A mushaf (مُصْحَف) is a written copy of the Quran, bound between two covers. The Quran is the speech of Allah; the mushaf is the book that holds it, which is why it is treated with special respect.
The term
A mushaf is a physical copy of the Quran: the pages you hold, open and read. Muslims use two words for the one Book. Quran means "the recitation", Allah's speech as revealed to the Prophet ﷺ and recited. Mushaf means the written book that records it. When people say "a copy of the Quran", they mean a mushaf. Both ways of speaking are fine.
Mushaf comes from sahifah, a written sheet (plural suhuf). A mushaf is the suhuf gathered and bound together. The Quran uses the root for revealed scriptures: "a Messenger from Allah, reciting purified scriptures (suhufan)" (98:2), and "the scriptures of Abraham and Moses" (87:19). It is pronounced mus-haf, with the s and h said separately. The forms mishaf and mashaf are also correct Arabic. The plural is masahif.
In the Prophet's ﷺ lifetime the Quran was memorised by many companions and written on parchment, bone and palm leaves, but not bound into one book. After many reciters were killed at Yamamah, Abu Bakr had Zayd ibn Thabit gather the written pages into one collection (Sahih al-Bukhari 4986). Under Uthman, copies were made from it in the dialect of Quraysh and sent to the main cities, and the other private copies were burned, so that Muslims would never dispute over the text (Sahih al-Bukhari 4987). Every mushaf today follows that Uthmani writing.
إِنَّهُۥ لَقُرْءَانٌۭ كَرِيمٌۭ ﴿٧٧﴾ فِى كِتَٰبٍۢ مَّكْنُونٍۢ ﴿٧٨﴾ لَّا يَمَسُّهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱلْمُطَهَّرُونَ ﴿٧٩﴾
Innahoo la quraanun kareem Fee kitaabim maknoon Laa yamassuhooo illal mutahharoon
(77) Indeed, it is a noble Qur'an (78) In a Register well-protected; (79) None touch it except the purified.
Quran 56:77-79 · Sahih International · Read in Surah Al-Waqiah
It is not allowed to touch a mushaf without wudu: the page, the writing, the margins or a cover that is stitched to it. You may hold it with a separate cloth or a cover that is not attached. You may recite from memory without wudu. Someone in a state of janabah, or a woman during her period, may neither touch it nor recite the Quran, though she may say Quranic duas and dhikr with the intention of dua. Children who are learning may be given the mushaf, so that they are not kept from the Quran. Many contemporary Hanafi scholars allow touching a phone or tablet screen showing the Quran without wudu, since the screen is not the mushaf, though wudu is better.
The evidence is 56:79, read with the letter the Prophet ﷺ sent to Amr ibn Hazm: "No one should touch the Quran except one who is pure" (Muwatta Malik, from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr; accepted and acted on by the scholars). Some commentators say 56:79 is about the angels and the preserved record; the madhhabs take the letter as the ruling for people.
Muslims keep the mushaf clean and high, do not put it on the floor or take it into the toilet, and place nothing on top of it. An old, damaged mushaf is not thrown away: it is wrapped and buried in clean ground, or kept somewhere safe. A translation on its own is not a mushaf, but where the Arabic text is printed with it, it is treated with the same care.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
Questions
A written, bound copy of the Quran. The word comes from suhuf, written pages.
The Quran is the speech of Allah, revealed to the Prophet ﷺ and recited. The mushaf is the physical book in which it is written.
No, according to all four madhhabs. In the Hanafi school you may hold it with a separate cloth or detached cover, and recite from memory without wudu.
Many contemporary Hanafi scholars allow it, since the screen is not a mushaf. Being in wudu is still better.
The widely printed Madinah mushaf has 604 pages of 15 lines. Other prints differ.