Al-Ḥākim said, “The ḥadith of ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm is one of the foundations of Islam.”
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In this letter comes the statement, “No one is to touch the Qur’an except one who is ṭāhir (ritually pure).” The author quotes it here to show that a person in minor ritual impurity is forbidden to touch it, and that someone in major impurity is even more emphatically prohibited.
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The plain sense of the ḥadith is that it is unlawful for anyone who has not performed wuḍūʾ to touch the muṣḥaf directly, without a barrier.
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Al-Wazīr Ibn Hubayra said: “There is unanimous agreement that a person in a state of ritual impurity may not touch the muṣḥaf without a barrier.” Shaykh al-Islām added: “According to the four imams, none may touch the muṣḥaf except one who is ṭāhir. The Qur’an and the Sunnah both indicate that it is impermissible for someone in minor impurity to do so. This is the view of the majority and what is well-known from the Companions.”
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As for a child touching the muṣḥaf, there are two positions:
i. Prohibition, by analogy with adults;
ii. Permission out of necessity, for if he were not enabled to touch it he could not memorise it.
Al-Inṣāf mentions two transmitted reports on the matter within the school. Shaykh ʿAbd-Allāh Abā Buṭayn said: “The well-known position in the school is that it is not allowed, though a report from Aḥmad permits it.” -
The phrase “except one who is ṭāhir” is an equivocal term that may refer to four different states:
(a) It may mean “a Muslim,” as in the Most High’s words, “Indeed, the polytheists are impure” (Q 9:28); thus the purity intended is doctrinal and intangible.
(b) It may mean free from physical najāsah, as in the Prophet’s ﷺ saying about the cat, “It is not impure.”
(c) It may mean free from major ritual impurity (janābah), for Aḥmad (640), Abū Dāwūd (229), al-Tirmidhī (146), al-Nasāʾī (265), and Ibn Mājah (594) all transmitted—from ʿAlī—