Is it permissible to write verses of the Qur’aan in unjoined letters? Is the ‘Uthmaani script obligatory?
Question

                Is writing verses of the Qur’aan with letters unjoined permissible? As this style of writing is widespread in chat rooms?.
Praise be to Allah.
    With regard to 
    writing Qur’aanic verses according to modern rules of writing and in a style 
    other than the ‘Uthmaani script, one of two scenarios must apply: 

    1.
    That 
    is done by writing the entire Qur’aan in a mus-haf

    2.
    Or 
    some verses are written in books, chatrooms or articles.

    If we can be 
    lenient with regard to the second case, we may allow writing one or two 
    verses in books of knowledge according the modern rules of writing, but the 
    former case, which is writing the entire Mus-haf in that style, cannot be 
    tolerated or taken lightly. That is in order to stop those who would toy 
    with the Qur’aan by writing the entire Qur’aan in scripts and styles other 
    than the ‘Uthmaani script, and with the passage of time people would see a 
    difference in the copies of the Qur’aan around the world.  

    Hence the Fiqh 
    Council in Makkah al-Mukarramah issued a statement supporting what was 
    mentioned in a statement by the Senior Scholars in the Kingdom of Saudi 
    Arabia forbidding the writing of Mus-hafs in anything but the ‘Uthmaani 
    script.

    The statement 
    of the Fiqh Council says: 

    The Islamic 
    Fiqh Council has studied the statement of Shaykh Haashim Wahbah ‘Abd al-‘Aal 
    from Jeddah, in which he mentions the subject of changing the ‘Uthmaani 
    script of the Mus-haf to a regular script that is in accordance with the 
    rules of writing. After discussing this topic by the council, and studying 
    the ruling of the Council of Senior Scholars in Riyadh (no. 71), dated 
    21/10/1399 AH, on this topic, in which it states the reasons for continuing 
    to write the Mus-haf in the ‘Uthmaani script. They are: 

    1.
    It 
    is proven that Mus-hafs were written in the ‘Uthmaani script at the time of 
    ‘Uthmaan (may Allaah be pleased with him), and that he ordered that the 
    Mus-hafs should be written in a specific script and style, and the Sahaabah 
    agreed with him, and the Taabi’een followed them in that, and it has 
    continued like that until the present day. And it is proven that the Prophet 
     (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I urge you to adhere 
    to my Sunnah and the way of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs who come after me.” 
    Continuing to write the Mus-haf in this manner is what we have to do, 
    following the example of ‘Uthmaan, ‘Ali and the other Sahaabah, and 
    following their consensus.

    2.
    
    Forsaking the ‘Uthmaani script for the regular script that exists at present 
    with the aim of making it easier to read may lead to further change, if the 
    rules of writing change again, because the regular rules of writing could be 
    changed and that may lead to distortion of the Qur'aan, by switching some 
    letters or adding or taking away others, in which case there would be 
    differences in Mus-hafs as the years go by, and the enemies of Islam would 
    find a way to criticize the Holy Qur’aan. Islam came to block the means that 
    lead to evil and cause trouble.

    3.
    The 
    fear that if the ‘Uthmaani script is not adhered to when writing the 
    Qur’aan, the Book of Allaah may become a plaything in people’s hands. Every 
    time a person has an new idea about writing it, he would suggests doing it, 
    so you may find some of them suggesting writing it in Latin script or other 
    scripts. This is treading on dangerous ground. Warding off harm takes 
    precedence over bringing benefits. After studying all of that, the Islamic 
    Fiqh Council decided unanimously to support what it says in the statement of 
    the Council of Senior Scholars in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, that it is 
    not permissible to change the ‘Uthmaani script of the Mus-haf and it is 
    obligatory to leave the ‘Uthmaani script of the Mus-haf as it is, so that it 
    might remain as proof that there has been no tampering or change or 
    distortion of the text of the Qur’aan, and so as to follow that which the 
    Sahaabah and imams of the earlier generations (may Allaah be pleased with 
    them all) followed. 
    

    With regard to 
    the need to teach Qur'aan and make it easy for the new generation that has 
    gotten used to the regular script, that may be achieved by means of 
    teachers, because teaching Qur’aan needs teachers in all cases. So the 
    teacher should take care of teaching the students the words whose form 
    differs from the rules of the regular script especially since it may be 
    noted that these words are few in number and are repeated frequently in the 
    Qur’aan, such as the words salaat and samawaat etc. Once the student learns 
    the word in the ‘Uthmaani script, it will be easy for him to read it every 
    time it is repeated in the Mus-haf, as is also the case with the words 
    haadha and dhaalika in the regular script also. 

    Head of the 
    Islamic Fiqh Council: Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz 

    Deputy head: 
    Dr. ‘Abd-Allaah ‘Umar Naseef 

    Fataawa 
    Islamiyyah 
    (4/34, 35) 

    Based on this 
    we say: 

    There is no 
    way it can be permissible to write the verses in the manner mentioned in the 
    question, for two reasons: 

    1 – There is 
    no scholarly opinion that suggests that it is permissible to write the 
    Qur’aan in any manner. What is mentioned in scholarly discussions is the 
    ‘Uthmaani script and the regular script, and this method is neither of 
    those. 

    2 – This way 
    is akin to the writings of the practitioners of witchcraft, as they write 
    the verses with unjoined letters and switch letters around. 

    So we do not 
    think it is permissible to write Qur’aanic verses in a style that breaks up 
    the letters and we think that we should use only the ‘Uthmaani script for 
    writing an entire Mus-haf, or you may use the modern rules of writing if you 
    want to write some verses in a book or article, although it is better in 
    this case too, to copy it from the Mus-haf in ‘Uthmaani script. 

    And Allaah 
    knows best.