recite the Quran while bowing or prostrating.” Thus, prostration does not include Quran recitation, whereas prayer offered to draw near to Allah must include it. This differs from prayer whose purpose is supplication for the deceased: it is more complete with Quran recitation, but its purpose can be achieved without it.

As for touching a copy of the Quran, the correct view is that ablution is required, as the majority hold. This is the position known from the Companions Saʿd, Salmān and Ibn ʿUmar. In the document of ʿAmr ibn Hazm, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is reported to have said:

“None but a person in a state of purity may touch the Quran.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited taking the Quran into enemy territory for fear that it might fall into their hands. Yet he allowed the polytheists to prostrate to Allah and did not object to their doing so, for prostration to Allah is an act of submission:

“To Allah prostrates whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly.”

His speech, however, has great sanctity. This is why reciting the Quran while bowing or prostrating is prohibited. Since its recitation during prostration is prohibited, touching a copy of the Quran cannot be treated in the same way as prostration. A copy of the Quran has greater sanctity than a mosque: a person in a state of ritual impurity may enter a mosque, and a disbeliever may enter it when there is a need. Disbelievers used to enter it, although there is disagreement over whether this permission was abrogated. The same does not apply to a copy of the Quran. Thus, the permissibility of circumambulation in a state of ritual impurity does not entail that a person in that state may touch a copy of the Quran, for its sanctity is greater.

Accordingly, the reports from ʿUthmān and Saʿīd that a menstruating woman should make a gesture of prostration are explained by the greater severity of her state of ritual impurity, and bowing is