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Succession and the first civil wars
40 segments in 18 recordings · 2017 to 2021 · 0 verified · 36 checked positions · history/early-succession-and-civil-strife · Feed
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 16 Mar 2021
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
Earlier answers · 39 · newest first
2021 · 7
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
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
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
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
2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Umayyad, Abbasid and Zubayrid politics behind the recording of history
Mufti Abu Layth argues that rival Umayyad, Abbasid and Zubayrid narratives gave motives to shape reports such as those through Hisham ibn Urwa.
machine9 min 37 s37:45on 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
2020 · 26
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
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
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
4 Aug 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Does Abu Bakr's war on Musaylima justify killing someone who claims prophethood?
Mufti Abu Layth says Abu Bakr's wars were political and the Prophet never ordered Musaylima killed, so they cannot justify killing a claimant.
machine7 min 16 s1:47:49on 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
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
2019 · 2
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
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
2018 · 3
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
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
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
2017 · 1
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