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It depends

What is the ruling on using Qur’anic verses as decoration, on phones, and selling them?

It varies with the form, the intention, and what the use leads to. Writing verses to remind and to benefit from is fine, and carrying them on a phone is permitted. What is objected to is whatever leads to their being degraded — placing them where they are trodden on or thrown away — or taking them as an amulet believed to benefit by itself, or turning them into pure ornament with no meaning intended.

The honest answer turns on your circumstances. What it hinges on is below.

The long answer

This is not a single ruling, which is why the answer comes in detail.

What raises no difficulty:

  • Writing a verse on a panel or in a book to remind, to read and to reflect on. The Qur’an was sent down to be pondered: “This is a blessed Book which We have revealed to you, O Muḥammad, that they might reflect upon its verses and that those of understanding would be reminded.” (Qur’an 38:29)
  • Carrying the mushaf on a phone, reading from it, and keeping it in your pocket. A phone does not take the ruling of a mushaf in every respect, since the text is not fixed on the screen except while displayed.
  • Selling copies of the mushaf and panels, since that is a sale of the paper, the craft and the effort, not of the Qur’an itself.

What is objected to:

  • Whatever leads to degradation: printing verses on what is trodden on, on wrappers that are discarded, or on clothing thrown into the rubbish.
  • Taking them as an amulet hung for protection, believing the object itself benefits; this falls under another and graver heading.
  • Turning them into pure ornament, not intended to carry meaning and not read, until the letter becomes a pattern rather than speech.

What the answer turns on in your case: Where is it placed? Is it protected from degradation? What is intended by it — a reminder, seeking blessing from the object, or mere decoration? And what becomes of it when it wears out?

The governing principle is that this is the speech of Allah, and dealings with it are measured by reverence: “So high above all is Allah, the Sovereign, the Truth. And, O Muḥammad, do not hasten with recitation of the Qur’ān before its revelation is completed to you, and say, "My Lord, increase me in knowledge."” (Qur’an 20:114)

So whatever increases its honour and its remembrance is good, and whatever leads to degrading it, or to a belief about it that Allah did not legislate, is forbidden. Whatever forms are unclear to you, put to someone who knows the detail.

What it rests on