What Do You Think?

[jerrys1960]

What is the proper way to dispose of the Koran/Quran/Qur’aanQur’aan/Mushaf?

( see Mushaf definition at http://bbs.troach.net/viewtopic.php?t=4606 )

The short answer:

To save people from a lot of reading is that it IS appropriate to dispose of the quran or other islamic text by burning the material. However the caveat to burning is that what ever is being burned should be burned completely nothing left but ashes (no recognizable text, book covers etc.).

Other methods include burying or placing into flowing water (rivers).

However a more modern method listed, which surprised me but makes sense, is to use book and paper shredders to dispose of the books and pages of religious text.

While it was not specifically stated, I also suspect that much like food changing from halal to haram simply because a non-muslim touched the box in which cans of halal food were packed, who actually disposes of the qur’aan most likely makes a big difference also.

In other words it is ok for a muslim to burn, bury, “wash” or shred a copy of the quran but it would not ok for a non-muslim to do exactly the same thing.



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next the long answer.

[jerrys1960]

As we have discussed in other sections and should be fairly common knowledge when there is a question regarding what to do muslims are suppose to follow the example given by Mohammed. While Muhammad was alive, people supposedly wrote down what he said on all sorts of things, but at no point did he ever collect all the parts together and create an authoritative document. According to tradition, the only records were "on palm leaves and flat stones and in the hearts of men." As such the issue of what to do with old copies of text was not addressed during Mohamed’s lifetime.

Before we continue let us go over a little history regarding how the Quran that is available today came into existence.

[jerrys1960]

The following is copied in part from: http://troach.org/faith/definefaiths/WhatisIslam.htm
And
http://about.com/

= = = = =

The job of creating a more comprehensive collection was left to Muhammad's successor, the first Caliph Abu Bakr, who ruled from 632 to 634. According to some traditions, he gave his consent to have the collection created because so many Muslims who had known the Koran by heart were killed during the Battle of Yamama that he feared the contents might end up being lost.

Yet it is worth noting that, even if such a collection was made, there is no evidence that it was treated as an authoritative edition. Copies were not made and passed around so that everyone would know what the "proper" words were. Instead, it was a single document that was treated as private property, passed along from one owner to the next as part of an inheritance.

Whatever we have today comes not from Bakr, but instead from the efforts of people during the time of the third Caliph, 'Uthman, who ruled from 644 to 656. It is also due to their work that the current order is based upon the length of the suras, rather than on chronology.

Apparently, disputes were breaking out at the time among Muslims as to what the "correct" readings of the Qur'an were supposed to be, and 'Uthman was asked to create a definitive edition in order to relieve tensions. Once it was completed, all other versions were ordered destroyed. Although there are problems with this story and valid criticisms, most scholars accept that the Qur'an currently in use was probably collected around this time.

Curiously, however, this conclusion depends upon taking certain early sources at face value and rejecting other, equally credible sources. There is evidently no good reason to accept the 'Uthman story and to reject the Bakr story, rather than vice-versa. It is also dependent upon assuming that both Muhammad and his immediate followers possessed amazing memories which never failed.

Even though Muslims today are committed to the very conservative position that we have the entire, uncorrupted Qur'an, earlier Muslims had a different view. For example, As-Suyuti (d. 1505), a famous and revered commentator, quotes Ibn 'Umar al Khattab as stating: "Let no one of you say that he has acquired the entire Quran, for how does he know that it is all? Much of the Quran has been lost, thus let him say, 'I have acquired of it what is available'" (As-Suyuti, Itqan, part 3, page 72).

Tradition also has it that A'isha, favorite wife of the Prophet, said that "During the time of the Prophet, the chapter of the Parties used to be two hundred verses when read. When 'Uthman edited the copies of the Quran, only the current (verses) were recorded." Even if this tradition is in error and it never happened, it is significant that people felt comfortable attributing such an opinion to her.

