You found a Quran. Now what?
A bag of donations comes in to the charity shop and you're sorting through it on a Tuesday morning. Between the jumpers and the jigsaws is a Quran. The volunteer manager doesn't know what to do with it. You don't want to put it on the shelf for £1.50. You don't want to bin it. Nobody's sure whether to leave it in the back room or walk it across town to a mosque — and what if the mosque says no?
Or: you're helping clear the house of an elderly neighbour who has passed away, and in the loft is a box of religious books with Arabic on the spines. Or a skip you're working around has a Mushaf lying on top of a pile of timber. Or you're doing a house clearance for a landlord and a prayer book turns up in the chest of drawers.
This guide is for people who are not necessarily Muslim themselves, or who are but have no experience of this specific situation. The short answer: you've already done the most important bit, which is to recognise the book needs careful handling. Here's what to do next.
The basic principle
The Quran and Islamic religious books should not be thrown in with general waste, left in a skip, or sold to an unknown buyer. When they are no longer in use, they should be respectfully disposed of — and in the UK the standard respectful route is burial in a clean place dedicated for the purpose.
You do not need to be Muslim to handle a Quran well. You do not need to perform wudu. You do not need to read anything over it. All that's required is that you:
- Keep it clean and off the floor until it can be dealt with.
- Do not bin it, recycle it, or sell it as second-hand stock.
- Pass it on to someone or something that will dispose of it respectfully.
Options, ranked
1. Ask the donor or family first, if you can. If the donation came in with a name or the house clearance has a next of kin, a short phone call can resolve it — they may want the book back, or know exactly who should receive it. Many families regret letting a Mushaf leave the house in a bin bag and will be relieved.
2. A local mosque — sometimes. Mosques in the UK vary enormously in whether they accept old Qurans. Many already have storerooms full of them and cannot take more. If you're going to try a mosque, phone ahead. Don't just leave a book on the doorstep.
3. Post it to BookBurial. This is exactly what we exist for. A single found Quran costs only a few pounds to send by Royal Mail Tracked 48. We take care of the rest — a pooled burial in a dedicated plot, performed with the classical etiquette. You do not need to know anything about the ritual.
What not to do
- Don't put it on the shop shelf for sale. A Mushaf should not be sold to a general buyer — many Muslim customers find this distressing.
- Don't put it in the charity shop book-recycling bale. Unsold donated books in the UK are often baled and pulped. That is not an appropriate destination for religious text.
- Don't leave it outside a mosque without asking first. A book left on a doorstep in the rain is not a respectful end.
- Don't separate the Arabic pages from the cover — it's one book, keep it whole.
- Don't panic. There is no time pressure. A Mushaf in a cupboard, clean and dry, is fine for as long as you need to work out the next step.
For charity shops specifically
If you run or volunteer in a charity shop and this comes up more than occasionally, it may be worth setting a simple internal rule: any Quran or Islamic religious book that comes through the door goes into a designated box in the back room, not onto the floor. Once the box is modestly full, weigh it, post it to us, and you're done. Many UK charity shops end up doing exactly this — it's cleaner than the alternatives and costs very little.
How BookBurial works (for someone new to this)
- Wrap the book(s) in a clean cloth or clean paper. You don't need to do anything ritual.
- Weigh the parcel. Kitchen or bathroom scales are fine.
- See the price on the calculator — usually well under £15 for a single Mushaf.
- Pack and post via Royal Mail Tracked 48 from any Post Office.
- Done. We confirm arrival by email, and the pooled burial takes place later in the year with the classical etiquette observed.
A last word
Thank you, in advance, for not binning it. Muslim families in the UK are quietly grateful every time a charity shop volunteer, a house-clearer, or a neighbour stops to ask instead of tipping a bag into the general waste. The rest of it we can handle.