Is it permissible to write verses of the Qur’aan in unjoined letters? Is the ‘Uthmaani script obligatory?

 

Is writing verses of the Qur’aan with letters unjoined permissible? As this style of writing is widespread in chat rooms?.

Praise be to Allaah.

With regard to
writing Qur’aanic verses according to modern rules of writing and in a style
other than the ‘Uthmaani script, one of two scenarios must apply: 

1.    

That
is done by writing the entire Qur’aan in a mus-haf

2.    

Or
some verses are written in books, chatrooms or articles. 

If we can be
lenient with regard to the second case, we may allow writing one or two
verses in books of knowledge according the modern rules of writing, but the
former case, which is writing the entire Mus-haf in that style, cannot be
tolerated or taken lightly. That is in order to stop those who would toy
with the Qur’aan by writing the entire Qur’aan in scripts and styles other
than the ‘Uthmaani script, and with the passage of time people would see a
difference in the copies of the Qur’aan around the world.  

Hence the Fiqh
Council in Makkah al-Mukarramah issued a statement supporting what was
mentioned in a statement by the Senior Scholars in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia forbidding the writing of Mus-hafs in anything but the ‘Uthmaani
script.

The statement
of the Fiqh Council says: 

The Islamic
Fiqh Council has studied the statement of Shaykh Haashim Wahbah ‘Abd al-‘Aal
from Jeddah, in which he mentions the subject of changing the ‘Uthmaani
script of the Mus-haf to a regular script that is in accordance with the
rules of writing. After discussing this topic by the council, and studying
the ruling of the Council of Senior Scholars in Riyadh (no. 71), dated
21/10/1399 AH, on this topic, in which it states the reasons for continuing
to write the Mus-haf in the ‘Uthmaani script. They are: 

1.    

It
is proven that Mus-hafs were written in the ‘Uthmaani script at the time of
‘Uthmaan (may Allaah be pleased with him), and that he ordered that the
Mus-hafs should be written in a specific script and style, and the Sahaabah
agreed with him, and the Taabi’een followed them in that, and it has
continued like that until the present day. And it is proven that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I urge you to adhere
to my Sunnah and the way of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs who come after me.”
Continuing to write the Mus-haf in this manner is what we have to do,
following the example of ‘Uthmaan, ‘Ali and the other Sahaabah, and
following their consensus. 

2.    

Forsaking the ‘Uthmaani script for the regular script that exists at present
with the aim of making it easier to read may lead to further change, if the
rules of writing change again, because the regular rules of writing could be
changed and that may lead to distortion of the Qur'aan, by switching some
letters or adding or taking away others, in which case there would be
differences in Mus-hafs as the years go by, and the enemies of Islam would
find a way to criticize the Holy Qur’aan. Islam came to block the means that
lead to evil and cause trouble. 

3.    

The
fear that if the ‘Uthmaani script is not adhered to when writing the
Qur’aan, the Book of Allaah may become a plaything in people’s hands. Every
time a person has an new idea about writing it, he would suggests doing it,
so you may find some of them suggesting writing it in Latin script or other
scripts. This is treading on dangerous ground. Warding off harm takes
precedence over bringing benefits. After studying all of that, the Islamic
Fiqh Council decided unanimously to support what it says in the statement of
the Council of Senior Scholars in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that it is
not permissible to change the ‘Uthmaani script of the Mus-haf and it is
obligatory to leave the ‘Uthmaani script of the Mus-haf as it is, so that it
might remain as proof that there has been no tampering or change or
distortion of the text of the Qur’aan, and so as to follow that which the
Sahaabah and imams of the earlier generations (may Allaah be pleased with
them all) followed.

With regard to
the need to teach Qur'aan and make it easy for the new generation that has
gotten used to the regular script, that may be achieved by means of
teachers, because teaching Qur’aan needs teachers in all cases. So the
teacher should take care of teaching the students the words whose form
differs from the rules of the regular script especially since it may be
noted that these words are few in number and are repeated frequently in the
Qur’aan, such as the words salaat and samawaat etc. Once the student learns
the word in the ‘Uthmaani script, it will be easy for him to read it every
time it is repeated in the Mus-haf, as is also the case with the words
haadha and dhaalika in the regular script also. 

Head of the
Islamic Fiqh Council: Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz 

Deputy head:
Dr. ‘Abd-Allaah ‘Umar Naseef 

Fataawa
Islamiyyah
(4/34, 35) 

Based on this
we say: 

There is no
way it can be permissible to write the verses in the manner mentioned in the
question, for two reasons: 

1 – There is
no scholarly opinion that suggests that it is permissible to write the
Qur’aan in any manner. What is mentioned in scholarly discussions is the
‘Uthmaani script and the regular script, and this method is neither of
those. 

2 – This way
is akin to the writings of the practitioners of witchcraft, as they write
the verses with unjoined letters and switch letters around. 

So we do not
think it is permissible to write Qur’aanic verses in a style that breaks up
the letters and we think that we should use only the ‘Uthmaani script for
writing an entire Mus-haf, or you may use the modern rules of writing if you
want to write some verses in a book or article, although it is better in
this case too, to copy it from the Mus-haf in ‘Uthmaani script. 

And Allaah
knows best.