Handling copybooks with Islamic content

28-12-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. I have an important question; please reply soon. I study Islam at school, so I write Allaah's name in my notebooks very often. Do I have to respect these books with the same degree as the Mushaf (physical copy of the Quran)? Does that mean that I cannot stack them? What about folding the paper that contains verses or Allaah's name? Many of the books that we have contain Allaah's name; does that mean that we have to treat them like the Mushaf? I find this a little hard since I cannot tell which books contain it and how should I treat these. May Allaah bless you.

---

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.

As for the books of which you know that they include the name of Allah, it is not permissible to subject them to disrespect, but this does not necessarily mean treating them exactly like the Mus-haf. This is because what is in the Mus-haf are the Words of Allah, and there are many rulings that apply to it, such as the obligation of being in a state of ablution to touch it, contrary to other books which may contain some Thikr (expression of remembrance of Allah).

What is important is that one should not expose things on which the mention of Allah is written to disrespect in any way or form.

However, there is no harm in folding the papers on which there is some kind of mention of Allah, because folding in itself is not considered disrespectful.

As regards the books of which you do not know whether they contain mention of Allah or not, then you are not required to investigate the matter and search inside them.

For more benefit on how to get rid of the papers that contain Quranic verses, please refer to fatwa 85092.

Allah knows best.