The Ruling on the Janabah, Menstruating Woman, and Woman with Post-Natal Bleeding Reciting the Qur'an

Q: M. Sh. says: We are students in the College for Women, and we have a course requirement to memorize a portion of the Qur'an. Sometimes the exam dates coincide with the time of menstruation. Is it permissible for us to write the surah on a piece of paper and memorize it, or not?

A: It is permissible for the menstruating woman and the woman with post-natal bleeding to recite the Qur'an according to the more correct of the scholars' opinions; because there is no established evidence indicating a prohibition against it. However, this is without touching the mushaf. They may hold it with a barrier, such as a pure garment or the like. Likewise, the paper on which the Qur'an is written may be held when there is a need for it.
As for the one in a state of major ritual impurity (janabah), he does not recite the Qur'an until he performs the full ritual bath (ghusl); because there is an authentic hadith regarding this that indicates prohibition. It is not permissible to analogize the menstruating woman and the woman with post-natal bleeding to the one in a state of major ritual impurity; because their periods last a long time, unlike the one in a state of major ritual impurity, for whom it is easy to perform the full ritual bath at any time once the cause of the major ritual impurity has passed.
And success is from Allah.