Question:
Dear Imam Mohsen,
Assalam alaikum,
There is an issue that many brothers and I have. It is about taking mobile phones with Qur’an on them into the toilets.
Jazaka Allah Imam
The answer:
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and companions:
Firstly:
The majority of scholars said that it is makrooh to enter toilets with the Mus-haf (Holy Qur’an) or papers that contains the name of Allah, it is also mustahabb (recommended) to keep such things out of toilets, Abu Dawood and Tirmidhi narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) used to take off his ring before entering the toilet.
Al-Bukhari narrated from Anas that the Prophet’s ring was engraved with: ” Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”
In the Hanafi book (Al-bahr Al-ra’iq) said: ” It is makrooh to enter the toilet with a ring containing the name of Allah or something from the Holy Qur’an”.
In the Maliki book (Hashiyat Al-kharchi) said: ” It is makrooh to enter the toilet with Mus-haf (Qur’an) or something including dhiker of Allah”.
In the Shafi’i book (Asna Al-matalib) said: “It is makrooh to carry a written Qur’an or things having the name of Allah or the name of the prophet when entering the toilet”.
In the Hanbali book (Al-insaf) said : ” If the name of Allah is written on it, It is makrooh to enter the toilet with it”.
Secondly:
Mobile phones and similar devices on which Qur’an may be recorded do not come under the same rules as the Mus-haf, because the letters of the Qur’an in these devices are different to the letters in the Mus-haf. They do not exist in the form in which they are read, rather they exist in the form of waves that form the letters when needed, so they appear in the screen then disappear when one moves to another verse. Based on this, it is permissible to touch the mobile phone or tape on which Qur’an is recorded, and it is permissible to read from it, even if one is not in a state of purity..
Reading Qur’an on a mobile phone makes it easy for one who cannot easily carry a Mus-haf with him, or one who is in a place where it is difficult for him to do wudu, because it is not essential for the one who touches it to be in a state of purity.
Conclusion:
These mobile phones in which Qur’an is put in written or recorded form do not come under the same ruling as the Mus-haf, so it is permissible to touch them without having purified oneself and it is permissible to take them into the washroom with one, because writing Qur’an on the mobile phone is not like writing it in a Mus-haf. It takes the form of waves that appear and disappear, and its letters are not fixed, and the mobile phone may contain Qur’an and other things.
And Allah knows best.
Mohsen Shaker Bayoumy
Imam of Osaka Ibaraki Mosque