Disposing of Verses of Quran in Publications

30-10-2002 | IslamWeb

Question:

I live in a Western country and receive magazines, newspapers, journals, etc. that have verses of the Qur'an in Arabic. What is the best way to dispose of these? Is there a difference if the verses were in English rather than Arabic?

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Answer:

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

You can dispose of papers, magazines and so on that contain Quranic verses or words of remembrance of Allah by burning them, or by wetting them with water, and then burying them so that they will vanish in the earth.

Also, there is a special machine for shredding papers.

As for translated Quranic verses, they are not Quran. So, we are not required to treat them as Quran when reading, touching and so on. Know that the Quran was revealed only in Arabic.

Allah Says (what means): {In a clear Arabic language.} [Quran 26: 195]

So, it is neither permissible nor acceptable to imagine that any human being, can translate and interpret the Quran accurately and precisely; i.e. to make an accurate translation. For sure, all available translations are no more than approximate meanings of the Quranic verses, i.e. they are not considered Quran (the Speech of Allah) by any means, nor are we required to perform ablution, or to be pure before using such translations. Also, a non-Muslim can touch the translations. However, if you want to dispose of some papers that contain translated Quranic verses, you can do as mentioned above, since this constitutes an indication of honoring the remembrance of Allah.

Allah knows best.