Answered by Sami’ al-Ihsan Khan
I am used to carry a Qur’an in my schoolbag when I go to school. My Qur’an has only Arabic text so I can not touch it without wudu. Can I still carry it in my schoolbag if my wudu is broken, I mean can not just leave it at the place I broke my wudu can I?
Also I would like to know if I walk in my school I many times accidentally touch a woman when passing by. Is my wudu broken when touching a woman without the intention of doing so? And if it is and I would use a dispensation of for instance the Hanafi school to read my Qur’aan is it still recommended of it or is using a dispensation so bad that it is preferable just not to read Qur’an.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
If one is in a state of minor ritual impurity (i.e. is “without wudu”), it is still permissible to carry the Qur’an in one’s schoolbag, baggage, or the like if the following two conditions are met:
(1) Other items are also present in the bag
(2) The transportation of the Qur’an is not the only purpose behind carrying the bag of items.
Thus, it would not be permissible to carry the Qur’an in a schoolbag or the like if it was the only item in the bag, or if the other items in the bag had been placed there for the sole purpose of invoking this ruling – i.e. one’s true aim was to carry the Qur’an only.
While this ruling might seem to contradict the well-known prohibition against carrying the Qur’an when in a state of minor ritual impurity, it in fact does not. A person is not considered a “carrier of the Qur’an” (Hamil li al-Qur’an) unless they are carrying the Qur’an alone, with nothing else, in a bag, box, etc., or they are carrying it with other items but the exclusive purpose is the transportation of the Qur’an.
With respect to your second question, one’s “wudu is broken” upon skin-to-skin contact with a person of the opposite sex so long as he or she is not a member of one’s unmarriageable kin. Whether the contact occurred intentionally or unintentionally is irrelevant and has no bearing on the ruling. However, to reiterate, the contact must be skin-to-skin and the person must be certain that it was so. If there is reasonable doubt about whether such contact occurred (e.g. if one is not sure whether it was the other person’s garments he or she touched or whether it was their skin) then one is still in a state of ritual purity.
As to the final part of the question, it is always recommended to avoid dispensations whenever possible. Dispensations should only be utilized in situations where there is undue hardship. However, with that said, if a particular ruling discourages one from performing an act of worship – such as recitation of the Qur’an – then taking the dispensation might be a good course of action. With all dispensations, though, one must be careful to adhere to all the rulings related to the dispensation in the other school. Thus, in this case for example, one would need to make sure that their wudu’ was valid in all other respects in the Hanafi school.