[jerrys1960]

But back to the question of what to do with old, soiled, damaged, etc. versions of the Qur’aan. There are a lot of views on this topic so which one is correct. As with most Islamic questions I believe we should turn the to source - the leadership that holds and maintains the holiest and most sacred of Islamic writings, locations and artifacts. The people that have spent their lives studying these texts and have issued answers and rulings for all Muslims around the world. And that would be the Islamic scholars of Saudi Ariabia.

I found several references regarding what to do with the qur’aan and have included the questions asked and the answers given by the mainstream Islamic scholars.

Note: I have highlighted and underlined some sections.

[jerrys1960]

copied from:

http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/6490/Mushaf

the question:

Can we read from a Mushaf that becomes contaminated with najaasah and is then cleaned?

My 10 year old daughter was cycling to her Quran teacher's residence for her regular lesson.

On the way, she was frightened by a dog chasing her.
In panic, she cycled more quickly towards her teacher's house, when, she and the bicycle as well as the Quran fell into the drain.

Part of the Quran was wet from the drain water.

Upon seeing this, the Quran teacher washed off the dirt, and she was able to read from it.

My question is, what is the hukum on such a state of the Quran? Right now, she is still reading from it.

- -

The answer:

Praise be to Allaah.

If the dirt that has gotten onto the Mushaf is removed, and there is no offensive odour left, then there is nothing wrong with reading and memorizing from it.

But if there is a smell or there is some trace of dirt left on it that cannot be removed, there is nothing wrong with burning it and bringing another one, out of respect for the Book of Allaah and the wish not to leave any impurity or bad smell on it.

May Allaah reward you with good for your respect towards the Book of your Lord and your asking such a question which is indicative – in sha Allaah – of goodness and religious commitment. We ask Allaah to make it easy for your daughter to memorize the Qur’aan and act according to it.

And Allaah knows best.

[jerrys1960]

copied from:
http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/114932

The question:

Ancient copies of the Qur’aan

How much efforts should muslim put in to preserve the old copies of Quran? This certainly requires resources and expertise in preservation. There are many old copies of Quran in various libraries and homes but they are all dusted and in bad condition. How one should act in this situation where there is a desire to save such Mushaaf?.


The answer:

Praise be to Allaah.

Respecting and taking care of Mus-hafs (copies of the Qur’aan) is part of venerating the symbols of Allaah and the word of Allaah which He revealed as guidance to mankind. This is a duty upon all Muslims, who should make whatever efforts they can to achieve that.

How great these efforts should be differs according to the need to preserve ancient Mushafs. Copies of the Mus-haf may be few and the people may need all that they have, or these old copies may still be in good condition and people can still read them, or it may be possible to send them to some poor Muslim countries where the people still copy the Qur’aan by hand because they are so poor, and other cases which dictate keeping these old copies and taking proper care of them.

If there are no such cases where it is necessary to preserve old copies, then there is nothing wrong with disposing of them in respectful ways which achieve the desired purpose. The scholars have mentioned three ways of doing that:

1- Burning, i.e., burning old copies of the Mus-haf in a careful and respectable manner, in a clean and safe place, whilst ensuring that the words are consumed by the fire and the pages are changed.

The scholars based this view on what ‘Uthmaan (may Allaah be pleased with him) did with the Mus-hafs that differed from what the Sahaabah were unanimously agreed upon. Al-Bukhaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) narrated (hadeeth no. 4987) from Anas ibn Maalik that ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan (may Allaah be pleased with him) ordered Zayd ibn Thaabit, ‘Abd-Allaah ibn al-Zubayr, Sa’eed ibn al-‘Aas and ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn al-Haarith ibn Hishaam to make copies of the Mus-hafs. ‘Uthmaan said to the three Qurashi men: If you differ with Zayd ibn Thaabit concerning anything of the Qur’aan, then write it in the dialect of Quraysh, for it was revealed in their tongue. They did that, then when they had copied the pages in Mus-hafs, ‘Uthmaan returned the pages to Hafsah, and he sent to each country one of the Mus-hafs that they had copied, and he ordered that all other copies of the Qur’aan on pages or in books be burned.

