Thursday 18 Ramadan 1445 - 28 March 2024
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Ruling on buying and selling Mushafs

Question

I bought a qurán in english version to a person and when we last spoke about it, it sounded lika she wasn´t that entusiastic to read it like I thought. Is it still ok for me to give her the book even if she will neglect it?

Is it permissible to buy a Qurán (pay money for it). I had to bye the english version with arabic text but now i´m afraid that it is like placing a value on the book of Allah.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly: 

If you are hoping to benefit your friend by giving her these books and that she would read them, then it is better for you to continue giving them to her, along with encouraging her to read them and discussing them with her. 

Although she is ignoring them at present, there may come a time when she will read them and that may be a cause of her becoming a believer. 

Here we should point out that it is not appropriate for the believer to take a non-Muslim as a friend, unless the purpose behind that is to call him to Islam, in which case there is nothing wrong with it. 

Secondly: 

With regard to buying and selling Mushafs, there is nothing wrong with it. 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The correct opinion is that it is basically permissible to buy and sell Mushafs, and the Muslims have continually done that up until the present. If we were to say that it is haram to buy and sell them, that would prevent people from acquiring and benefiting from the Quran, because most people would be too stingy to give it for free. Even if some people who had faith might give it for free, that would be with reluctance. And if we were to tell everyone, when you no longer need the Mushaf you have to give it to someone else, that would be very difficult for many people. 

With regard to what was narrated from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) [i.e., about it not being allowed to buy and sell Mushafs], that may have been at a time when people needed the Mushafs, and Mushafs were too few, so there was a need for them, and if it had been permissible to buy and sell them at that time, people would have asked high prices for them because of the scarcity. Hence he (may Allah be pleased with him) thought that they should not be sold."(Al-Mumti‘ Sharh Zaad al-Mustaqni‘, 8/119). 

And he (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: Is buying a Mushaf then selling it haram, because Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say, ‘This is from Allah,’ to purchase with it a little price!” [Al-Baqarah 2:79]? I hope that you can advise us about this. Thank you. 

He replied: 

There is nothing wrong with buying and selling Mushafs. The Muslims have continued to buy and sell Mushafs without anyone objecting. The Quran could not become widely spread among people unless it is permissible to buy and sell it or to make it a must for anyone who no longer needs it to lend it to others, as was stated by a number of scholars. 

With regard to the verse quoted by the questioner, if what is meant by that is those who write the Book with their hands and distort it by adding and subtracting things in order to purchase with it a little price, then in that case they deserve this warning, because they have distorted the words of Allah for the sake of attaining what they are seeking of worldly gains, whether that is wealth or status or anything else."(Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb). 

And Allah knows best.

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Source: Islam Q&A