something, so I mentioned it to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). He said: "If that food is his food and the food of his family, then eat from it; but if he is gifting it to you, then do not eat it." From Abd al-Rahman ibn Shibl al-Ansari, he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: "Read the Quran, do not exaggerate in it, do not neglect it, do not consume by it, and do not accumulate wealth by it" (59). All of these hadiths were narrated by Al-Athram (60) in his Sunan. And because it is a condition for the validity of these actions that they be acts of devotion (qurbah) to Allah Almighty, it is not permissible to take a wage for them, just as if one were to hire a group of people to pray behind him in Friday or Taraweeh prayers. As for receiving payment for ruqyah (spiritual healing/exorcism), Ahmad chose its permissibility and said: "There is no harm in it," and he mentioned the hadith of Abu Sa'id. The distinction between it and what is disputed is that ruqyah is a type of medical treatment, and what is taken for it is a recompense (ju'l), and it is permitted to take a wage for medical treatment, and the rules of recompense (ja'alah) are broader than those of hiring (ijarah); for this reason, it is permissible even with uncertainty regarding the labor and the duration. His statement (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "The most deserving of things for which you take a wage is the Book of Allah," refers to the recompense in ruqyah as well, because he mentioned that (61) in the context of the report regarding ruqyah. As for setting the teaching [of the Quran] as a dowry [there is a difference of opinion regarding it] (62), and there is no explicit statement in the report that the teaching itself is the dowry; rather he said: "I have married her to you for what you have of the Quran." It is possible that he married her to him without a dowry as an honor to him, just as he married Umm Sulaym to Abu Talhah upon his acceptance of Islam (63), and its permissibility was reported from him. The distinction between a dowry and a wage is that the dowry is not a pure consideration/compensation, rather it is obligatory as a gift and a bond; for this reason, the contract is permitted without specifying it, and it is valid even if it is corrupt, unlike a wage in other matters. As for the stipend from the public treasury, it is permissible for those of these matters whose benefit extends beyond the individual; because the public treasury is for the interests of the Muslims. Thus, if its disbursement to someone whose benefit extends to the Muslims is needed, it is considered one of the public interests, and the recipient is entitled to take it because he is among those deserving of it, operating in the manner of an endowment (waqf) for those who attend to these interests, which is different from a wage.