Scholarly disagreement: Imams Abū Ḥanīfah and Aḥmad, along with their adherents, hold that it is impermissible to take payment for teaching the Quran or for any duty that, by its very nature, must be carried out by a Muslim—such as adjudication, leading the prayer, or giving the adhān (call to prayer).

They base their view on the report recorded by Abū Dāwūd from ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, who said: “I taught some of the People of the Bench the Quran. One of them presented me with a bow, and when I mentioned that to the Prophet ﷺ he said, ‘If it pleases you to have a bow of fire hung around your neck, then accept it.’”

The majority of scholars—including Imams Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī—consider it permissible to accept remuneration for teaching the Quran, for leading the prayer, for the adhān, and for similar devotional acts.

They cite as evidence the hadith under discussion, the narration in al-Bukhārī from Abū Saʿīd concerning ruqyah (healing incantation), and the authentic report in both Ṣaḥīḥs that the Prophet ﷺ married a man to a woman in exchange for what he knew of the Quran.

This opinion is also one narration from Imam Aḥmad; it was adopted by later Ḥanafī jurists, allowed by Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn (Ibn Taymiyyah) in cases of need, and followed by our teacher ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī.

As for the ḥadith of ʿUbādah, it cannot withstand the combined weight of these three sound narrations and others found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs.

Moreover, scholars have criticized that ḥadith, noting that its narrator al-Mughīrah ibn Ziyād, as stated in al-Taqrīb, “commits mistakes,” and Aḥmad regarded his report as objectionable.