#637: Ruling on a Non-Muslim touching the Qur`an

QUESTION:

IF THE KUFFĀR ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HOLD THE QUR’ĀN, HOW THEN DO THEY GET TO UNDERSTAND ISLĀM?

“Ya Ustaz regarding the question on the impermissibility of the Kafir holding the Quran, does this apply to the translated Quran. And how then will the Kuffar get to know the message of the Quran if they can’t read it, especially as many of them got into Islam after reading the the great message in it. Please how do we realistically go about This?”

ANSWER:

Alhamdulillāh.

Firstly, this impermissibility does not apply to any copy of the Qur’ān that is Translated. This is because the translation is an effort to render it’s meaning understandable by the Non-Arab Speaker and this is acceptable by the consensus of the Ulamā. The preventative factor, as we have mentioned in the response earlier (No. 662) is domiciled on the Mus’haf as referred by An-Nawawī in the Majmū’. The Mus’haf is a compilation of the written Chapters of the Qur’ān in the writings of the Uthmānī Scripts.

Second, the fact that some Non-Muslims have read the Qur’ān in it’s Mus’haf compilation and accepted Islām by so doing does not change the ruling agreed upon by the ‘Ulamā, and does not mean we don’t welcome presenting the Message of the Qur’ān to the Kuffār. Rather, it adds a responsibility to us to make the Message of the Qur’ān available to the Non-Muslims in ways that don’t compromise this Injunction not to allow them access to the Mus’haf.

We ask Allāh to guide us to that which is best, amīn

Jazakumullāhu Khayran
Bārakallāhu Fīkum

19th Dhul Hijjah 1439A.H

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