Learning & care · 3 min read
Before you share.
Keep the source.
The words. The reference. Room for what is still unknown.
The useful starting point
What should you check before sharing an Islamic quote?
Before forwarding a religious quotation, keep its wording, attribution and source together. Try to locate the exact passage, distinguish a quotation from a paraphrase, and leave anything you cannot verify marked as unverified. The source card below is an optional note-taking aid, not a method for issuing rulings or grading hadith.
Start with what you actually received
Save the wording as received in a private note. Record whether it came as a quotation, a summary or an image without a reference. Keep your own comments separate, so a later edit does not quietly become part of the attributed words.
A useful first question is: “Where can I read this passage in its source?” Try the supplied reference rather than treating the appearance of the image as your evidence. If no reference is supplied, record that gap before deciding what to do next.
Keep a limited reminder in view
The opening instruction of Quran 17:36, in the Sahih International translation, tells the reader not to pursue what they have no knowledge of. The verse also speaks of accountability for hearing, sight and the heart. That is the limited reminder used here. Our source-card fields are an organizational suggestion, not a prescribed religious method or a new interpretation of the verse.
Make a small source card
This is a constructed record for an unspecified quotation. It does not contain a real Quran quotation, hadith or scholarly attribution.
A source card · optional example
- Words received
- Paste the wording here without silently correcting it.
- Attribution received
- Write the named speaker or work, or “not supplied.”
- Exact location
- Record the passage or reference you actually opened, or “not located.”
- What I checked
- Note the wording and surrounding passage you read. Keep unresolved questions visible.
- Current status
- For example, “Source not located; kept as an unverified private note.”
For a translated passage, you might add the translator’s name and the edition or website you actually checked. Do not turn your own paraphrase into a quotation by adding quotation marks. If the source says something different, preserve the difference in your note rather than choosing whichever wording sounds more striking.
Leave room for “I haven’t verified this”
If you cannot locate an adequate source, a practical next step is to pause sharing it as an established religious quotation. Finding a similar phrase is not the same task as confirming the specific attribution in front of you.
This guide does not settle disagreements over interpretation, authenticity or application. You can keep an unresolved question in your notes without supplying a ruling of your own. A reference card organizes what you found; it does not certify your religious understanding.
Choose one saved quotation and fill in only the fields you can support. An honest blank is more useful here than an invented reference.
Read the references
A reminder,
with its source.
Sources & review
Where this story comes from.
- Quran 17:36 Quran; Sahih International translation hosted by Quran.com. A bounded reminder about knowledge and accountability. The source card is an optional organizational aid, not a prescribed method. Checked September 21, 2026.
By the Deen Over Dunya team, the app’s publisher. Prepared through automated source checks; this article has not been reviewed by a qualified scholar and does not issue a fatwa. Read our Sunni editorial standards or send a correction with the passage and a reliable reference.