concerning the case of Abu Burdah ibn Niyar, may Allah be pleased with him, to whom the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “It will not suffice for anyone after you.” (1) We say: if this hadith were authentic—though it is not—then its meaning would be that it cannot serve as a dower for anyone after your particular circumstances, because you have absolutely nothing. The principle is that no one can ever be singled out, in his own person, by a ruling of the Sacred Law; rather, it is due to an attribute. A lame person is not required to undertake jihad in the path of Allah because he is lame. Accordingly, everyone whose lameness prevents him from jihad is not required to undertake it. Likewise, a poor person is not liable for zakah because he is poor, and so on. Thus, the claim that this is permissible for this particular man cannot possibly stand. Even the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was never singled out for something merely in his own person, but because of an attribute: that he is a prophet and messenger. For there is no blood relationship, favoritism, or marital tie between Allah and human beings. Therefore, it is impossible for Him to single out any human being with a ruling merely in his own person; rather, it must be because of an attribute.

If a man teaches his wife the surah upon which they agreed a hundred times, yet she remains unable to learn it, then she is awarded a dower equivalent to the customary wage. We do not say that the stipulated dower is invalid and that the standard dower becomes due, because the stipulated dower has not become invalid; rather, he has been unable to fulfil it. Thus, a wage is assessed for her for teaching this surah, for example. If it is said, “A teacher of children would ordinarily teach this surah for ten riyals,” then her dower is ten riyals.

Question: Is it valid for a copy of the Quran to be a dower? The answer is: if