not to al-Bukhari, and cites the age-of-Aisha report, which he holds untrue and disrespectful since Arabs of the time did not marry girls that young, as an example of what must be re-examined.
machine2 min 31 s1:23:36on YouTube
1 Apr 2018Islamic Eschatology
Does it matter that the second coming of Jesus is the majority opinion and Mufti Abu Layth's view a minority one?
If every detail of the second-coming hadith is a metaphor, Mufti Abu Layth asks why Jesus himself is not. Majority and minority opinions are decided later by power and politics, as Abu Hanifa's case shows: condemned as a deviant by his contemporaries, his school spread when Abu Yusuf appointed only Hanafi judges.
machine5 min 13 s5:13on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
What Imam Malik transmitted: no return of Jesus, Zuhri's reports, the pig passed in peace
Imam Malik's Muwatta contains no hadith of Jesus's return and has Jesus greeting a pig in peace; Mufti Abu Layth reads this as Malik rejecting Zuhri's reports, half of which carry the return narrative.
machine7 min 48 s58:03on YouTube
13 Mar 2018Islamic Eschatology
How could fabricated hadith have crept into mainstream Islam?
Fear of questioning drives the backlash; Mufti Abu Layth says the murder of Uthman, Karbala, the sack of Madinah and the catapulting of the Kaaba all happened within decades, long before hadith were documented, so corruption of reports was possible.
machine3 min 55 s1:24:13on 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
Rashid Rida at Deoband: how scholars disagree with adab
Rida and Kashmiri held opposite views on the return of Jesus yet honoured each other at Deoband; Mufti Abu Layth says this is how scholars should disagree.
machine2 min 36 s1:50:28on YouTube
8 Mar 2018Quick Fiqh!
Do Muslim women have to wear the niqab?
Mufti Abu Layth does not consider the niqab part of the religion: it is a cultural measure, sensible only where a woman's safety requires it, and in the West he thinks it should not be worn. The screen rules for the Prophet's wives were specific to them.
machine10 min 32 s0:37on YouTube
28 Feb 2018Responding to Refutations
Reactions to his Safiyya narrative, and the parable of the wife who is never pleased
Mufti Abu Layth notes that his account of Safiyya was mostly well received, but some critics still found fault, which he illustrates with the story of a wife who cannot be pleased.
machine2 min 27 s0:01on YouTube
28 Feb 2018Responding to Refutations
Did the Prophet marry Safiyya on the same night she was captured?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says Safiyya was a Muslim when the Prophet married her and so had to observe a waiting period, which rules out a marriage on the night of her capture.
machine2 min 38 s2:28on YouTube
21 Feb 2018Responding to Refutations
What does he say to critics who accept that the Prophet was impotent, married a nine-year-old or was bewitched into clumsiness?
Mufti Abu Layth says these claims are untrue attacks on the Prophet's honour, resting on reports whose chains he has shown to be defective, and that critics who affirm them to win an argument are themselves being blasphemous. He adds that he does not support capital punishment for such speech.
machine6 min 14 s42:14on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Did the Prophet take Safiyya the night her husband was killed, as the Tommy Robinson clip claims?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says the story conceded by the Muslim debater is false and that, as described, it would be rape, so conceding it and arguing over the word is indefensible. Muslims who have not studied Islamic history should not debate these subjects.
machine5 min 12 s0:00on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Who was Safiyya and why did the Muslims march on Khaybar?
Safiyya was the daughter of Huyayy ibn Akhtab, a chief of Banu Nadir at Khaybar who had organised the coalition against Madinah, while her uncle was a Muslim. After Hudaybiyya the Prophet marched on Khaybar's fortresses, which fell after weeks of fighting in which about eighty Muslims died.
machine3 min 54 s5:12on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
What is the common story about how the Prophet married Safiyya?
The circulated story is that after Khaybar the Prophet executed Safiyya's husband and father, took her from Dihya al-Kalbi for her beauty, gave her the choice of slavery or marriage and consummated it that night. Mufti Abu Layth says every part of this is false.
machine2 min 31 s9:06on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Why do the hadith about Safiyya's marriage contradict each other?
Nearly all the reports come through one companion, Anas ibn Malik, who was a teenager at Khaybar and died decades later, and they contradict each other on almost every detail, so none can be taken as it stands. Only two facts are certain: Safiyya left with the Muslims and later became the Prophet's wife.
machine7 min 52 s11:37on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Could the Prophet have married Safiyya right after Khaybar?
No: she was a widow and the Quran requires a waiting period of four months and ten days, so a marriage at Khaybar would contradict the Quran. The companions only assumed a marriage because they saw the Prophet veil her and took a victory meal for a wedding feast.
machine5 min 15 s19:29on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Why was Safiyya bruised when she came to the Prophet after Khaybar?
