Wudu' is required to touch a mushaf

The Correction To Some Misleading Answers of Albani On Various Current Topics

Wudu' is required to touch a mushaf

What is meant in the aayah LA YAMASSUHU ILLAAL MUTAHHAROONA (Sooratul-Waaqi'ah, aayah 79),
and what is the ruling regarding taking the Qur'aan to the land of the unbelievers?
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Albani says: What is referred to in the aayah is the angels, and it is Allaah's informing us of these angels. It does not refer to the Qur'aan but to the 'Lawhul-Mahfoo' (Preserved Tablet). So this mushaf in the Preserved Tablet is only touched by the Purified Ones, who are the nearest angels. As for the mushaf which is with us, then it is touched by the righteous, the wicked, the believer and the unbeliever. So Allaah ta'aala does not refer here to the people, good and bad, but to the nearest angels.... We find that some of the companions preferred to have wudoo' to touch the Qur'aan - so that shows what is preferable - but to make it obligatory and to say that it is forbidden for a woman in her period to touch the Qur'aan - then that has no proof at all.
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Shaykh Hisham Kabbani says: Rather, it is the position of `Ali ibn Abi Talib, Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, `Abd Allah ibn `Umar, and the majority of the fuqaha' that wudu' is required to touch the Qur'an, and that touching it without wudu' is not permitted with any part of the body whatsoever. This is reported by Nawawi in al-Majmu` (1:504, 2:80) and Shawkani in Nayl al-awtar (1:207), although the latter also reports that Ibn `Abbas allowed it among the Companions and al-Shu`bi, al-Dahhak, and Zayd ibn `Ali among the Tabi`in.

Ishaq ibn Rahawayh reported from Imam Ahmad, "it is a sunna masnuna" (definite Sunna) that one without wudu' is NOT to read from the Qur'an only because he might touch it. This is proven by the fact that Imam Ahmad had been seen reading from the Qur'an without being in a state of purity, but he did not touch it, rather, he flipped its pages with a stick or a reed. al-Ajurri (d. 360) narrated both reports in Akhlaq ahl al-Qur'an (p. 148 #71-72) from al-Marwazi.

As for the verse quoted, then the verb in that verse is not an indicative statement but an order, as stated in many of the commentaries and confirmed by the following narration from the Prophet: "No one touches the Qur'an except those in a state of purity." (la yamass al-qur'ana illa tahir). Narrated through various chains by Malik in the Muwatta', chapter entitled: The Prophet's order of wudu' for one who touches the Qur'an; also: al-Darimi in the Sunan, Ibn Hibban in his Sahih, al-Hakim in the Mustadrak and he said it is sahih, `Abd al-Razzaq in his Musannaf (#1328), Abu Dawud in al-Marasil, Tabarani and Bayhaqi, and others.

Hafiz al-`Ayni in al-Binaya `ala al-hidaya (1:648) said: "It is narrated by five of the Companions. They are:

`Amr ibn Hazm
`Abd Allah ibn `Umar
Hakim ibn Hizam
`Uthman ibn Abi al-`As
Thawban."

Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Sallam [d. 224] mentioned it in his book Fada'il al-qur'an (p. 57 ch. 10, p. 244 ch. 67) and also narrated from `Abd Allah ibn `Umar that "he did not take the mushaf in his hand except in a state of purity." It is thus narrated in Ibn Abi Shayba's Musannaf (1:104), al-Jasssas's Ahkam al-Qur'an (3:416), Ibn Qudama in al-Mughni (1:147), and Nawawi in al-Majmu` (2:80).

As for the claim that there is "no proof at all for a woman in her period not to touch the Qur'aan," then this is false as stated by Baghawi from Sufyan al-Thawri and others in Sharh al-Sunna (2:43) and by all those whose position is that purity is required to touch the Qur'an according to the hadith quoted above, and as Shawkani stated in Nayl al-awtar (1:206) it is the consensus (ijma`) of Muslims with the sole dissent of Dawud al-Zahiri, that the junub or person in a state of major impurity is forbidden to touch the mushaf.