BAREILLY: The Darul Uloom Deoband seminary has supported the fatwa issued by Saudi Arabian clerics against using Quran ayats (verses) as ringtones on mobile phones, terming the practice as un-Islamic.

Mufti Arif Qasmi of fatwa cell at Darul Uloom told TOI, “The phone caller may be in the toilet at time the call is made. In such a state, hearing Quran ayats and azaan (call for prayer) as ringtone or caller tune is quite un-Islamic. Whether it is Arabia, India or any other part of the world, Islam is the same everywhere, so a fatwa issued in Arabia is no less important here.”

This is not the first time that Islamic clerics have issued a fatwa against using Quranic verses as ringtone on mobile phones. In 2009, clerics from a Kanpur-based organization, Jamia Ashraf-ul-Madaris, had issued the same diktat.

Qasmi said, “If a person is in the toilet and heard Quranic ayats after the mobile phone rang, it would be a sin. Besides, most of the time, people answer calls midway, leaving the verses incomplete, which is again un-Islamic as an incomplete verse, sometimes, has a completely different meaning.”

According to Qasim , using verses as door bell was equally un-Islamic as using them in ringtones. “The other day, someone asked me that Hindu people also use bhajans and shlokas as ringtone, but they don’t see any harm in that. I replied that I can’t comment about other religions. But as far as Islam is concerned, using verses as ringtone goes against the sacred nature of the Quran,” he added.

