Regarding The Etiquette of Reading the Qur’an My question pertains to the reading of the Quran. On campus here at Emory our Muslim organization has organized a Quran Group in which we get together every friday and read the Arabic, as well as the English meaning, of the Quran. Now there are certain things which are confusing me. There are also some non-Muslims who will be coming to the group meetings for the desire to learn more about Islam (and from my best judgement they come in the sincerest and purest of manners....often times frustrated by the weaknesses in their own religions.) There are also several Muslims who come, but these brothers and sisters have not been in an islamic environment really and so are just growing into the religion. So here are the issues: first, i know that the muslims understand we must do wudu before reading the Quran. what is the requirement for non-muslims who do not know how to do the wudu? Also, there are some sisters who are a little hesitant to wear the hijab when reading the Quran (for their own personal reasons, i dont know them). now last year a brother condemned a sister for not wearing the hijab when coming to the Quran Group. Unfortunately that sister has never returned to either the Quran Group or any other Islam related activities that involve muslims. i know her feelings were very hurt. what does one do in this situation? does one send someone off from hearing the message of Allah because they are not covering their head? can we keep the message from someone who wishes to hear it? what about non-Muslim females who wish to hear the message or read the Quran but dont wear hijab? Also i have heard that we can only give non-Muslims the english version of the Quran? this seems ridiculous to me since the purest form of the Quran is in Arabic. Also it seems ridiculous to me considering there are those people who are non-muslims and only speak arabic, do they not receive the message? are we not bordering on idol worship by elevating even the Quran as a book to another level? Please answer these in your earliest convenience, but our first meeting is this friday and i seek some assistance urgently. Reply As you require the answers urgently, I shall write brief replies to your queries. It is not mandatory to do ablution before recitation of the Qur'an. Obviously, for the purpose of teaching Islam to non-Muslims, they can and should be invited to these gatherings and would read the Qur'an without ablution. The Prophet (pbuh) recited the Qur'an in front of non-Muslims, whether Jews, Christians or Polytheists, but he never asked them to do ablution, before listening to the Qur'an. I really do not see any difference in listening to or reading the Qur’an. If a girl or a woman does not observe the dress code prescribed by the Qur'an, knowing that it is the directive of the Almighty Allah, she shall be held responsible for her disobedience to Allah on the Day of Judgment. But even so, no one has the right of degrading her or disallowing her to sit in gatherings the basic purpose of which is to teach the Qur'an. After all, my brother, how do you expect a non-Muslim or a person who is only half a Muslim to become a true Muslim, if you do not allow him/her to become a part of gatherings where Islam/Qur'an is being taught. We can give the Qur'an to our non-Muslim friends in the language which they (our non-Mulsim friends) understand. I do not see any reason why we cannot give the Arabic Qur'an to a non-Muslim. Obviously, this cannot be the teaching of the Prophet (pbuh), as the Qur'an was not even translated during his times. I hope this helps. In case any thing asks for further clarification, please feel free to write back. Regards The Learner Home Page Use this "Home Page" link only if you have opened this page by following an external link