Making the Quran Untouchable

As humans, whenever we sanctify something, we make it untouchable. You can think of the famous people that are held dear, be them artists, leaders, etc. As soon as they acquire fame, those near to them create a protective wall; but that wall makes them unreachable and untouchable at the same time. The holy books are no exception to this habit of humans.

And when Allah made a covenant with those who were given the Book: You shall certainly make it known to men and you shall not hide it; but they cast it behind their backs and took a small price for it; so evil is that which they buy. (3/187)

When the Torah was revealed, those who were supposed to learn it and make known to people (i.e. priests) kept it to themselves, perhaps due to innocent intentions in the beginning. But later on, their hold of the word of God initiated a monopoly running on religion. In case of a conflict, these priests were held as the rightful judge by virtue of having and understanding the word of God. This position of theirs meant not only public influence but also financial gain. All of this was enabled simply by making the revealed word of God unreachable and untouchable by the public.

The same story repeated with the revelation that came to Jesus pbuh. Unlike Judaism, Christianity reached nations that spoke languages other than that of Jesus. Simply by forbidding the translation of the word of God and enforcing the Latin text during the religious ceremonies, the religious elite made the holy book unreachable and untouchable. The position of the priests meant, as before, public influence and financial means. This situation went on mostly unquestioned until Martin Luther in the 16th century.

Then, came the Quran...

The Prophet said "You will follow the wrong ways of your predecessors so completely and literally that if they should go into the hole of a mastigure, you too will go there." We said, "O Allah's Messenger! Do you mean the Jews and the Christians?" He replied, "Whom else?" (Sahih Al-Bukhari, 3456)

As stated in the above hadith, Muslims, too, went into making the book of God untouchable and unreachable. Though, they did this through innocent intentions. During the first generations of the Muslims, most believers were Arabic-speaking people, and the tradition of memorizing the book entirely or partially was well fortified. So, the word of God was readily accessible for virtually everybody. As the non-Arabs became Muslims, the scholars started emphasizing the non-translatable nature of the Quran (see Renaissance - 2), and instantly the word of God became inaccessible to many believers, and the scholars became the only means to learn and understand it. In fact, as the number of non-Arab Muslims surpassed that of the Arabs, this situation worsened.

On top of this, it was ruled that one could not touch the book of God without ablution (wudu). So, even if you wanted to read the divine words for spiritual purposes despite not understanding a bit, you were still required to go through extra procedure to do that. But on this, the scholars produced a few details. They said if you are reading it from memory, no ablution is necessary. However, if you want to hold the holy book in your hands, you must make ablution.

In the end, for practical purposes, the holy book became inaccessible intellectually and physically. And all this happened in order to show respect to the word of God as demanded explicitly(!) in the Quranic verses:

Indeed, it is a noble Qur'an. In a book that is protected. None shall touch it save the purified ones. (56/77-79)

If you make a search on this issue, except a few, vast majority of the sources tell you that it is a sin to touch the Quran without ablution. Here, I am not going to go through the religious reliability of the evidences of this claim. Rather, I am going to do some critical thinking on the issue as repeatedly told by our Creator:

No one can grasp this fact except the people of reason. (3/7)

Indeed in that is a sign for a people who give thought.(16/11)

... so that you will reflect upon its verses and so the people of understanding will take heed.(38/29)

I want to start by asking a simple question. Assuming the ruling that we cannot touch the Quran without ablution, let's say there is a page that is as wide as four pages, and at center of this large page on a small area, there is a verse written. Can you still not touch the tip of this page without ablution? If the answer is negative, i.e. you can't, then how large a page should we have to touch without ablution? If the answer is positive, i.e. you can touch, then how small a page can you have for touching without ablution? Or perhaps, is there a special ratio of (written area/total area) that dictates the final ruling? In any event, in order for something to be forbidden, you must have a clear Quranic support for it. What is this evidence? At a time when paper industry had not developed, how is it possible that one can speak so sharply about what is a sin and what is not in this case?

The short answer to all these questions is that the scholars are mainly relying on their interpretations, and they are taking the safe way, i.e. not allowing touching the Quran at all without ablution. Do you want evidence to this conclusion? The scholars produced an exception to their ruling for the memorizers who read, repeat the text for extended periods. They said, for the memorizers, the prerequisite of ablution to touch the holy book was waived. If there is such a permission in context of a clear ban, there must be a clear evidence for it, but that clear evidence is nowhere to be found. If there is no clear evidence for a permission for the memorizers to touch the Quran without ablution, how do the scholars produce it? Well, they are not producing it; they are simply returning from their own ruling in the face of a need, which is proof that their initial ruling is actually based on interpretation and choice.

Another point in this case is that, although the Quran was written on tablets and alike following the initial revelation, it did not assume a book format until the reign of the first caliph, Abu Bakr. Had the verse above (56/77-79) related to the "not touching without ablution" been intended exclusively for this purpose, Quran would have been collected into a book format, as indicated by the verse, much earlier and without needing prior discussion among the companions.

Plus, if you can read the text without ablution, what is special about touching the paper and ink? Along the same line, imagine the cell phones and tablets of today. Can you touch your device without ablution, if the Quran is loaded in it? Or is it that you cannot touch it without ablution when you turn on the display of the holy book?

The questions and comments so far must have lead you to the point that the purity and touching in question must be related to the meaning and spirituality. In fact, if you read the relevant verses in their context, and bear in mind that they were revealed during the Meccan period when the revelation was far from completion, you better appreciate the merit of this latter interpretation:

Nay, I swear by the places of the stars -and indeed, it is an oath, if you could know, [most] great- indeed, it is a noble Qur'an. In a book that is protected. None shall touch it save the purified ones. A revelation from the Lord of the Worlds. (56/75-80)

In fact, another verse in this context leads us to a different direction as a prerequisite for reading the God's word (with or without ablution):

So when you recite the Quran, seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. (16/98)

Last but not the least, a person who does not know how to read and write, why would the messenger of God establish a ban on touching the paper and ink embodying the word of God in a time where the culture works through the tongue rather than the hand?

In conclusion, the safe-way approach of the scholars to respect the holy book served to distancing the people from it. Now, Quran is a book that can be read and pondered only after special procedures and preparations. Given the extremely hectic pace of the modern life, this artificial prerequisite only makes the Satan's job easier to widen the gap between the people and the Quran. In order for people to reunite with the Quran, they need to be able to have access to it physically and intellectually as much as possible. That is, they must understand that they don't need ablution to touch the holy book, or to read or study it in its original and/or translated form.

Read in the name of your Lord Who created. He created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, who, by the pen, taught the human being: He taught the human being what he did not know. (96/1-5)