One view holds that it is permissible for both. This is the position of Abū Hanīfa and the well-known position of al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad.

Another view holds that it is not permissible for someone in a state of major ritual impurity, but is permissible for a menstruating woman, either without restriction or when she fears forgetting what she has memorized. This is Mālik’s position, and a view within Ahmad’s school and elsewhere.

Regarding a menstruating woman’s recitation of the Quran, nothing has been established from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, apart from the hadith narrated by Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh, from Mūsā ibn ʿUqba, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar:

“Neither a menstruating woman nor someone in a state of major ritual impurity should recite anything from the Quran.”

It was narrated by Abū Dāwūd and others. This hadith is weak by agreement of the scholars versed in hadith. The hadiths Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAyyāsh narrates from transmitters of the Hijaz are weak, unlike his narrations from Syrian transmitters. No trustworthy transmitter narrated this from Nāfiʿ.

It is well known that women menstruated during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, yet he did not prohibit them from reciting the Quran, just as he did not prohibit them from remembering Allah and supplicating. Rather, he instructed menstruating women to come out on Eid and join the Muslims in proclaiming Allah’s greatness.

He also instructed a menstruating woman to perform all the pilgrimage rites except circumambulation of the House: she recites the talbiya while menstruating, and likewise at Muzdalifa, Minā, and the other pilgrimage sites.

As for someone in a state of major ritual impurity, he did not command him to attend Eid, to pray, or to perform any of the pilgrimage rites, because such a person can purify himself and therefore has no excuse for