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Scholars and imams of the past
70 segments in 37 recordings · 2015 to 2023 · 0 verified · 55 checked positions · history/scholars-and-imams · Feed
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 19 Apr 2023
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
Earlier answers · 69 · newest first
2023 · 14
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
2022 · 6
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
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
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
2021 · 19
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
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
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
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
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
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
2 Feb 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
What do you think of Imam al-Shatibi?
Mufti Abu Layth calls Imam al-Shatibi an absolute legend and the real founding father of maqasid, the objectives of the Sharia.
machine2 min 47 s1:17:49on 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
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
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
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 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
2020 · 7
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
22 Sep 2020Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
Who were the Murji'a and why do Salafis talk about them so much?
Mufti Abu Layth says Salafis fixate on long-extinct sects because they read Ibn Taymiyya, whom he sees as a troubled man with mental health issues whom they all but worship.
machine6 min 25 s1:18:25on 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
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
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
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
2019 · 6
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!
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
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
2018 · 5
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
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
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
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
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
2017 · 7
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
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
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 · 3
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
2015 · 2
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