He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:
A scholar was approached by someone wishing to read to him some hadiths of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and other religious sciences, but he refused to teach them except for payment. He was told:
“The reports describing how the early generations and the imams of guidance taught knowledge solely for the sake of Allah, the Most Generous, are too well known to escape any reasonable person. Such conduct is inappropriate.”
He replied:
“Am I to teach without payment? That is forbidden for me!”
Is his statement correct or false? Is this an ignorant statement for which he may be excused? Is he permitted to accept payment for teaching beneficial knowledge, or is that disliked for him?
He replied:
Praise be to Allah. Teaching the Quran and religious knowledge without payment is the finest of deeds and the most beloved to Allah. This is a self-evident teaching of Islam, not something unknown to anyone raised in Muslim lands. The Companions, the Followers, the generation after them, and other scholars renowned throughout the Muslim community for their knowledge of the Quran, hadith, and jurisprudence taught without payment. None of them taught for payment at all. For the scholars are the heirs of the prophets, and the prophets left neither dinars nor dirhams