because teaching the Quran is an act of worship, as stated in the hadith: “The best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it.” (1) No payment may be taken for an act of worship. Accordingly, the knowledge referred to here must be qualified in two ways: it must not be forbidden knowledge, and it must not be instruction in the Quran.

As for the first condition: yes, it is stipulated that the knowledge must not be forbidden. Thus, if he hires him to teach him a forbidden discipline, such as the knowledge of the stars—by which I mean astrology that claims celestial influence, not astronomy concerned with their courses (2)—then the payment is unlawful.

As for the second condition: if he hires him to teach him the Quran, this too is forbidden according to the madhhab. The sounder view, however, is that it is not forbidden, and that a person may be hired to teach the Quran. The evidence for this includes the following:

First: the Prophet ﷺ said in an authentic hadith: “The payment most deserving to be taken is that taken for the Book of Allah.” (3) This is explicit.

Second: the Messenger ﷺ permitted taking a reward for ruqyah in the hadith concerning the man who was stung. (4)

Third: the Prophet ﷺ gave a woman in marriage to a man who had no bridal gift, in return for what he had of