Louay Fatoohi

For anyone interested in the full text—including the original Arabic—of the twelve fatwas by Ibn Taymiyya that I critiqued in my latest video, I’ve posted them on my Facebook page: shorturl.at/iodx3.

19 hours ago | [YT] | 11

Louay Fatoohi

In this video, we review twelve shocking fatwas by Ibn Taymiyya that declare Muslims to be disbelievers and justify shedding their blood. Applying just one of these fatwas would be enough to wipe out the vast majority of Muslims from the face of the Earth.

Ibn Taymiyya’s bloodthirsty rulings are not entirely an innovation; they have foundations in the jurisprudence schools that developed centuries before him. However, Ibn Taymiyya built upon those foundations with fatwas deeply steeped in extremism, including pronouncing takfir on countless Muslims and issuing outrageous rulings to execute Muslims for reasons that have no basis in the Qur’an, Sunna, or even common sense. To make matters worse, he became an authority for countless Muslims over the course of more than seven centuries.

The continued—albeit relative—popularity of Ibn Taymiyya’s extremist creed and jurisprudence, which contradict the Qur’an and Sunna, makes him an exceptional case study. Examining his thought exposes many damaging, un-Islamic concepts introduced by certain scholars into various Islamic sciences—a painful reality that has not received the critical study it deserves, despite its immense harm.

The attacks that Muslims are subjected to in various parts of the world by external enemies are brutal and relentless. However, we must also not overlook or forget what Islam and Muslims have been subjected to, and continue to face, from within at the hands of scholars who devised ideas and rulings that conflict with the Qur’an and the character of the Prophet (PBUH), tearing apart the ranks of Muslims and dividing them into factions. Ibn Taymiyya is one of the most prominent symbols of this destructive self-referential scholarship.

Awareness of the other is necessary, but it must never come at the expense of our self-awareness.

2 days ago | [YT] | 8

Louay Fatoohi

“Do not abandon the remembrance of Allah (dhikr) because of your lack of presence with Allah therein, for your heedlessness of His remembrance is graver than your heedlessness in His remembrance. It may be that He will raise you from remembrance with heedlessness to remembrance with vigilance, and from remembrance with vigilance to remembrance with presence, and from remembrance with presence to remembrance with absence from everything other than the One remembered, ‘And that is not difficult for Allah’ (Ibrāhīm 14:20)” (Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh al-Sakandarī (d. 709 H / 1309 CE), “Al-Ḥikam al-ʿAṭāʾiyya,” 47.)

Explanation:

The Shaikh first states that the failure to perform the dhikr of Allah—of which praying is a form—is worse than performing dhikr while absent-minded. The reason is that the effort and determination to remember Allah, even while unable to be fully mindful of Him, may lead to being rewarded by Allah. He may grant the person the ability to notice their heedlessness, thus becoming vigilant of what they are saying and doing.

Then, this improved stage, which is described as “vigilance,” may be replaced by an even better state, where the person becomes continuously aware of Allah’s “presence.”

This better state may ultimately be replaced by the best state: being completely unaware of anything and anyone other than Allah. This is the state that Sufis call “fanāʿ” (spiritual annihilation).

An example of this involves an ascetic named Muslim bin Yasār (d. 100 AH / 719 CE). When he would return home, his children would stop behaving as joyfully and noisily as they did when he was away. However, whenever he wanted to pray, he used to say to them, “Do what you like and give up your restraint, for I will not be aware of what you do.” Consequently, when he started praying, they would play, relax, and laugh, while he remained totally unaware of what they did (Source of story: Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jīlānī, Purification of the Mind [Jilāʾ al-Khāṭir]).

2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 52

Louay Fatoohi

Has there been a harrowing and abhorrent finding in modern times that has been repeatedly made by so many different organisations, groups, and individuals?

On 18 June 2026, the “Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel” released its report titled “The essence of childhood has been destroyed: Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023”

“Through the nature, scale and extent of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, the Israeli government and security forces have deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, irreparably destroying the sanctity of childhood, including family ties, identity, innocence, safety and future. The Commission found that much of the harm suffered by Palestinian children was not incidental but intended to destroy the existence of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group. Since children embody the biological and social continuity of the group, the Commission has reasonable grounds to conclude that these acts form part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of the Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children.”

