Can a woman recite the Quran during her menses?

There is a genuine difference of opinion here. The narration usually quoted as proof of prohibition — "The menstruating woman and the one in janabah do not recite anything of the Qur'an" — is reported from Ibn 'Umar by at-Tirmidhi (131) and is weak: it comes through Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash narrating from Hijazi narrators, whose narrations from them are unreliable, and the hadith scholars graded it da'if (and munkar). Since no authentic prohibition is established, the Maliki school (while the bleeding continues), Ibn Taymiyyah, and among later scholars Ibn Baz and Ibn 'Uthaymin permitted a menstruating woman to recite from memory, especially where there is a need such as a student or a teacher; the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis held it forbidden or disliked out of caution, and a woman may follow either view without blame. Touching the mushaf itself is a separate matter: the majority forbid it on the basis of the Prophet's letter to 'Amr ibn Hazm, "None touches the Qur'an except one who is pure" (Muwatta Malik, Book of the Qur'an, first hadith — mursal, but acted upon by the four schools), read alongside "None touch it except the purified" (Quran 56:77-79). So she can use a barrier such as gloves, or read from a phone or tablet screen. There is no dispute at all that she may make dhikr, du'a and istighfar freely, and 'Aishah reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) would recline in her lap and recite the Qur'an while she was menstruating (Sahih al-Bukhari 297).

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