Question: What are the rulings related to touching Quran without wudu?
Answer: Praise be to Allah
The following are some of the rulings related to touching Quran without wudu:
1) It is “NOT PERMISSIBLE” to touch the Mus-haf of Qur’an without wudu according to the majority of scholars. This is the view of the four imams, and this was the view expressed in the fatwas of the Companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) for touching Quran without wudu.
Narrated from Amr ibn Hazm (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (ﷺ) wrote to the people of Yemen: “No one should touch the Quran except one who is tahir (pure).” This is a jayyid hadith which has a number of other isnads which strengthen it.
حَدَّثَنِي يَحْيَى عَنْ مَالِك عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي بَكْرِ بْنِ حَزْمٍ أَنَّ فِي الْكِتَابِ الَّذِي كَتَبَهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ (ﷺ) لِعَمْرِو بْنِ حَزْمٍ أَنْ لَا يَمَسَّ الْقُرْآنَ إِلَّا طَاهِرٌ
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is not permissible for the Muslim to touch the Mus-haf unless he is in a state of purity and free of both major and minor impurity. The same applies to moving it from one place to another, if the one who is moving it is not in a state of purity… (Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn Baaz 10/149, 150)
2) It is “NOT PERMISSIBLE” for anyone who does not have wudu to touch the cover of a Mus-haf that is attached to it with binding or glue, and the like, as it comes under the same ruling as the Mus-haf. As for the cover that can be separated from the Mus-haf, like the sleeve in which the Mus-haf is placed to protect it, there is nothing wrong touching it.
“The majority of fuqaha’ – Hanafis, Maalikis, Shaafa‘is and Hanbalis – are of the view that it is not allowed for one who is not in a state of purity to touch the cover of the Mus-haf that is attached to it, or the margins on which there is no writing on the pages of the Mus-haf, or the white spaces between the lines, and the same applies to pages that are free of any writing at all. That is because they are part of the book. Some of the Hanafis and Shaafa‘is are of the view that that is permissible”. End quote. (al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaitiyyah)
3) It is “PERMISSIBLE” to touch it without wudu with something in between, such as picking it up with a cloth or a wrapper or using gloves.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “… But if he touches it or moves it with a barrier, such as if he picks it up in a wrapper or sleeve, and the like, there is nothing wrong with that…” (Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn Baaz 10/149, 150).
4) It is “PERMISSIBLE” to read or recite it without wudu when doing it through a gadget like mobile, computer or tablet by holding the gadget. This is because what is in the gadgets is a software that is not considered as a “Mus-haf”.
Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Nasir al-Barrak was asked; What is the ruling on reading Quran from mobile phones without wudu? He replied (may Allah preserve him): “Based on this, it seems that mobile phones and similar devices on which Quran may be recorded do not come under the same rules as the Mus-haf, because the letters of the Quran in these devices are different from the letters in the Mus-haf.
They do not exist in the form in which they are read, rather they exist in the form of waves (he meant binary numbers) that form the letters when needed, so they appear in the screen then disappear when one moves to another verse. Based on this, it is permissible to touch the mobile phone or tape on which Quran is recorded, and it is permissible to read from it, even if one is not in a state of purity. And Allah knows best.” (Nur al-Islam website)
5) It is “PERMISSIBLE” to recite the Quran without wudu from memory but do not touch the Mus-haf.
It was narrated from Abd-Allah ibn Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) that that he stayed one night with Maymoonah, the Mother of the Believers, who was his maternal aunt. I lay down across the width of the mattress and the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his wife lay along its length. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) slept until halfway through the night, or just before or after that. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) woke up and started wiping the sleep from his face with his hand. Then he recited the last ten verses of Soorat Aal Imraan, then he got up and went to a waterskin that was hanging there, and did wudu from it and did it well, then he stood and prayed. (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4295; Muslim, 763)
Ibn Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This indicates that Quran may be recited without wudu, because he slept for a long time, so there is no question that he woke up without wudu; then he woke up and recited Qur’an before he did wudu, then he did wudu after that and prayed. (End quote from al-Tamheed lima fi al-Muwatta min al-Maani wal Asaaneed, 13/207) Refer: https://shamela.ws/book/1719/4239
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: This indicates that it is permissible for one who is in a state of minor impurity to recite Quran; this is the consensus of the Muslims. (End quote from Sharh Muslim, 6/46)
6) It is “NOT PERMISSIBLE” for a person who is junub, i.e., in a state of major impurity, to read or recite Quran, because it was narrated from the Prophet (ﷺ) that nothing ever kept him from reciting Quran except for janabah (major impurity).
