بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
[Below is a transcription and translation of a talk by the Grand Mufti and Spiritual Mentor Hazrat Mufti Ahmed Khanpuri Sahib حفظه الله ونفعنا بعلومه]
Some people raise an objection regarding it being inappropriate to recite the Qurʾān on a mobile phone since animate images appear on it.
When the muftīs have granted permission to recite from it, then there remains no room for an objection.
For argument’s sake, if this objection is valid, then I pose the following objection:
Since you curse with your tongue, is it permissible to recite the Qurʾān with that same tongue?
The mobile itself is not a sin. It is not an animate being. It is inanimate. No sin is associated with the mobile itself.
However, when we curse, we are sinful. Our tongues have become filthy. We engage in dhikr (the remembrance of Allāh) with this filthy tongue. Until now, no one has ever posed such an objection.
This is the response to those who object against reciting the Qurʾān on the mobile. We mention the Name of Allāh and recite the Qurʾān with that same tongue that we use to curse and speak obscenely. Did anyone ever say that we should first repent (tawbah), wash our mouths with rose petals and musk and thereafter mention the Name of Allāh. Even after washing it, the right due upon Allāh’s Name will still not be fulfilled. A Persian poet stated:
I washed my mouth with rose petals and musk one thousand times
Even then, it is disrespectful to mention Your Name with it.
Our existence itself is a sin. [An Arabic proverb states:] “Your existence is a sin that no other sin can compare with it.”
All these types of statements which people make are all varying forms of Shayṭān’s plots to prevent people from worshipping Allāh.
If we ourselves pay regard to it, Allāh will grant us the tawfīq.
When we used to travel before, we would have to ensure to keep all these books and the Qurʾān with us and place them in a cloth bag.
But now, all these things are on the mobile. It is an ocean in our hands [as the Urdu proverb states].
While others use the mobile for impermissible things, we use it for permissible things.
When someone asked Qārī Ṭayyib ṣāḥib about these inventions making people sinful, Ḥazrat replied that these inventions themselves are not anything [i.e., no ruling applies to them]. They [i.e., their rulings] are in accordance to how the human uses it. If it is used for a good purpose, then it is good. A sword is not evil in itself. If an enemy of Allāh is killed by it, then you will get Jannah. But if you were to commit suicide with it, you will go to Hell. The tools are nothing. It is our usage.
We should rectify our hearts, our minds and our thinking by firmly intending not to use these tools in a wrong manner at all. This is what it is. But we are unable to do this. So without reason, we cause problems and prevent those who are doing good deeds from the good deeds.
وبالله التوفيق