Is it allowed to recite the Quran during Hayd (without touching the Mushaf)?

There is a difference of opinion among scholars.

The Hanafi, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools say it is not allowed for a menstruating woman to recite the Quran, comparing menstruation to Janabah (major impurity), which requires Ghusl. They cite a hadith narrated by ‘Ali (Radi Allahu Anhu) that the Prophet (Salla Allahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam) used to teach the Quran but did not prevent anyone except those in Janabah from reciting (reported by Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, al-Nasai, Ibn Majah, Ahmad, Ibn Khuzaymah). They also cite a hadith from Ibn ‘Umar stating: “No menstruating woman or person in Janabah should recite anything from the Quran,” but this hadith is weak by agreement of scholars.

On the other hand, scholars such as Imam Malik and Ibn Taymiyyah permit reciting the Quran for menstruating women and consider it not forbidden.

Reasons supporting this view:

• No authentic evidence forbids menstruating women from reciting Quran.
• Women menstruated during the Prophet’s time; if reciting were haram like prayer, the Prophet would have clearly taught it, and the Mothers of the Believers would have transmitted it.
• The analogy comparing menstruation to Janabah is weak. A person in Janabah can immediately purify themselves through Ghusl, while a menstruating woman cannot. Her period lasts several days, and depriving her from Quran for extended periods is unreasonable.

Thus, the opinion allowing recitation (without touching the Mushaf directly) is stronger.

This permission is about recitation itself; whether she may touch the Mushaf during her period is a related but separate question, with its own evidence and its own difference of opinion. That same weak-analogy reasoning does not travel in the other direction: for the separate question of reciting Qur'an during Janabah, the hadith it rests on applies directly rather than by comparison.

This matters in practice on Hajj too, where a menstruating pilgrim keeps reciting talbiyah and du'a throughout the rites; see what if your period starts during Hajj for how the rest of the pilgrimage is handled.