the people of Yemen, as related by ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm: “No one may touch the mushaf except a person who is ritually pure.” It was recorded with an unbroken chain by al-Nasāʾī and others. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said, “It borders on mass transmission, for the community has universally accepted it.” Shaykh al-Islam likewise stated that the prohibition against an impure person’s touching the mushaf “is the position of the four imams.” Ibn Hubayrah affirms in al-Ifṣāḥ: “The four imams are unanimously agreed that a person in a state of impurity is not permitted to touch the mushaf,” end quote.
There is no harm if such a person carries the mushaf in a cover or bag so that he does not touch it directly, and it is also permissible for him to look into it and leaf through it provided he does not make contact with the pages.
- Prayer—whether obligatory or voluntary—is forbidden to anyone who is in a state of minor impurity, and this ruling is unanimously held by the scholars when the person is able to purify himself. Allah the Exalted says: “O you who believe! When you stand for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, wipe over your heads, and wash your feet up to the ankles. And if you are in a state of major impurity, then purify yourselves…” (Qur’an 5:6).