Safiyya had told her husband Kinana she dreamt a moon fell into her lap; he accused her of wanting Muhammad and beat her, leaving her eye bruised when she came before the Prophet. Her uncle was a long-standing Muslim and she had spoken well of the Prophet before.
machine2 min 37 s24:44on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Why did Safiyya ride with the Prophet on the way back from Khaybar?
Because others were abusing her, the Prophet freed her and had her ride with him, laying out a cloth and offering his knee for her to mount, and covering her with his cloak when the camel fell. Mufti Abu Layth says this was kindness, not a marriage.
machine2 min 36 s27:21on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Where did Safiyya live when she first came to Madinah?
She did not live with the Prophet but was lodged with Umm Sulaym and others, and the Prophet rebuked Aisha and others who called her 'that Jew'. The feast on the road was a victory meal, not a wedding, and she embraced Islam in the months that followed.
machine2 min 38 s29:57on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
When and how did Safiyya actually marry the Prophet?
She embraced Islam in the months after Khaybar, became interested in the Prophet herself and married him with her consent, not on the night of the battle. Abu Hurayra reported that nothing was taken from Khaybar but clothing, cattle and sheep.
machine2 min 38 s32:35on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
How should Muslims judge hadith that say the Prophet took Safiyya on the night of Khaybar?
Weigh them against the Quran and the Prophet's character: the story contradicts the widow's waiting period, the verse on no compulsion and everything known of his conduct, and all its versions come from one conflicting source. Mufti Abu Layth says relaying it is a lie against the Prophet and the picture it draws is rape.
machine5 min 12 s35:13on YouTube
21 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
If the Safiyya story is in Sahih al-Bukhari, why question it?
Because Bukhari's own narrations of the incident conflict, all rest on Anas, and Anas himself says nobody witnessed a marriage and they only assumed one from her being veiled. Earlier scholars were great but shaped by their times, and loyalty to them should not come before the Prophet's honour.
machine5 min 09 s40:25on YouTube
15 Feb 2018From the Mind of a Mufti
Why don't most scholars say what Mufti Abu Layth says?
Scholars who are articulate leaders able to meet the challenges of the time usually become so in spite of the madrasa system, which does not teach these skills or, in some places, critical thinking.
machine5 min 38 s0:38on YouTube
15 Feb 2018From the Mind of a Mufti
Why do so many maulanas think the way they do?
Many maulanas grow up mocked, alienated and insecure, are trained in material irrelevant to the real world, and are then made leaders young, and that past shapes their decisions. He says he is shedding light, not disparaging them.
machine9 min 38 s5:38on YouTube
9 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Viral claims that Mufti Abu Layth insulted the companions
Mufti Abu Layth explains that he called the crying-tree reports unestablished, and only suggested that, if accepted, some companions exaggerated out of love; that is not blasphemy.
machine4 min 30 s0:00on YouTube
9 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Is it blasphemy to say some companions exaggerated out of love for the Prophet?
No: Mufti Abu Layth says suggesting that companions may have exaggerated out of love is not blasphemy, noting he alone defended Mu'awiya when he was abused online.
machine2 min 11 s16:30on YouTube
9 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
Are some hadith about the Prophet actually blasphemous?
Yes: Mufti Abu Layth says reports that the Prophet married a nine-year-old, was bewitched or became impotent are the real blasphemy, and urges scholars to denounce them.
machine7 min 41 s18:41on YouTube
9 Feb 2018On the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
How old was Aisha when she married the Prophet?
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the evidence shows Aisha married in her late teens, and warns that reports of a child marriage feed Islamophobes.
machine2 min 30 s26:22on YouTube
2017 · 22
19 Oct 2017video
What was the riba of the jahiliyyah that the Quran condemned?
Riba is spoken of as three kinds: riba al-jahiliyyah, riba al-fadl and riba al-nasi'a. The riba of the jahiliyyah was a tyrannical loan-shark practice of compounding debt enforced by killing, torture and enslavement.
machine3 min 45 s6:12on YouTube
19 Oct 2017video
Is an Islamic mortgage any different from a conventional mortgage?
Mortgages and bank loans today are not the riba the Quran condemns, in Mufti Abu Layth's understanding. Islamic mortgages are the same thing under another name, a loophole the Maliki school has never liked, as Umar said of the jizya renamed a gift.
machine4 min 57 s53:15on YouTube
29 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
Is it Islamic to name and shame someone for a sin?
