How can I destroy holy Quran cassettes? I have about 50 video cassettes of the holy Quran, recited during Taraveeh prayers at the holy mosques of Makkah and Madinah (Masjidil Haram and Masjid-e-Nabawi). Now VCRs are not in use; the cassettes have become obsolete. I want to dispose of (destroy) these cassettes. Some of these have photos of the holy Kaaba and Masjid-e-Nabawi. How can I destroy these holy Quran cassettes? Mohammadrashid46@yahoo.com

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

These tapes are among the wealth that a Muslim is obligated to preserve and avoid spoiling as a way of acting according to the prohibition that is mentioned in the Hadeeth narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said: “Allaah disliked three things for you: idle talk, wasting wealth, and asking too many questions (about matters that yield no benefit).” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Al-Munaawi said: “Wasting money means spending it in other than its legitimate fields and subjecting it to being spoilt as this is an act of corruption and Allaah does not like the corrupters.”

If there is no one in your country to benefit from it, then there might be someone in another country who may be in need of it. Therefore, we advise you to give it to any charity organization which, in turn, may take it to someone who may be in need of it.

If we presume that there is no one to benefit from them at all, then you may get rid of them by burning them, or drowning them, or burying them in the ground.

Allaah Knows best.