Back to search

What is the ruling on reciting the Qur’an and adhkar (remembrances) in prayer or outside of it using non-Arabic letters, such as reciting them with English letters, and should they wait to learn correct recitation, or pray to the best of their ability?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority of scholars prohibit writing the Qur'an and remembrances (adhkar) in non-Arabic letters. However, some Hanafis permitted this for a few verses. Ibn 'Abidin explicitly stated the prohibition of writing the entire Qur'an (Mushaf) in Persian, while permitting the writing of one or two verses in it. Al-Haytami mentioned that the collective opinion of the companions (of the Prophet) prohibits writing the Holy Qur'an in a non-Arabic language. He also sees no need for it, as learning Al-Fatihah, which is obligatory in prayer, is available through various methods such as direct instruction (talqin) or listening to recordings. If the time for prayer arrives before memorization, one must pray behind an imam who recites Al-Fatihah proficiently. If such an imam is not found, one should pray regardless.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy