Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Three actions require wudu: 1- any type of ritual prayer, 2- circumambulating the Ka`bah (tawaf), and 3- touching a copy of the Quran.
In his famous work, Fiqh As-Sunnah, Sheikh Sayyid Sabiq, elaborates on the subject as follows:
Three actions require wudu in order for them to be accepted by Islamic law. These are:
- Any type of ritual prayer
This involves only obligatory, voluntary, or funeral prayers, not the supplications (du`a). This is based on Allah’s statement, “O you who believe. When you get up to perform a prayer, wash your face and your arms up to the elbows and wipe your head and feet to the ankles.”
Also, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, “Allah does not accept a prayer (that was performed while the person) was not in a state of purity. Nor does he accept charity from misappropriated booty.” (Related by “the group,” except for al-Bukhari)
- Circumambulating the Ka`bah (tawaf)
Ibn `Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah said, “Circumambulation is a type of prayer, but Allah has permitted speaking during it. Whoever speaks during it should only speak good.” (This hadith is related by at-Tirmidhi, ad-Daraqutni, al-Hakim, Ibn as-Sakin and Ibn Khuzaimah, who classified it as sahih.)
- Touching a copy of the Quran
Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad related from his father on the authority of his grandfather that the Prophet (peace be upon him), sent a letter to the people of Yemen which stated, “No one is to touch the Quran except one who is purified.”
This hadith is related by an-Nasa’i, ad-Daraqutni, al-Baihaqi and al-Athram. Of its chain, Ibn `Abdul-Barr says, “It appears to be a continuous transmission.” `Abdullah ibn `Umar reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “No one is to touch the Quran unless he has purified himself.” (Al-Haithami mentioned it in Majma’ az-Zawaid and said its narrators are trustworthy.)
Apparently, this hadith has a problem. The word “purify” must have one particular meaning here. Therefore, to say that one who has a minor defilement may not touch the Quran makes no sense. Concerning Allah’s statement, “…which none touches save the purified,” (al-Waqi`ah 79), apparently the pronoun refers to “the Book kept hidden” (from the preceding verse) and that is “the well-preserved tablet” and the “purified” refers to the angels, which is similar to the verses, “On honored scrolls, exalted, purified, (set down) by scribes, noble and righteous.” (Abasah 13-16)
Ibn `Abbas, ash-Sha`bi, azh-Zhahak, Zayd ibn `Ali, al-Mu’aiyad Billah, Dawud, Ibn Hazm and Hammad ibn Abu Sulaiman are of the opinion that one who has a minor defilement may touch the Qur’an. Most of the scholars, however, agree that such people may recite the Qur’an without touching it.
Almighty Allah knows best.