Al-Nasāʾī said, “He is weak in ḥadīth.”
Ibn Ḥibbān observed, “He makes many mistakes in his narrations, so he falls outside the bounds of admissible evidence.”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal related: “I showed my father a ḥadīth that al-Faḍl ibn Ziyād al-Taṣtī had narrated to us. He said: ‘Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh told us, from Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “A menstruating woman and one in a state of janābah (major ritual impurity) are not to recite anything of the Qur’an.” ’ My father replied, ‘This is baseless,’ meaning that Ismāʿīl had erred.”
I say: We were given this report in writing by Aḥmad ibn Salamah and others, from ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn Kulayb; Ibn Bayān informed us; Ibn Makhlad informed us; Ismāʿīl al-Ṣaffār informed us; al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafah narrated to us; Ismāʿīl (ibn ʿAyyāsh) narrated it—and he mentioned the same text.
Al-Tirmidhī (1) also recorded it from Ibn ʿArafah, and we coincide with him while possessing a higher chain.
Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dīnār and Saʿīd ibn Yūsuf, from Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, reported that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah dislikes idle movement during the prayer,
(1) See no. 131, and Ibn Majah, no. 595. Al-Daraqutni (p. 43) transmits the report through two additional chains: the first from al-Mughira b. Abd al-Rahman → Musa b. Uqba → Nafiʿ → Ibn ʿUmar; the second from Muhammad b. Ismaʿil al-Hasani → an unnamed narrator → Abu Maʿshar → Musa b. Uqba.
There is also a companion report from ʿAli; it is recorded by Ahmad 1/83, 84, 107, 124, 134; Abu Dawud, no. 229; al-Nasaʾi 1/144; al-Tirmidhi, no. 146; Ibn Majah, no. 594; and al-Hakim 4/107 with the wording: “The Messenger of Allah used to recite the Quran and nothing prevented—or barred—him from reciting it except major ritual impurity (janaba).” Al-Hakim declared it sound, a judgment endorsed by al-Dhahabi; it was likewise authenticated by Ibn al-Sakan, ʿAbd al-Haqq al-Ishbili, and Ibn Hibban. Ibn Hajar remarks in Fath al-Bari 1/340 that, in truth, it is of the hasan category and fit to be cited as proof.
On this basis the scholars—among the Companions and those who followed them—maintain that neither a person in a state of janaba nor a menstruating woman (haʾid) may recite the Quran. This is the view of al-Hasan, as well as Sufyan, Ibn al-Mubarak, al-Shafiʿi, Ahmad, Ishaq, Malik, and the Hanafi jurists. Malik, however, permitted the menstruating woman to recite, arguing that the length of her period might cause her to forget what she has memorised of the Quran.