Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz said:

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz said:

It is not permissible for a Muslim to touch the Qur’an when he does not have wudoo, according to the majority of scholars. This is the view of the four imaams (may Allah be pleased with them), and this was the view expressed in the fatwas of the Companions of the Prophet (ﷺ). A saheeh hadeeth concerning that has been narrated from ‘Amr ibn Hazm (may Allah be pleased with him), stating that the Prophet (ﷺ) wrote to the people of Yemen: “No one should touch the Qur’an except one who is taahir (pure).” This is a jayyid hadeeth which has a number of other isnaads which strengthen it. Hence it is known that it not permissible to touch the Qur’an except in a state of purity from both major and minor impurity. The same applies to moving it from place to place, if the person who is moving it is not taahir. But if he touches it or moves it with something in between, such as picking it up in a wrapper, then it is OK. But if he touches it directly when he is not taahir, this is not permitted according to the saheeh view of the majority of scholars, for the reasons stated above. With regard to reciting it, it is OK for him to recite it from memory when he is without wudoo’, or for him to read it if the Qur’an is held by someone who asks him to correct or prompt him.

But the person who is junub, i.e., in a state of major impurity, should not recite Qur’an, because it was narrated from the Prophet (ﷺ) that nothing ever kept him from reciting Qur’an except for janaabah (major impurity). Ahmad narrated with a saheeh isnaad from ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (ﷺ) came out from the toilet and recited something from the Qur’an. He said, “This is for the one who is not junub; but the one who is junub should not do this, not even one aayah.”

The point is that the one who is junub should not recite Qur’an either from the Mus-haf or from memory, until he has taken a bath (ghusl). But the one who has broken his wudoo’ and is impure in the sense of minor impurity may recite Qur’an from memory but she should not touch the Mus-haf.

Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him), 10/150