That the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) (28) was approached by a woman, who said: "I have gifted myself to you." She stood for a long time, so a man said: "O Messenger of Allah, marry her to me if you have no need of her." He asked: "Do you have anything to give her as a dowry?" The man said: "I have nothing except my lower garment (izar)." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Your lower garment—if you give it to her, you will be sitting without a lower garment; so look for something." He said: "I do not find anything." He said: "Look for something, even if it is a ring of iron." He searched but found nothing. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "I have married her to you for what you possess of the Quran." Agreed upon (29). This is because it is a specific, permissible benefit, so it is permissible to make it a dowry, like the teaching of a poem of permissible poetry. As for the other narration, it holds that private parts are not made permissible except through wealth, based on His saying, the Exalted: "...that you seek [marriages] with your wealth," and His saying, the Exalted: "And whoever among you cannot afford to marry free, believing women..." (30). And "tawlan" (affordability) means wealth. It has been narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) married a man for a surah of the Quran, then said: "It shall not be a dowry for anyone after you." Narrated by al-Najjad with his chain of transmission (31). Furthermore, teaching the Quran cannot be performed except as an act of worship for the one doing it, so it is not valid as a dowry, similar to fasting, prayer, and teaching faith. Moreover, teaching varies between the teacher and the learner and is hardly quantifiable, thus it resembles an unknown item. As for the hadith of the woman who gifted herself, it has been said: its meaning is "I have married her to you for what you possess of the Quran," meaning I have married her to you because you are one of the people of the Quran, just as he married Abu Talhah for his Islam. Ibn Abd al-Barr narrated with his chain of transmission from Anas that Abu Talhah proposed to Umm Sulaym before he had accepted Islam. She said: "Would I marry you while you worship a piece of wood carved by the slave of such-and-such a tribe? If you accept Islam, I will marry you." So Abu Talhah accepted Islam and married her for his Islam (33). The authentic hadith contains no mention of teaching. It is possible that this was specific to that man, as evidenced by what al-Najjad narrated. There is no derivation on this narration, but as for the other, it is necessary to specify what he is teaching her, whether a specific surah, several surahs, or specific verses, because surahs differ, as do verses. Is it necessary to specify whose recitation (34)? There are two views: one is that it is necessary, because intentions vary and readings differ; some are difficult, like the recitation of Hamzah, and some are easy, so it resembles specifying verses. The second view is that it does not require specification, because this is a minor difference where every letter substitutes for the other and stands in its place; for this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not specify a reading to the woman, even though they differed in recitation more than the readers do today, so it resembles the case where he gives her a qafiz of wheat from a pile. Al-Shafi'i has two views on this, similar to these two.