Things Prohibited for the One Who is Ritually Impure - Reciting and Touching the Mushaf [Part 1]

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-Reciting the Quraan is Haraam until they perform Ghusl. al-‘Uthaymeen explains that if the six previous causes for making Ghusl Waajib upon a person, be they male or female, then it is prohibited for them to recite from the Quraan.

If Ghusl is Waajib upon a person then they are not allowed to pray Salaat, Tawaaf, touch the Quraan, recite the Quraan, stay in the Masjid etc.

The evidence for this ruling is as follows:

-The Hadeeth of ‘Alee bin Abee Taalib [may Allaah be Pleased with him] who said that the Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] used to teach us the Quraan and nothing prevented it except for being in a state of Janaabah. [Reported by Ahmad (124), Aboo Dawood (229), an-Nasaa’ee (265), at-Tirmidhee (146) who graded it as Saheeh]

A-     Reciting the Quraan includes even one Aayah, despite if they are holding the Quraan or if they are reciting from their memory. However, if the Aayah is a long Aayah then reciting even part of the long Aayah falls under this ruling of prohibition. Examples of long Aayaat include the “Aayah of Debt” in Surah al-Baqarah (2:282), or the last Aayah in Surah al-Fath (48:29) etc.

B-      It is permissible for a person to say an Aayah without the intention to recite it, such as saying “Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem”.

C-      The Majority opined that it is not permissible for a woman on her menses to recite from the Quraan, either by touching the Mushaf or from her memory. Ibn Taymiyyah, however, was of the opinion that there is no explicit evidence to prevent the menstruating woman from reciting the Quraan.

From his evidences include the following:

-          There is no real evidence to suggest that it is not allowed.

-          Allaah, the Most High, has commanded that we recite the Quraan frequently. So excluding someone from this would require solid evidence, otherwise you will be making an act of worship impermissible upon a person without evidence.

-          The Qiyaas (analogy) between a person who is ritually impure (Janaabah) and a woman on her menses doesn’t stand because the person during his Janabah often becomes in that state out of his own decision and can remove Janaabah by making Ghusl. As for the woman on her menses, it may extend and go for a long period of time without her reciting from the Quraan.

This is the correct opinion with al-‘Uthaymeen, that a woman on her menses doesn’t need to be pure to recite the Quraan from her memory but she is not allowed to touch the Mushaf.

C – The rulings that apply to the woman on her menses here also apply to the woman on her Nifaas (post-partum bleeding).

D – Some of the scholars have stated that the person who reverts to al-Islaam cannot recite from the Quraan until he performs Ghusl, making Qiyaas with the person in his Janaabah.

This opinion has many reservations with al-‘Uthaymeen because the scholars are in agreement that Ghusl for Janaabah is Waajib but the Ghusl for the new Muslim is differed upon, some said Waajib and others said it is Mustahab. As long as they differed, then there is no Qiyaas as the rulings are completely different.

Even if we were to take the opinion that the Ghusl for the new Muslim is Waajib and thus it is Waajib that he has a Ghusl before touching the Mushaf and reciting from it by analogy, then this is still incorrect because once the new Muslims perfoms Ghusl after entering into al-Islaam then this is sufficient and doesn’t need to make another Ghusl before touching the Quraan and reciting from it.