with prayer?” If recitation is superior, and a menstruating woman may recite when she needs to, according to the stronger of the two scholarly views, then circumambulation is all the more deserving of being permitted when needed.

If it is said, “You concede that circumambulation is ordinarily prohibited for a menstruating woman and is permitted only out of necessity,” the response is:

Those who attribute the prohibition to the mosque do not concede that the act of circumambulation itself is intrinsically prohibited. Those who do concede this say: Some Quran recitation is likewise prohibited for a menstruating woman, namely, recitation during prayer. Most scholars also prohibit her from reciting outside prayer without a need; it is permitted only when needed. If recitation is permitted when needed, circumambulation is all the more deserving of that permission.

Moreover, touching a copy of the Quran requires purification from both major and minor ritual impurity according to the vast majority of scholars, as indicated by the Quran and Sunnah. This is also established from Salmān, Saʿd, and other Companions. The sanctity of a copy of the Quran is greater than that of mosques. Nevertheless, if someone in a state of major or minor ritual impurity, or a menstruating woman, must touch it out of necessity, they may do so. If someone must circumambulate out of necessity, then this is all the more deserving of being permitted, since no evidence from the revealed law establishes any obligation of ritual purification for it.

If it is said, “Some circumambulation is obligatory,” the response is:

Touching a copy of the Quran may also become obligatory in certain circumstances: when it is needed to fulfil the obligation of safeguarding it, reciting from it, or carrying it, if that obligation cannot be fulfilled without touching it.

And his statement, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “A menstruating woman performs all the pilgrimage rites