Assalamu Alaikum. Respected Shaykh, I would like to ask you, is it permissible for someone to touch the Qur’an if they are not in the state of wudhu’ (purity) from a minor nullifier? And what is the evidence please, as I have noticed a difference of opinion amongst the scholars? مس المصحف لغير الطاهر

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

The opinion of the majority of scholars, from amongst the scholars of hadith and fiqh, is that none other than the pure are allowed to touch the Qur’an. They based this on a narration of Malik that is mursal (with a disconnected chain) from `Abdullah bin Abi Bakr, from Haram, “In the letter the Prophet (peace be upon him) wrote to `Amr bin Haram (instructing him) that none but the pure should touch the Qur’an.”

It was narrated mawsul (with a connected chain) by the compilers of the books of hadith, but it is not authentically mawsul. But although it is mursal, it is a part of the letter of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to `Amr bin Haram, and this letter is accepted (as authentic) by the scholars.

Some scholars have also based the impermissibility of anyone other than the pure touching the Qur’an on the verse of Allah Almighty:

 “None shall touch it (the copy of the Qur’an in heaven) except the pure (i.e. the angels).” [Al-Waqi`ah 56:79]

But the correct understanding is that the verse points to the fact that one who is not in a state of purity should not touch the Qur’an, by way of indication [and not as a direct prohibition]. So if the pages in heaven [which constitute a copy of the Qur’an] are not touched except by the pure, then the pages of the Qur’an which are in our hands should likewise not be touched except by one in a state of purity.

And Allah knows best.