Touching the Muṣḥaf Without Wuḍūʾ

The disagreement

• The four Imams agreed that it is not permissible for a person in a state of major ritual impurity (junub) to touch the Mus-haf.
• They also agreed regarding whether ablution (wudu) is a condition for touching the Mus-haf

The opinions

• Ablution is a condition for touching the Mus-haf:
• Held by: The Four Imams
• Ablution is not a condition for touching the Mus-haf:
• Held by: The Literalists (Ahl al-Zahir)

Reason for the disagreement

• The hesitation in the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted:

﴿لَّا يَمَسُّهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱلْمُطَهَّرُونَ﴾

"None touch it except the purified" (Al-Wāqiah:79) between being a statement (khabar) or a prohibition (nahy), and whether "the purified" (al-mutahharun) refers to the children of Adam or the angels.

Evidence

For the first opinion:

• The saying of Allah the Exalted: ﴿لَّا يَمَسُّهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱلْمُطَهَّرُونَ﴾, where the statement in the verse implies a prohibition (lil-nahy).
• The ḥadīth of ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm رضي الله عنه: That the Prophet ﷺ wrote: "None should touch the Qur'an except one who is pure (tahir)." ([Reported by: ////-al-Muwaa, al-Dāraqunī, al-hākim, Ibn hibbān, Abū Dāwūd; a group of scholars authenticated It and a group weakened it).

For the second opinion:

• The saying of Allah the Exalted: ﴿لَّا يَمَسُّهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱلْمُطَهَّرُونَ﴾, where "the purified" refers to the angels, and the verse is solely a statement (lil-khabar faqat).
• There is no evidence from either the Book or an established Sunnah that prohibits touching the Mus-haf without ablution.
• Because reciting without ablution is not forbidden, and touching is even more worthy of permission.
• Because children carry the Mus-haf while in a state of minor ritual impurit without disapproval among scholars

The Preponderant View (al-Rajih)

• The first opinion: (Purity is conditioned for touching the Mus-haf/yushtariqu al-taharah li-mass al-mus-haf); because the verse is an explicit text (naṣṣ) on the point of dispute, and it is supported by the ḥadīth of ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm. Furthermore, the ruling on recitation is different from the ruling on touching. Allah knows the best

References

Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid (1/83), Badā’iʿ al-Ṣanā’iʿ (1/280), al-Muḥīṭ al-Burhānī (1/77), al-Bayān wa al-Taḥṣīl (1/52), al-Maʿūnah (1/43), Nihāyat al-Maṭlab (1/97), al-Bayān (1/200), al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr (1/71), al-Mughnī (1/202), al-Muḥallā (1/81), Sharḥ Ibn Zāḥim (1/261).