Assalamu Alikum, is the hadith saheeh that Prophet Muhammad SAWS sent a letter saying that nobody should touch the Quran except that he is taahir recorded by Imam Malik, Abu Dawud and Ad-Darami. Imam Al-Qurtubi in his tafsee of surah al-waqiah aya 79 says that Abdullah Ibn Umar said that the Prophet SAWS said do not touch the Quran unless you are taahir" but Imam Qurtubi didnt mention who recorded the hadith. Are these saheeh or not? JazakumAllahu kheirun.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

The Hadeeth in question is Saheeh (sound) and authentic. It was narrated through different chains of narrators on the authority of several companions, such as Ibn ‘Umar, Hakeem ibn Hizaam and ‘Amr ibn Hazm . All of its chains of narrators are not free of weakness, yet all of them strengthen each other, hence, scholars classified it as Saheeh and used it as evidence. For further details on the chains of narrators of this Hadeeth, its sources and its classification, review the Hadeeth No.122 in “Erwaa’ Al-Ghaleel” by Shaykh Al-Albaani . Shaykh Al-Albaani investigated the narration and classification of the Hadeeth, and he sufficiently quoted the sayings of scholars about it.

Allaah Knows best.