Differences among the jurists
The scholars disagreed over whether emancipation may itself serve as a bridal dower.
• Imam Ahmad and Ishaq held that it is permissible, relying on the story of Safiyyah’s marriage and on sound analogy: a master owns both the person of his bond-woman and all the benefits attendant to her, including conjugal relations. If he frees her while still retaining any of those benefits that are under his discretion, what obstacle or objection remains?
• The other three imams—Abu Hanifah, Malik, and al-Shafiʿi—ruled it impermissible. They either interpreted the hadith contrary to its apparent wording or considered it a ruling unique to the Prophet ﷺ.
To depart from the obvious sense of a hadith, or to claim it is specific to the Prophet, demands clear evidence, for the default is to keep a report on its outward meaning, just as the default in legal rulings is that they apply generally. Had the matter been exclusive to him, that exclusivity would have been transmitted.

Hadith 2
Sahl ibn Saʿd al-Saʿidi reported that the Prophet ﷺ emancipated Safiyyah and made her emancipation her dower.
He also related that a woman once came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, “I have offered myself to you.” She remained standing for a long time. A man then said, “Messenger of Allah, marry her to me if you have no need of her.”
The Prophet asked, “Do you have anything you can give her as a dower?”
He replied, “Nothing except this waist-cloth of mine.”
The Prophet ﷺ said, “If you hand her your waist-cloth you will be left with none to wear. Look for something else.”
The man said, “I can find nothing.”
The Prophet said, “Look, even if only for an iron ring.”
He searched but found nothing.
The Prophet then asked, “Do you know anything of the Quran?”
“Yes,” the man replied.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “I marry her to you for what you know of the Quran.”

Overall meaning
Certain rulings were exclusive to the Prophet ﷺ, among them his right to marry a woman who offers herself to him without any dower, as indicated by the verse, “And any believing woman who offers herself to the Prophet, if the Prophet wishes to marry her, that is a privilege for you alone, not for the other believers” (Quran 33:50).
In this incident, a woman presented herself, hoping to join the ranks of his wives. The Prophet looked at her, but she did not stir his desire; still, he did not dismiss her outright so as not to embarrass her. He turned away and she sat down. A companion then asked to marry her if the Prophet had no need of her. Because a dower is essential to marriage, the Prophet inquired whether the man had anything to give her. He owned nothing beyond his waist-cloth; yet giving it would leave him unclothed, so the Prophet told him to seek something else, even an iron ring. When he could find nothing, the Prophet asked about his knowledge of the Quran and, on learning that he knew some of it, married her to him, making that knowledge her dower.