He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

“What should be done with an old copy of the Quran if it becomes torn? If someone writes something from the Quran and then washes it off with water or burns it, does it retain its sanctity or not?”

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. An old copy of the Quran, or one that has become so torn that it can no longer be used for reading, should be buried somewhere it will be protected, just as a believer’s body is honoured by being buried somewhere it will be protected.

If something from the Quran or words of remembrance is written in a vessel or on a tablet, then washed off with water or something else, there is no harm in drinking the resulting liquid. Ahmad and others explicitly stated this. They also reported that Ibn ‘Abbās—may Allah be pleased with him and his father—used to write words from the Quran and words of remembrance and instruct that the resulting liquid be given to someone suffering from an illness to drink. This implies that it contains a blessing.

The water used by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for ablution was likewise blessed water. Some of it was poured over Jābir when he was ill, and the Companions used to seek blessings through it. Nevertheless, the Prophet would perform ablution over the earth and elsewhere. No prohibition against pouring such water onto the earth or similar places has reached me, nor do I know of any prohibition concerning this. Once erased, the traces of the writing no longer constitute writing, and someone in a state of major ritual impurity is not forbidden to touch it. It is well known that it does not