Nisaa
The majority of scholars across all four madhabs hold that a person in Janabah (major ritual impurity) may not recite any part of the Qur'an, not even a single ayah, until Ghusl is performed.
Their evidence is a hadith narrated by ‘Ali (Radi Allahu Anhu): the Prophet (Salla Allahu 'Alayhi Wa Sallam) used to recite Qur'an to them in every state, and nothing stopped him from it except Janabah (reported by Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, al-Nasai, Ibn Majah, Ahmad, and Ibn Khuzaymah; graded hasan sahih by al-Tirmidhi). Taken at face value, the hadith names Janabah as the one condition that interrupted an otherwise constant habit of reciting.
This is the same hadith the Hanafi, Shafi'i, and Hanbali schools cite when they compare a menstruating woman to a person in Janabah and forbid her from reciting too; see can you recite Qur'an during your period for that separate difference of opinion. The comparison runs only one way, though. Imam Malik and Ibn Taymiyyah permit recitation during hayd precisely because they judge that comparison weak: a person in Janabah can lift it immediately through Ghusl, while a woman's period lasts days and cannot be shortened at will. That reasoning has nothing to hold onto here. For the person actually in Janabah, the hadith of 'Ali applies directly rather than by analogy, so the same scholars who ease the ruling for hayd do not extend that ease to Janabah itself.
Where the four madhabs differ is not on the basic prohibition, which they share, but on what still counts as reciting:
- The Hanafi and Maliki schools forbid deliberately reciting even a single ayah, but permit isolated words or partial phrases spoken for another purpose, such as saying "Bismillah" before eating or "Alhamdulillah" after a sneeze, since the intention there is dhikr and not Qur'an recitation.
- The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools hold the same prohibition, but allow a person in Janabah to speak a verse with the intention of dua rather than recitation, such as saying "Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanatan..." as a supplication, and to look at the Mushaf and follow the text silently with the eyes, without moving the tongue.
A minority of early scholars, among them Ibn Hazm, held that no authentic text forbids reciting in Janabah either, for reasons close to the ones given for hayd. The four madhabs did not adopt this view, and it remains a minority position, not the one acted on.
The restriction sits alongside touching the Mushaf, which follows the same evidence and the same majority ruling. Both lift the moment Ghusl is complete, whatever caused the Janabah. In the meantime, what is restricted is specifically the Qur'an, not the remembrance of Allah in general; dhikr, dua and the other acts described in what remains open to her during hayd apply here just as they do to a menstruating woman.