Naming and shaming a person for a sin is a modern tabloid practice with no basis in the Prophet's example, who addressed wrongdoing without naming anyone. Those acting as haram police are mostly unqualified, and Mufti Abu Layth notes they ignore rulings that apply to themselves.
machine3 min 56 s15:41on YouTube
29 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
Is it wrong to be attracted to someone because of their status or position?
Attraction to status and relationships between people who work closely together are natural, not abuse, and Islam leaves consensual relationships to the people involved. Mufti Abu Layth cites Hasan ibn Ali, al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba and Ibn Hazm as figures whose private lives did not disqualify them.
machine3 min 57 s26:10on YouTube
29 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
Did great scholars like Ibn Hajar have private lives that would be condemned today?
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani married a woman who had been his wife's slave girl without anyone warning the ummah against him, Mufti Abu Layth says, so such private conduct cannot be called abuse. Words like abuse imply real abuse and are dangerous.
machine2 min 36 s30:07on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Which classical scholars denied that jinn can possess people?
Ibn Hazm held that claiming possession is a claim without knowledge and haram, since the Prophet spoke only of whispering; al-Tahawi noted that every taught du'a is against whispering, al-Razi said Shaytan cannot cause illness, and al-Shafi'i rejected the testimony of anyone claiming to see jinn, which only prophets can.
machine7 min 53 s23:06on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Did Ibn Taymiyya believe in jinn possession, and does his view have proof?
Ibn Taymiyya believed jinn possess people and treated them, but by his own rule of accepting nothing without proof from the Quran and Sunnah his claims fail: seeing something leave a patient does not prove it was a jinn. Levitating patients and beating the 'possessed' are tricks played on onlookers.
machine3 min 56 s30:59on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Why not treat jinn possession as just a difference of opinion among scholars?
Because it is not a harmless difference like raising the hands in prayer: belief in possession underwrites mass exploitation, a multi-million pound industry and ridicule of Islam and its Prophet. Al-Razi, al-Maraghi, Ibn Ashur and al-Shawkani are among those who denied it, and the abuse must end.
machine1 min 55 s1:56:14on YouTube
9 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
Did the Prophet migrate to Madinah to set up a state, and when did the khilafah end?
The guest says the Prophet left Makkah because he was forced out, not to found a state, and the khilafah rashidah ended with Ali, after which Umayyads and Abbasids were kings in all but name. The Quranic promise of khilafah was for the first generation only, and the 1924 abolition ended a powerless kingship, not a khilafah.
machine3 min 01 s2:10on YouTube
9 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
If Muslims want a khilafah, why not first establish Islam in the countries they already have?
Mufti Abu Layth says those pushing a purely politicised Islam are, in his understanding, near the modern Khawarij and use the same evidences as ISIS. The guest says Muslims already have fifty countries, that Pakistanis who sought Nizam-e-Mustafa now want to leave, that khilafah groups cannot even unite, and that Allah does not give what people do not deserve.
machine3 min 40 s8:49on YouTube
6 Sep 2017From the Mind of a Mufti
Is choosing the easier scholarly opinion just following my desires?
In this clip Shaykh Akram Nadwi gives examples of al-Shafi'i, Abu Hanifa and al-Tabari giving easier minority rulings, and says choosing among the jurists' opinions is not following one's nafs. Mufti Abu Layth only asks the question.
machine4 min 21 s8:07on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
The question, Mufti Abu Layth's thesis and premise one: dating in an oral culture
Mufti Abu Layth holds that Aisha married in her late teens, not at six or nine. His first premise is that the early Arabs kept no precise dates, so ages and years in reports often conflict.
machine9 min 08 s7:50on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
The reality: the year of sorrow and the proposal to Aisha
Marriage was proposed to the Prophet in the year of sorrow as support and companionship, which Mufti Abu Layth says makes no sense if Aisha was six. A prior engagement and a fear she would convert her fiance also point to an older girl.
machine13 min 08 s33:58on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
The reports: Bukhari's six and nine against three other Bukhari reports
The six-and-nine report conflicts with three other Bukhari reports: Aisha as a jariyah at an early revelation, her memory of her parents' Islam and Abu Bakr's migration, and her presence at Uhud when a fourteen-year-old boy was refused.
machine10 min 31 s47:06on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
The reports: Hisham's Iraqi transmission, Madinan silence and Asma's age
The six-and-nine report rests on Hisham ibn Urwa's later Iraqi transmission and no Madinan compiler carries it. Asma's reported age makes Aisha about eighteen at her marriage.
machine5 min 12 s57:37on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
The ramifications: jurists on marrying a minor, and the conclusion
Aisha was in her late teens, most likely eighteen or nineteen, Mufti Abu Layth concludes. Jurists from early on held marriage impermissible with a girl incapable of it, and the Ottomans set a minimum age of fifteen.
machine11 min 49 s1:02:49on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Which books argue that Aisha was in her late teens when she married the Prophet?
