It is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married a man to a woman with what he had of the Qur'an. Is this specific to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or general?
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Question : He says: We said yesterday that the stronger position regarding teaching the Qur'an is that it is permissible to take a wage for it. There are three pieces of evidence for this, one of which is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married a man to a woman with what he had of the Qur'an. The question is: Is this specific to the Prophet, or is it general?
Answer : The answer is that it is general, and we are giving you a benefit, may Allah bless you. The default is that there is no exclusivity, and that what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did is for him and for the Ummah, until evidence establishes that it is specific to him. For this reason, when Allah the Exalted said, "And a believing woman," meaning We have made permissible for you,[Al-Ahzab 33:50] He said, [Al-Ahzab 33:50] thereby specifying the exclusivity, yes?
As for what some scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) do, where whenever they are at a loss for a solution, they say, "This is specific," this is an error. It is similar to those who, when they are at a loss for a way to reconcile the evidence, say, "This is abrogated." Do you understand? So do not ask and say, "This is specific." The default is, yes, it is general.
Answer : The answer is that it is general, and we are giving you a benefit, may Allah bless you. The default is that there is no exclusivity, and that what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did is for him and for the Ummah, until evidence establishes that it is specific to him. For this reason, when Allah the Exalted said, "And a believing woman," meaning We have made permissible for you,
and a believing woman if she gives herself to the Prophet [and] if the Prophet wishes to marry her
وَامْرَأَةً مُّؤْمِنَةً إِن وَهَبَتْ نَفْسَهَا لِلنَّبِيِّ إِنْ أَرَادَ النَّبِيُّ أَن يَسْتَنكِحَهَا[this is] only for you, excluding the [other] believers
خَالِصَةً لَّكَ مِن دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَAs for what some scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) do, where whenever they are at a loss for a solution, they say, "This is specific," this is an error. It is similar to those who, when they are at a loss for a way to reconcile the evidence, say, "This is abrogated." Do you understand? So do not ask and say, "This is specific." The default is, yes, it is general.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 145 - 332 ورد أن النبي ﷺ زوج رجلٌ امرأة بما عنده من القرآن فهل هذا خاص بالبني ﷺ أم عام؟ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.