No Harm in Burning Worn-Out Mus-haf
Fatwa No: 37422

Question

What should I do with a Mus-haf (i.e. copy of the Arabic text of the Noble Quran) with some of its pages torn out and of which I suspect that it contains a spell of some sort? Do I bear any sin for burning it? What should I do with it?

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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

There is no harm in burning a Mus-haf if you cannot avail yourself of it due to some of its pages being lost or you fear that it would not be revered and preserved as due or such. This is evidenced by the fact that ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan ordered that all the manuscripts in which the Quran was written be burnt after its collection and compilation in a single unified version. He did this fearing that Muslims may differ about the Quran. As for the questioner's suspicion about a spell inside the Mus-haf, he may search in it and look for that spell. If he finds any, he should take it out and break it; otherwise, he should avail himself of the Mus-haf and disregard these ill and baseless doubts.

Allah knows best.

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