What is the ruling on the ma'mum carrying the mushaf during the tarawih prayer?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Some of the followers carry a mushaf in Ramadan to follow the imam in the night prayer, and the imam may not need anyone to read to him because he also reads from the mushaf. What is the ruling on that?
The Shaykh : We hold that a follower should not carry a mushaf except out of dire necessity, such as if the imam says to one of the people, “I do not have the recitation memorized, so I want you to stand behind me and follow me in the mushaf. If I make a mistake, correct me.” As for anything other than that, it is not something that should be done, because it involves distraction of the mind and an action that is not needed, and it causes the loss of the recommended practice of placing the right hand over the left hand on the chest. It is better for a person not to do it except for a pressing need, as you mentioned. Yes.
The Shaykh : We hold that a follower should not carry a mushaf except out of dire necessity, such as if the imam says to one of the people, “I do not have the recitation memorized, so I want you to stand behind me and follow me in the mushaf. If I make a mistake, correct me.” As for anything other than that, it is not something that should be done, because it involves distraction of the mind and an action that is not needed, and it causes the loss of the recommended practice of placing the right hand over the left hand on the chest. It is better for a person not to do it except for a pressing need, as you mentioned. Yes.
Source
ابن العثيمين - فتاوى الصيام — archive.org (41:02)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.