If the Holy Name is written in non-Arabic letters
15-12-2014 | IslamWeb
Question:
Some break makers and other manufacturers of construction materials print the initial letter of their names in their products , for example if their name is Abul Hai or Mohamad Wali they print AH or MW . these products while bearing the abbreviation or the initial letter of the name of الله جل جلاله or the name of prophet محمد صلي الله و عليه و سلم are being used any where in buildings or in street . what is the fatwa about this issue ? does the initial letter of these names have the same rule like the complete name?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The scholars differed in opinion about the letters written in languages other than Arabic whether or not they have any sanctity, and they also differed about individual Arabic letters whether or not they have any sanctity. A Muslim ought to respect what is written even if it is one single letter.
Shaykh Ibraaheem Al-Laqqaani said in his commentary to Ad-Dusooqi: “The letters have sanctity if they are written in Arabic, otherwise no unless what is written is one of the Names of Allaah, but ‘Ali Al-Ajhoori said: they have sanctity whether they are written in Arabic or otherwise; Al-Hattaab is also of this view as well as the Fatwa of An-Naasir. Our Shaykh said: it is the standard opinion.”
Al-Khaadimi of the Hanafi School said in his book Bareeqah Mahmoodiyyah: “If a letter is cut from the letters of His Name, exalted is He, or some letters are crossed out until the word is no longer linked, the prohibition is still not removed – meaning the prohibition of putting something on a paper in which the name of Allaah is written – because the individual letters have sanctity.” [End of quote]
Ibn ‘Aabideen, also from the Hanafi School, said in the Radd Al-Muhtaar: “The letters have sanctity even if they are separated.”