Ibn Battaal (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

This hadeeth shows that it is permissible to burn books which contain the name of Allaah, and that this is a kind of respect to them and protects them from being trampled underfoot. ‘Abd al-Razzaaq narrated via Tawoos that he used to burn letters that contained the Basmalah when he had collected a good number of them, and ‘Urwah did the same, but Ibraaheem regarded that as makrooh. End quote.

Fath al-Baari (9/20).

Al-Khateeb al-Sharbeeni al-Shaafa’i (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

It is makrooh to burn wood into which words of Qur'aan have been carved, unless the aim is to protect the Qur’aan, in which case it is not makrooh, as may be understood from the words of Ibn ‘Abd al-Salaam. It is in this way that we may interpret ‘Uthmaan’s burning of the Mus-hafs. End quote.

Mughni al-Muhtaaj (1/152).

(Continued)

[jerrys1960]

2- Burying, for which a place that is clean and safe from tampering should be chosen. A deep hole should be dug in which it is thought most likely that the buried copies will disappear for a long time.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

With regard to old Mus-hafs, which have worn out and are now in such a condition that they cannot be used for reading from, they should be buried in a place where they will be safe, just as the body of a believer is honoured by being buried in a place where it will be safe. End quote.

Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (12/599)

Al-Bahooti (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

If a Mus-haf becomes worn out, it should be buried. Ahmad narrated that Abu’l-Jawza’ had a Mus-haf that wore out, so he dug a hole for it in his mosque and buried it. In al-Bukhaari it is narrated that the Sahaabah burned [Mus-hafs] after making copies of them. Ibn al-Jawzi said: That is out of respect for it and in order to protect it. al-Qaadi said that Abu Bakr ibn Abi Dawood narrated with his isnaad from Talhah ibn Musarrif that he said: ‘Uthmaan buried the Mushafs between the [Prophet’s] grave and the minbar, and he narrated with his isnaad from Tawoos that he did not see anything wrong with burning books. He said: Water and fire are creations of Allaah. End quote.

Kashshaaf al-Qinaa’ (1/137).

It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (4/140):

If the pages of the Mus-haf wear out and become tattered from being read from a great deal, or they become unfit to be used, or they found mistakes in it because of careless mistakes in writing or printing, and it is not possible to correct it, it is permissible to bury it without burning it, and it is permissible to burn it and then bury it in a place far away from dirt or where people walk, so as to protect it against mishandling, and so as to protect the Qur’aan against any tampering or distortion or confusion due to propagating of Mus-hafs in which there are mistakes in writing or printing. End quote.

(continued)

[jerrys1960]

3- Shredding. This may be the easiest way nowadays. There are machines into which one inserts papers and they shred them into tiny pieces, so that they are no longer regarded as words of the Qur’aan or even legible letters. This is clean and safe and does not involve a lot of effort, as is the case with burning or burying.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

No one among the Muslims doubts that the Muslim must respect and venerate the Holy Qur’aan and prevent it from being exposed to mishandling. These worn out pages of the Mus-haf which cannot be used for reading may then be dealt with in one of two ways:

I. They may be buried in a clean, pure place where they will not be subject to mishandling in the future, to the best of one’s knowledge.


II They may be burned. Burning them is permissible and there is nothing wrong with it. When the Qur’aan was consolidated in the dialect of Quraysh at the time of ‘Uthmaan (may Allaah be pleased with him), the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) burned all other copies. This indicates that it is permissible to burn the Mus-haf that can no longer be made use of.

But I think that if it is burned then it must be done thoroughly until there is nothing left but ashes, because when printed material is burned, some letters may still be visible after burning, so it is necessary to do it thoroughly until it has turned to ashes.

If it is shredded, this is a third way, but it is difficult, because shredding must be done to all the words and letters, and this is difficult unless one has a machine that can shred it very finely so that no shape of a letter is left. This is a third way, and it is permissible. End quote.

Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb (tape 32/side B)

See also: al-Mawsoo’ah al-Fiqhiyyah (2/123).

