Is it permissible for a menstruating woman to hold the Mus'haf

 

Praise be to Allaah

It is permissible for a menstruating woman to recite Qur’an according to the more correct scholarly opinion, especially if she needs to do that for fear of forgetting (what she had memorised), or to study for a test, or to seek healing thereby, on condition that she does not touch the Mus'haf (A Qur'an with Arabic text only), because no one should touch it except one who is in a state of purity. 

If she needs to read from the Mus'haf, she may touch it with a barrier, such as a piece of clean cloth or a handkerchief or gloves and the like.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

It is obvious that women used to menstruate at the time of the Messenger of Allah (SalAllaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) and he did not forbid them to recite Qur’aan.

He also did not forbid them to recite dhikr (remembrance of Allah) or du‘a (supplication). In fact he instructed the menstruating women to go out on the day of Eid and recite takbeer with the Muslims. End quote. 

Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 21/460 

He also said: 

There is no Sunnah at all forbidding (the menstruating woman) to recite Qur’an. Women used to menstruate at the time of the Messenger of Allah {SalAllaahu 'alaihi wa sallam}, and if reciting was haraam for them, as prayer is, then this would have been one of the things that the Prophet {SalAllaahu 'alaihi wa sallam} forbade to his ummah, and the Mothers of the Believers would have known of it, and it would have been one of the things that they transmitted to the people.

Based on that, there is nothing wrong with the menstruating woman memorize or performing ruqyah for herself by reciting Qur’an, du‘aa’s and dhikr that are prescribed in Islam. There is also nothing wrong with her reciting from the Mus'haf, on condition that she does not touch the Mus'haf except with a barrier.

The mobile phones in which Qur’an is put in written or recorded form do not come under the same ruling as the Mus'haf, so it is permissible to touch them without having purified oneself and it is permissible to take them into the washroom with one, because writing Qur’an on the mobile phone is not like writing it in a Mus'haf. It takes the form of waves that appear and disappear, and its letters are not fixed, and the mobile phone may contain Qur’an and other things. 

Reading Qur’an on a mobile phone makes it easy for women who are menstruating and one who cannot easily carry a Mus'haf with him, or one who is in a place where it is difficult for him to do wudoo’, because it is not essential for the one who touches it to be in a state of purity, as mentioned above.

And Allah knows best.