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Where does it say that we cannot touch the Qur’an without wudu?

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Could you please explain where does it say in the Holy Quran or the Hadthis that no one touch the Quran without ‘wudu’.

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

1. The interpretation of the overwhelming majority of tafsir imams, early (e.g. Tabari ), and later (e.g. Ibn Kathir 4.299, Jamal, Alusi) is that the verse you mentioned refers to physically touching the Qur’an.

2. The position of all four Sunni schools of fiqh is that it is haram to touch the Qur’an without wudu. The centrality of sound scholarship is explained by Shaykh Nuh Keller in his articles at www.masud.co.uk . Please read these.

Even Ibn Taymiyya, with his frequent divergence from majority positions, holds this to be the correct opinion. [al-Fatawa al-Kubra, 1.280]

Imam Ibn Qudama said that this is a position in which there is no known disagreement of consequence. [al-Mughni, 1.99]

3. There are many sound hadiths related to this, such as the hadith of Hakim ibn Hizam (Allah be pleased with him), in which the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

“Do not touch the Qur’an unless you are in a state of purity.” [Related by Imam Malik in his Muwatta, and deemed sound by early and late hadith authorities, such as Imam Nawawi in his Majmu`]

Imam Ibn Abd al-Barr says in his Tamhid that this hadith has been related so extensively, and is so well known in the books of sira that its fame puts it beyond need for an isnad, for it is akin to being mutawatir (related by multiple contiguous chains). Thus, he said,

“The scholars of the lands have not differed regarding this.” [Ibn Abd al-Barr, al-Tamhid, 17.396-398]

And Allah alone gives success.

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

Faraz Rabbani

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.