Read the full report here www.un.org/unispal/document/coi-report-23jun26/

1 month ago | [YT] | 59

Louay Fatoohi

DISMANTLING THE “DIVISION” HADITH: SECTARIAN FABRICATION & EXTREMISM

Muslims today live through a sharp, painful division—perhaps the deepest among the adherents of any major religion. In this detailed lecture, we take a deep, critical journey to dismantle one of the most damaging fabricated ḥadīths: “The Ḥadīth of Sectarian Division” (the splitting of the Umma into more than seventy sects, all of which are supposedly in the Fire except one).

How did this narration transform into a tool for deepening and perpetuating sectarian divide? How did narrow sectarianism fracture us to the point where it became more prominent than the Islam that unites us? In this video, I present 10 conclusive arguments that refute this narrative linguistically, Qur’anically, historically, and logically, while shedding light on the political and sectarian exploitation of the ḥadīth over the centuries.

Key themes of the lecture:

• The glaring contradictions in the wordings (matn) of the hadith, and neutralising the chain of transmission (isnad)
• The explicit contradiction between the hadith and the Qur’an
• Historical refutation of the specific numbers of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sects.
• The sectarian exploitation of the hadith and its contradiction with pious constraint (waraʿ).

1 month ago | [YT] | 8

Louay Fatoohi

Freedom of belief may sound like a modern Western invention to many, but it is a core principle in the Qur’an. In this 4-minute excerpt that focuses on the Qur’anic verse 2:256, I discuss what “no compulsion in religion” truly means and the core Islamic perspective on freedom of conscience.


This is a standalone excerpt. Watch the full-length video on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/EUclFek27c4




#Qur’an #ReligiousFreedom #NoCompulsion #FreedomOfConscience #HumanRights

1 month ago | [YT] | 13

Louay Fatoohi

Allah Almighty mentions “reason” in the Qur’an forty-nine times, either in praise of those who reason or in condemnation of those who do not; thus, every mention of reason in the Qur’an occurs in a context of commendation. Furthermore, the Qur’an accords reason a critical role in understanding its message, believing in it, and conveying it. It is entirely logical, therefore, that scholars designated reason as one of the five essential objectives of Islamic Law, which are the preservation of: religion, life, reason, lineage, and wealth. Consequently, one of the worst and most paradoxical innovations introduced into Islamic thought is the exaggeration of many scholars in curtailing the role of reason—at times to the point of despising and neutralising it—in defence of doctrines that contravene the Qur’an, ḥadīths that the Prophet Muḥammad (PBUH) could not have uttered, and narratives that have no basis in history.

2 months ago | [YT] | 49

Louay Fatoohi

In this interview with brother Tafhim of the Kianistan YouTube channel, I discuss the life, teachings, and supernatural wonders of Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani. I also talk about our editing and translation of his profound book, "Revelations of the Unseen" (Futuh al-Ghayb).

2 months ago | [YT] | 4

Louay Fatoohi

For the overwhelming majority of believers, faith inseparably combines foundational sacred texts with later doctrines, interpretive or additive. In fact, sacred texts are systematically read through “doctrinal spectacles.” This stems from ignorance of the historical evolution of those doctrines or failure to acknowledge it. I have observed this in the study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and I expect it to be true of any other historical faith, as it is a universal human need to assume that the faith as it is perceived at any point in time is what it has always been.

This observation is not an indiscriminate criticism of interpretation or doctrine. Rather, it highlights the critical need to identify and distinguish them from foundational sacred texts and to recognise that they are not always equally faithful to the source.

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 30

Louay Fatoohi

I continue here the new ijtihad I introduced in the previous video, which argued that the Prophet (PBUH) did not use the word “Sunna” in reference to himself, meaning he never uttered the expression “my Sunna” (Sunnatī). In this video, I present further evidence supporting this view, drawing this time from the books of Hadith and history.


I also shed light on the political intervention that distorted the Qur’anic concept of “Sunna” to serve the ruling establishment.


Important Clarification: This thesis is not a denial or minimisation of the critical role of the instructions and guidance of the Prophet (PBUH) in the practice of Islam. Rather, it is a refutation of attributing the term “Sunna” to the Prophet (PBUH) himself as a designation for his sayings, actions, and approvals. Furthermore, it exposes the political and historical context in which this term was borrowed from the Qur’an and weaponised—specifically by Mu’awiya and the Umayyad monarchs who followed him.

2 months ago | [YT] | 9