And Allaah knows best.

[jerrys1960]

http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/158570

the question:

He finds it difficult to collect the papers that are thrown on the ground, on which there is the name of Allah

Often I find on the ground papers which contain announcements and so on, and often these announcements contain one of the names of Allah. There are very many papers which makes me frustrated. Please note that if I want to collect them it would take a lot of time. What should I do?

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The answer:

Praise be to Allaah.

It is not permissible to throw papers containing mention of Allah, may He be exalted, on the ground because that is showing disrespect towards the name of Allah and not venerating His name.

The duty of the Muslim who feels proud of his religion and who respects the symbols of his Lord with regard to this matter includes a number of things:

Firstly:

He should not handle with disrespect any paper on which there is mention of Allah, by throwing it on the ground or sitting on it or using it to eat food from and so on.

Secondly:

He should advise his Muslim brothers not to throw away any paper that contains mention of Allah.

Thirdly:

He should pick up from the ground any papers that have been dropped on which there is mention of Allah or hadeeths of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), then he should burn them or bury them in clean ground far away from where people walk.
He does not have to look at every piece of paper that is on the ground to see what is in it, but he does not have to pick up every piece of paper on the ground on which there is any mention of Allah, because that would cause a great deal of hardship for him. All that is required of him to do in this regard is what he is able to do, without putting himself through hardship and difficulty.

There follow some of the fatwas of the scholars concerning this matter:

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

If it is known that these newspapers contain verses of the Qur’aan or names of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, or hadeeths of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), then it is not permissible to use them for food or sitting on them and so on, because that is a kind of disrespect towards the words of Allah and His names and the hadeeths of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb by Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 13/59

The Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas was asked:
What is the duty of the Muslim towards pieces of paper on which there are Qur’aanic verses and hadeeths of the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) that are dropped on streets and sidewalks?

They replied:

If it can be seen that the piece of paper contains a verse from the Book of Allah or a hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) or any mention of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, or the Sunnah of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, or any of the names and attributes of Allah – then he should pick it up and burn it or bury it in clean ground that is not where people walk. He should not throw it on the ground, because that is regarded as showing disrespect to the Book of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted. End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 3/42
The Committee was also asked:

I often see clippings from newspapers and magazines on the streets and sidewalks, and when I examine them I find that they contain the name of Allah and Qur’aanic verses. If I see those newspapers and magazines, do I have to stop whilst I am driving my car and collect these pieces of paper?

They replied:

If you see any papers from the streets or elsewhere on which there is any mention of Allah or anything of the Qur’aan, you have to pick it up and move it from a place of disrespect to a place where it will be protected, or burn it.
End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 3/40

The Committee was also asked:

Should I walk through the streets bending over to pick up these verses and soorahs which are often thrown on the ground, when the people make fun of me? What should I do to remove this widespread evil?
They replied:

Firstly, it is not permissible for the Muslim to wrap his goods or merchandise in papers on which soorahs or verses of the Holy Qur’aan, or hadeeths of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) are written, or to throw papers on which such things are written on the streets or in neighbourhoods or unclean places, because that is a kind of disrespect and transgressing against the sanctity of the Qur’aan, Prophetic hadeeths and remembrance of Allah.

Secondly: it is sufficient, in order to avoid sin and blame, to advise people not to use the papers mentioned in ways that are disrespectful, and to advise them not to throw these things into trash cans or on the street and so on. You are not obliged to do that which causes hardship for yourself by making yourself pick up all these things that scattered in the streets and the like. Rather you should pick up whatever you are able to do of such things without causing yourself difficulty or hardship.

End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 4/74-75

All you have to do with regard to this matter is whatever you are able to do and whatever is easy for you to do without making it difficult for yourself.

And Allah knows best.

[jerrys1960]

Without making this into a book I think the above text shows conclusively that burning islamic religious material is indeed permissible.

There does not seem to be a preferred method of disposing of the material, but rather the method to be used is based mostly upon what is available to the person at the time.