The Etiquette of Handling the Written Quran

Al-Nawawi opens this chapter by addressing one of the most discussed questions in Islamic jurisprudence concerning the Quran: the ruling on touching the Mushaf without ritual purity. He states the position of the Shafi'i school clearly: it is prohibited to touch the written Quran without wudu, based on the Quranic verse 'None shall touch it except the purified' and the hadith reported by Amr ibn Hazm that the Prophet, peace be upon him, wrote to the people of Yemen: 'None should touch the Quran except one who is pure.' Al-Nawawi acknowledges that some scholars interpret 'the purified' in the Quranic verse as referring to the angels rather than human beings, leading them to a different ruling, but he affirms the dominant scholarly position that ritual purity is required. This ruling applies equally to adults and children who have reached the age of discernment.

Beyond the question of ritual purity, al-Nawawi articulates a broader ethic of respect in how the Mushaf is physically handled. The Quran should be picked up with both hands or with the right hand alone, never casually with the left hand or tucked carelessly under the arm. It should be held at an appropriate height and never placed on the floor or on any surface that is unclean or undignified. Al-Nawawi reports the practice of the pious predecessors, who would handle their copies of the Quran with visible reverence, and he identifies this visible reverence as itself a form of worship, since it reflects an inward awareness of the divine nature of the text. The external gesture of respect toward the written word is inseparable from the internal state of awe toward the word's Author.

The question of what may be placed on top of the Quran receives specific attention. Al-Nawawi is emphatic that nothing should be placed on top of the Mushaf, whether books, papers, or other objects. The Quran should occupy the highest position in any arrangement of books and should never be set beneath other texts. If a student is working with multiple books, the Mushaf should be placed separately and distinctly, never mixed in a pile as though it were an ordinary volume. Al-Nawawi connects this physical arrangement to a spiritual hierarchy: just as the Quran stands above all other speech in its divine origin and authority, the physical copies of the Quran should reflect this supremacy in their placement and handling.

Al-Nawawi closes with guidance on the storage and preservation of the Mushaf. Copies of the Quran should be stored in a clean, dry, and elevated location, protected from damage and from being handled by those in a state of major ritual impurity. When a Mushaf becomes worn beyond use, it should not be thrown in the trash or treated as ordinary waste; the scholars recommend burying it in a clean place or burning it respectfully, as was reportedly done by Uthman ibn Affan with the variant copies when the standard text was established. Al-Nawawi notes that the level of care with which a Muslim treats the physical Mushaf reflects the level of reverence in his heart, and that a community's relationship with its physical copies of the Quran speaks to its deeper relationship with the revelation itself.