diff --git a/python/ray/data/datasource/file_based_datasource.py b/python/ray/data/datasource/file_based_datasource.py
index 8e539aaa577d..fc92ca458067 100644
--- a/python/ray/data/datasource/file_based_datasource.py
+++ b/python/ray/data/datasource/file_based_datasource.py
@@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ def __init__(
                     "'file_extensions' field is set properly."
                 )
 
+        _validate_shuffle_arg(shuffle)
         self._file_metadata_shuffler = None
         if shuffle == "files":
             self._file_metadata_shuffler = np.random.default_rng()
@@ -519,3 +520,11 @@ def _open_file_with_retry(
         max_attempts=OPEN_FILE_MAX_ATTEMPTS,
         max_backoff_s=OPEN_FILE_RETRY_MAX_BACKOFF_SECONDS,
     )
+
+
+def _validate_shuffle_arg(shuffle: Optional[str]) -> None:
+    if shuffle not in [None, "files"]:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Invalid value for 'shuffle': {shuffle}. "
+            "Valid values are None, 'files'."
+        )
diff --git a/python/ray/data/read_api.py b/python/ray/data/read_api.py
index 082270bab596..869bf8865cb0 100644
--- a/python/ray/data/read_api.py
+++ b/python/ray/data/read_api.py
@@ -755,6 +755,8 @@ def read_parquet(
         :class:`~ray.data.Dataset` producing records read from the specified parquet
         files.
     """
+    _validate_shuffle_arg(shuffle)
+
     if meta_provider is None:
         meta_provider = get_parquet_metadata_provider(override_num_blocks)
     arrow_parquet_args = _resolve_parquet_args(
@@ -3157,3 +3159,11 @@ def _get_num_output_blocks(
     elif override_num_blocks is not None:
         parallelism = override_num_blocks
     return parallelism
+
+
+def _validate_shuffle_arg(shuffle: Optional[str]) -> None:
+    if shuffle not in [None, "files"]:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"Invalid value for 'shuffle': {shuffle}. "
+            "Valid values are None, 'files'."
+        )
diff --git a/python/ray/data/tests/test_file_based_datasource.py b/python/ray/data/tests/test_file_based_datasource.py
index 621150e148c6..ca7c4ff3325a 100644
--- a/python/ray/data/tests/test_file_based_datasource.py
+++ b/python/ray/data/tests/test_file_based_datasource.py
@@ -118,6 +118,17 @@ def test_windows_path():
         assert _is_local_windows_path("c:\\some\\where/mixed")
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("shuffle", [True, False, "file"])
+def test_invalid_shuffle_arg_raises_error(ray_start_regular_shared, shuffle):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        FileBasedDatasource("example://iris.csv", shuffle=shuffle)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("shuffle", [None, "files"])
+def test_valid_shuffle_arg_does_not_raise_error(ray_start_regular_shared, shuffle):
+    FileBasedDatasource("example://iris.csv", shuffle=shuffle)
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import sys
 
diff --git a/python/ray/data/tests/test_parquet.py b/python/ray/data/tests/test_parquet.py
index bec6e1699a97..bbfd6ba69bfc 100644
--- a/python/ray/data/tests/test_parquet.py
+++ b/python/ray/data/tests/test_parquet.py
@@ -1179,6 +1179,18 @@ def test_write_num_rows_per_file(tmp_path, ray_start_regular_shared, num_rows_pe
         assert len(table) == num_rows_per_file
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("shuffle", [True, False, "file"])
+def test_invalid_shuffle_arg_raises_error(ray_start_regular_shared, shuffle):
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        ray.data.read_parquet("example://iris.parquet", shuffle=shuffle)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("shuffle", [None, "files"])
+def test_valid_shuffle_arg_does_not_raise_error(ray_start_regular_shared, shuffle):
+    ray.data.read_parquet("example://iris.parquet", shuffle=shuffle)
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     import sys