It was narrated from the Prophet (ﷺ) that nothing ever kept him from reciting Quran except for janabah (major impurity). Ahmad narrated with a sahih isnad from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (ﷺ) came out from the toilet and recited something from the Quran. He said, “This is for the one who is not junub; but the one who is junub should not do this, not even one ayah.”
This hadith points out that the one who is in the state of Janabah, should not recite Quran from the Mus-haf or from memory, until he has taken a bath (ghusl). Also refer the same hadith that is mentioned for Non-permissibility of touching Quran without wudu.
7) It is “Not Permissible” to read/recite or take Mus-haf into toilet/Washroom.
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: Is it permissible to remember Allah (dhikr) in the bathroom?
He replied: A person should not remember his Lord inside the bathroom, because this place is not appropriate for that. If he remembers Him in his heart there is nothing wrong with that, but he should not utter the words out loud. It is better not to speak the words out loud in this place, and to wait until he has come out of it. With regard to places for doing wudu that are outside the toilets where one relieves oneself, there is nothing wrong with remembering Allah there. (Majmoo Fataawa Ibn Uthaymeen, 11/109).
Ibn al-Mundhir narrated from a group of the Taabieen – including Abu Waail Shaqeeq ibn Salamah, al-Shubi, al-Hasan al-Basri, Makhool, Qubaysah ibn Dhuayb, and from Abu Haneefah (may Allah be pleased with them all) that al-Shubi said: it is makrooh to recite Qur’aan in three places: bathrooms, toilets …. It was narrated that Abu Maysarah said: Allah should not be remembered except in good (clean) places.”
8) It is “NOT PERMISSIBLE” for a menstruating woman to touch the Mus-haf directly.
Same evidence as non permissibility of touching Quran without wudu.
9) Whether a menstruating woman can read or recite the Quran is a matter of Ikhtilaaf (difference of opinion) between scholars.
But the correct opinion (based on evidence) is that it is “PERMISSIBLE” for a menstruating woman to read or recite Quran without touching it either from memory, gadget or by holding Mus-haf with something in between her hands and Mus-haf.
The scholars based this opinion on the following points:
– As per Qaidah (principle), things are permitted and allowed unless there is evidence to the contrary. There is no such evidence to say that a menstruating woman is disallowed to recite Quran. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: “There is no clear, sahih text to indicate that a menstruating woman is forbidden to recite Quran… It is known that women used to menstruate at the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and he did not forbid them to recite Quran, or to remember Allah (dhikr) and offer du’a.”
– Allah commands Muslims to recite Quran. He praises the one who does so, and promises him (or her) a great reward. No one is excluded from this except the one concerning whom there is solid evidence (daleel), and there is no such evidence in the case of menstruating women, as stated above.
– The analogy between the menstruating woman and the one who is in a state of janabah is wrong. There are differences between both. The one who is in a state of janabah has the option of removing the “barrier” by making ghusl. This is unlike the a menstruating woman. A woman’s period usually lasts for some length of time, whereas the person who is in a state of janabah is required to do ghusl when the time for prayer comes.
– Preventing a menstruating woman from reciting Quran deprives her of the chance to earn reward, and it may make her forget something of the Quran, or she may need to recite it for the purposes of teaching or learning.
Hence, it is clear that the evidence of those who allow a menstruating woman to recite Quran is stronger.
Wallahualam (and Allah knows best)