THE QURAN AND WAZU

A Misunderstood Concept

MANY people believe that to touch the Quran, you must first perform wazu or a particular form of ablutions. This belief is baseless. It is not mentioned in the Quran.

This concept is a product of Muslim jurisprudence that emerged after the Prophet’s time. During this period, many people embraced Islam. They brought with them their mind-sets and previous beliefs. Many learnt the Arabic language and became religious scholars. Several of these converted Muslim scholars played a key role in compiling the corpus of fiqh or Muslim jurisprudence. With their earlier beliefs, they unconsciously introduced into the Islamic tradition many issues not present at the time of the Prophet’s Companions. And to support these, they misinterpreted Quranic verses. One such claim that it is not permissible to touch the Quran without first performing ablutions is nowhere mentioned in the Quran. Those who insist on this, claim to deduce it from these Quranic verses, “…this is indeed a noble Quran, in a well-guarded preserved Book, which none can touch except the purified.”

In order to support self-created jurisprudential issues, people engaged in wrong interpretation of Quranic verses.

This verse is not a command but simply states the fact that the Quran was conveyed from God to man through the medium of angels who are pure beings.