Would It Be Permissible to Use a Paper Shredder to Dispose of Material With Qur’Anic Verses on Them?

Answered by Mufti Muhammd ibn Adam

Question:  Would it be Permissible to Use a Paper Shredder to Dispose of Material with Qur’anic Verses on them?

Answer: In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

With regards to disposing and getting rid of unwanted Islamic literature, many classical jurists (fuqaha) state that the best way to get rid of it is to bury it in a place where people normally would not walk. There is also nothing wrong in casting the literature in flowing water by tying it with something heavy. Alternatively, one may burn the Islamic literature, but only after erasing the name of Allah Most High, His angels and Messengers.(See: Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar, 5/271 and other classical Fiqh
references)

Now, shredding Islamic literature is akin to burning it, hence the same rule would apply, in that it will be permitted to use a paper shredder to shred it, but only after erasing the name of Allah Most High, His angels and His Messengers. Also, one should avoid throwing the shredded remains in the bin; rather, one should bury the remains somewhere where people would not normally walk.

Note that the above ruling is only with regards to Islamic literature such as papers, Islamic books and other such material. As far as copies of the Qur’an are concerned, there is a separate ruling concerning their disposal.

And Allah knows best
Muhammad ibn Adam
Darul Iftaa
Leicester , UK