Can I read the Quran on my phone during my period?

The majority position (Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i) is that a woman in menses may NOT recite the Quran. The Maliki school and scholars like Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, and Ibn Uthaymin permit it. Yasir Qadhi is sympathetic to the majority but acknowledges that if staying away from the Quran for many days would significantly impact a woman's memorization or spirituality, she may follow the minority opinion without publicizing it. Separate and firm ruling: physically touching the mushaf (physical copy) is not permitted by any school regardless of wudu state, for men or women — use a screen, gloves, or a cover.

Is it haram to recite Quran when menstruating?

The majority position (Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i) is that a woman in menses may NOT recite the Quran. The Maliki school and scholars like Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, and Ibn Uthaymin permit it. Yasir Qadhi is sympathetic to the majority but acknowledges that if staying away from the Quran for many days would significantly impact a woman's memorization or spirituality, she may follow the minority opinion without publicizing it. Separate and firm ruling: physically touching the mushaf (physical copy) is not permitted by any school regardless of wudu state, for men or women — use a screen, gloves, or a cover.

Can a Quran memorizer review her memorization during menses?

The majority position (Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i) is that a woman in menses may NOT recite the Quran. The Maliki school and scholars like Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, and Ibn Uthaymin permit it. Yasir Qadhi is sympathetic to the majority but acknowledges that if staying away from the Quran for many days would significantly impact a woman's memorization or spirituality, she may follow the minority opinion without publicizing it. Separate and firm ruling: physically touching the mushaf (physical copy) is not permitted by any school regardless of wudu state, for men or women — use a screen, gloves, or a cover.

Can a woman touch the Quran during her monthly cycle?

The majority position (Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i) is that a woman in menses may NOT recite the Quran. The Maliki school and scholars like Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, and Ibn Uthaymin permit it. Yasir Qadhi is sympathetic to the majority but acknowledges that if staying away from the Quran for many days would significantly impact a woman's memorization or spirituality, she may follow the minority opinion without publicizing it. Separate and firm ruling: physically touching the mushaf (physical copy) is not permitted by any school regardless of wudu state, for men or women — use a screen, gloves, or a cover.

What is the ruling on Quran recitation for women who are impure?

The majority position (Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i) is that a woman in menses may NOT recite the Quran. The Maliki school and scholars like Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim, and Ibn Uthaymin permit it. Yasir Qadhi is sympathetic to the majority but acknowledges that if staying away from the Quran for many days would significantly impact a woman's memorization or spirituality, she may follow the minority opinion without publicizing it. Separate and firm ruling: physically touching the mushaf (physical copy) is not permitted by any school regardless of wudu state, for men or women — use a screen, gloves, or a cover.

Can a woman recite the Quran during her menstrual cycle?

Full Lecture Transcript (Cleaned)

The Majority Position — 2:22

Imam al-Tirmidhi writes in his al-Jami' that the majority position of the Companions and their students (Tabi'in) — and of scholars like Sufyan al-Thawri, Ibn al-Mubarak, and others — is that a woman in menses and a man in the state of janaba (major ritual impurity) may NOT recite the Quran.

Three of the four madhabs hold this position:

Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i: recitation is not allowed

They do permit:

Dhikr (Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, etc.) — fully allowed
Reciting short phrases for the purpose of dua (not as tilawa) — some allow a portion

Their evidence: The most authentic hadith is in Sahih Bukhari: Aisha (RA) narrates that the Prophet (ﷺ) would lean into her room while she was in menses and recite the Quran. Al-Nawawi and other Shafi'i scholars argue: this narration would only make sense if it was well-known that women in menses don't recite the Quran themselves — otherwise, why mention her state? The point was that the Prophet could recite Quran while his wife, who could not recite, was present.

There is also an explicit but weak hadith in Abu Dawud stating that neither the menstruating woman nor the person in janaba should recite anything from the Quran — but this narration has a well-known chain weakness acknowledged by virtually all hadith scholars, and fiqh is not based on inauthentic narrations.

The Minority (Permissive) Position — 8:45

The Maliki school permits a woman in menses to recite the Quran. Also permitting it: Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Uthaymin, and the Permanent Committee of Senior Scholars of Saudi Arabia (who are otherwise Hanbali in most issues).

Their argument (summarized from Ibn Taymiyya's Fatawa):

During the entire era of Quranic revelation, all women were menstruating — yet there is no single clear, authentic narration explicitly prohibiting them from reciting. This silence is telling.
We have one authentic-but-ambiguous hadith (Bukhari), and one explicit-but-weak hadith. The sharia does not establish prohibitions on weak hadiths.
Ibn al-Qayyim adds: it is inappropriate to deny a woman an act of worship that is not explicitly forbidden by any authentic hadith — especially when abandoning the Quran for a week or more each month may harm her memorization and spirituality.

This is not a fringe minority: it is the position of one of the four major madhabs and several of the greatest scholars in Islamic history. It is not shazz (extremely isolated).

Yasir Qadhi's Personal Position — 11:35

He is very sympathetic to the majority position — Aisha's narration does seem to indicate this was a known practice. He advises Sister Nadia to stick with her community's scholarly tradition if she can.

However, he also acknowledges Ibn Taymiyya's point that the evidence is ambiguous rather than explicit. He personally experienced how interrupting Quran memorization even for a day or two during travel affected his review speed and continuity.

His advice:

If you are a Maliki, follow your school — no problem
If you are in the other three schools, try to follow your school's ruling if you can
If your memorization will genuinely be affected — if the break in routine significantly impacts your review or spirituality — then you may quietly follow the Maliki/Ibn Taymiyya position
Do not publicize it, do not cause commotion in your community, but in your private practice, there is no problem

Touching the Mushaf — 15:01

This is a completely separate ruling with a different level of scholarly consensus.

Physically touching the mushaf (a printed Quran) requires tahara (wudu). This applies to men and women equally, and regardless of menstruation — even a man without wudu may not touch the mushaf.

Evidence:

Salman al-Farsi (a Companion) was asked by his students to explain a verse. He said: "Ask me without wudu, but I will not touch the Quran" — and he had not yet done wudu.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "None should touch the Quran unless they are pure" (tahara here means wudu, as the hadith makes clear by context) — reported in Abu Dawud and other collections.

This ruling is held by all four madhabs and was the explicit position of over 20 of the earliest scholars. There is no known dissenting voice among the Sahaba on this point.

Alternatives if you want to review Quran during menses without touching the physical mushaf:

Use a phone or tablet screen — no physical contact with the mushaf; your finger touches glass, not the Quran itself

Use an instrument (stylus, rubber pen) to scroll

Use a glove when handling the physical copy

Use a copy of the Quran that has a cover — in our cultures, the Quran is often stored with a fabric cover for exactly this reason; you may handle the cover without wudu