Several works argue Aisha was in her late teens, including ones by Habib al-Rahman Kandhlawi, Salah al-Din al-Idlibi and Khalid al-Jundi. Mufti Abu Layth has read them and the refutations written against them.
machine2 min 38 s1:14:38on 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
Doesn't the hadith about Aisha playing with dolls show she was a child?
The word 'play' is also used of adults, and the detailed figures described in the report read as figurines rather than a child's toys. The report does not show Aisha was a child.
machine3 min 55 s1:38:13on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
If Aisha's age is a problem, aren't polygamy and the Prophet's wars problems too?
Polygamy and the Prophet's wars are not irrational and differ from marrying a child, where consent is impossible. Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet remains a perfect role model and that he does not accept Aisha was that age.
machine5 min 12 s1:55:11on YouTube
11 Jan 2017Mothers of the Believers: The Wives of the Blessed Prophet ﷺ
Why did jurists like Imam Malik let a father marry off his young daughter without her consent?
Marrying off an underage girl is impermissible today. Imam Malik's exception was a contract only, without intimacy, tied to welfare in his own circumstances and not based on a clear verse or report.
machine9 min 07 s2:00:23on YouTube
2016 · 6
21 Dec 2016video
Where will the answers to Muslims' problems today come from?
From Muslims themselves: as Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said, legends will be born to carry the deen, and Allah sends revivers in every generation.
machine11 min 46 s20:12on YouTube
21 Dec 2016video
How can young Muslims be made interested in their faith?
Learn some Arabic and get to know the scholars as the fascinating, humorous people they were, presenting the deen as appealingly as it truly is.
machine5 min 09 s40:05on YouTube
21 Dec 2016video
Abu Hanifa and Sufyan al-Thawri on the swapped brides of Kufa
Abu Hanifa's creative answer to two brides sent to the wrong grooms, outshining Sufyan al-Thawri's ruling, shows the scholars were never dull.
machine9 min 32 s45:14on YouTube
15 Mar 2016video
Apostasy: execution as divine policy, tribal loyalty and treason in wartime
The speakers present the execution of apostates as tied to wartime treason and tribal loyalty in early Arab society rather than to belief alone, and say the Quran should be the primary reference in the discussion.
machine5 min 19 s0:06on YouTube
15 Mar 2016video
Riba and Ibn Abbas: his disagreement on riba and his combining of prayers
Ibn Abbas is reported as holding that riba lies only in delayed exchange and as combining prayers without travel or fear, which one speaker uses to show that labelling a view easy or liberal is not an argument.
machine2 min 38 s14:45on YouTube
15 Mar 2016video
Creation before Adam: Neanderthals, bashar and insan, and the formation of man
Creation before Adam is discussed through a distinction between bashar and insan and two ways of reading the fossil record. The speaker raising it says he has no verdict either way.
machine3 min 49 s29:07on YouTube
2015 · 4
6 Apr 2015video
LatestWhat is Mufti Abu Layth currently teaching?
An online fiqh course on the Risalah of Ibn Abi Zayd, al-Ashmawiyyah, a completed reading of Qadi Iyad's Foundations of Islam and a sirah series, with hadith categorisation, an Andalusi poem in hadith terms and a Maliki retreat planned. He believes the school of Madinah would make the deen a way of life for Muslims in the West.
machine5 min 18 s49:46on YouTube
7 Mar 2015video
How did Abu Hanifa deal with his drunkard neighbour?
Abu Hanifa never rebuked his drinking neighbour but bailed him out of jail and asked whether they had let him go to waste, and the man changed his life. Good character carries a message further than one can imagine.
machine4 min 55 s0:01on YouTube
3 Mar 2015video
What did Imam Malik say about bid'ah?
Imam Malik rejected any 'good' bid'ah and called innovations misguidance, yet he often ruled a given innovation only discouraged (makruh), not haram.
machine4 min 28 s1:58on YouTube
3 Mar 2015video
Do Maliki scholars accept good bid'ah?
Both views exist: the early Maliki school rejected good bid'ah for centuries, but from around the 600s to 700s Hijri most Malikis accepted such practices while the books still list them as makruh.
machine6 min 24 s23:47on YouTube
2014 · 1
2 Jul 2014video
Why is al-Andalus so important to Muslims?
Al-Andalus was eight centuries of native Muslim civilisation in Europe, shaped by the Maliki school, and its rise and fall hold lessons for Muslims today.
machine5 min 39 s12:53on YouTube