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Is it permissible to write "Bismillahi Ar-Rahmani Ar-Rahim" (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful) on official printed papers, given concerns about their neglect or exposure to disrespect, and the manager's refusal to remove it, and are we sinful for this? And what is the ruling on the presence of names like "Abdul Rahman" or "Abdullah" on the same papers?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The fundamental principle, to avoid the disrespect of papers, is to begin books with the Basmala (in the name of Allah), and workers are advised to preserve anything that contains the name of Allah. The permissibility of starting with the Basmala and the allowance of writing names like "Abdullah" is evidenced by what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, wrote to Heraclius (Caesar): "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful: From Muhammad, the servant of Allah and His Messenger." There is no harm in writing "Abdullah." However, if there is a fear that the honored name might be disrespected due to a lack of preservation of the papers, then there is no harm in omitting the Basmala.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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