Questioner:

Is it permissible for a menstruating woman or a woman with postpartum bleeding to touch and read the Qurʾān in the blessed month of Ramaḍān, which the people specify in completing the Qurʾān?

Shaykh Muqbil bin Hādī al-Wādiʿī:

I don’t know anything that prohibits this, and the ḥadīth: “…and no one should touch the Qurʾān, except the pure.” There are some [scholars] who say that it is mursal and even if it is accepted due to its numerous narrations,

Then it is said as stated by ash-Shawkānī in Nayl al-Awtar, “and no one touches the Qurʾān except the pure, meaning: the Muslim, so the non-Muslim should not touch it. However, the Messenger prohibited that a person should travel with the Qurʾān to the land of the enemy…”

Likewise what is meant by the statement of Allah ﷻ:

۞ لَّا يَمَسُّهُ إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُونَ

 “None can touch but the purified” (Q 56:79)

are the Angels as Imām Mālik explained in his al-Muwaṭṭa. He said, “This verse has been explained in Allah’s statement;

۞ وَجَعَلْنَا النَّهَارَ مَعَاشًا وَبَنَيْنَا فَوْقَكُمْ سَبْعًا شِدَادًا وَجَعَلْنَا سِرَاجًا وَهَّاجًا وَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ الْمُعْصِرَاتِ مَاءً ثَجَّاجًا لِّنُخْرِجَ بِهِ حَبًّا وَنَبَاتًا وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا

“Nay, indeed it is an admonition, So whoever wills, let him pay attention to it. (It is) in Records held (greatly) in honour (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfūz). Exalted (in dignity), purified, In the hands of scribes” (Q 78:11-16)

meaning the Angels.

And the meaning

۞ لَّا يَمَسُّهُ إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُونَ

 “None can touch but the purified” (Q 56:79)

is referring to the Angels as Allah ﷻ has said,

۞ مَا تَنَزَّلَتْ بِهِ الشَّيَاطِينُ 211 وَمَا يَنبَغِي لَهُمْ وَمَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ 212 إِنَّهُمْ عَنِ السَّمْعِ لَمَعْزُولُونَ

“And it is not the devils who have brought it (this Qurʾān) down, Verily, they have been removed far from hearing it.” (Q 26:210-212)

Questioner:

Is it permissible for her to attend classes and sittings in the masjid?

Shaykh Muqbil bin Hādī al-Wādiʿī:

There is no problem in doing so In shā Allah. As for the ḥadīth: “I do not allow the menstruating, nor the postpartum bleeding to [enter] the masjid.” This is ḥadīth is weak. Likewise the Prophet said ʿĀʾisha, “Your menstruation is not in your hand.” He also said to her “Do everything a Pilgrim does, except for tawwāf around the Ka’ba.” So there is no problem – In shā Allah, for her to attend lessons in the masjid.