The rehal is a folding X-shaped stand that holds a copy of the Quran open at reading height, and it exists because the physical book is handled with unusual care.
Care for the book
The Quran, as the literal word of God in Muslim understanding, is treated with a reverence extended to the physical volume: it is kept clean, placed above other books, not set on the floor, and not touched without ritual purity by many, and the rehal serves this care by raising the open book to a comfortable height and keeping it off the ground. The reader sits and reads from the book resting on the stand, so the object supports both the comfort of long recitation and the respect owed to the text.
A simple, worked object
The rehal is typically two flat pieces of wood joined by a central pivot so that it folds flat and opens into a cross-legged stand, a design old and widespread, and the finest examples are elaborately carved from a single block of wood, a craft in itself. Similar folding book-stands are used in other traditions for large sacred books, but the rehal is particularly associated with the Quran and with the settings of its study and recitation, the mosque and the school. It is a plain implement whose whole significance lies in the honour it helps pay to the book it holds.