He passed by a group of people, and they came to him saying, "You have come from that man with good. Can you treat this man of ours with ruqyah?" They brought him a deranged man bound in chains. He recited al-Fatihah over him for three days, morning and evening, and each time he completed it, he would gather his saliva and spit. The man recovered as though he had been released from a tether. They gave him something in payment, and he went to the Prophet ﷺ and told him about it.The Prophet ﷺ said, "Eat. By my life, others eat from false ruqyah, but you have eaten from a true ruqyah."In another narration, they gave him a hundred sheep.
أنه مر بقوم، فأتوه، فقالوا: إنك جئت من عند هذا الرجل بخير، فارق لنا هذا الرجل. فأتوه برجل معتوه في القيود، فرقاه بأم القرآن ثلاثة أيام غدوة وعشية، وكلما ختمها جمع بزاقه، ثم تفل فكأنما أنشط من عقال، فأعطوه شيئا، فأتى النبي ﷺ، فذكره له، فقال النبي ﷺ: كل، فلعمري لمن أكل برقية باطل لقد أكلت برقية حق. وفي رواية: فأعطوه مائة شاة.
Abu Dawud narrated it (3420, 3896, 3897, 3901), as did Ibn Majah (6111) and Ahmad (21835), and Ibn Hibban (6110) and Hakim (1/559-560) graded it sahih, all of them through routes from Amir Shaybi, from Kharija bin Salt, from his uncle, who narrated it. The name of his uncle was Alaqa bin Sahar. It is also said that it was Abdullah bin Uthayr. Hakim said, "Its isnad is sahih."I say, its isnad is hasan because of Kharija bin Salt, for no one deemed him reliable except Ibn Hibban, and only two narrators reported from him. Mizzi transmitted in his Tahdheeb, in the biography of Amir Shaybi, the narrator from Kharija bin Salt, from Abu Bakr bin Abu Khaythama, who said, "I heard Yahya bin Main say, 'When Shaybi narrates from a man and names him, then he is reliable and his hadith may be relied upon.'"Ibn Hajar summarized this in the biography of Shaybi, and he got it right, but in the biography of Kharija bin Salt he erred, attributing this statement to Ibn Abu Khaythama himself. Furthermore, this statement of Ibn Main may not hold consistently for everyone Shaybi narrated from, except in cases where the heart finds reassurance from supporting indications. I have spoken at length on this subject in my book Dirasat fi Jarh wal-Tadeel, so it is essential to refer to it.The jurisprudence of this chapter, the hadiths of this chapter indicate the permissibility of taking payment for teaching the Quran, and the permissibility of stipulating it as a condition. There were three teachers in Madinah who taught the boys, and Umar bin Khattab used to provide each of them with fifteen dirhams every month. Abu Bakr bin Abu Shayba narrated this (4/346, no. 2028) from Waki, from Sadaqa bin Musa Dimashqi (in another version, Daqiqi), from Wadeen bin Ata, who mentioned it. Bayhaqi narrated it (6/124) through another route from Waki, and said, "Abu Bakr bin Abu Shayba likewise narrated it from Waki." Except that Wadeen bin Ata did not live during the time of Umar bin Khattab.Bukhari mentioned in the chapter heading (4/452), "Shaybi said, 'The teacher should not stipulate a condition, but if he is given something he should accept it.' Hakam said, 'I have not heard anyone disapprove of payment for the teacher.' Hasan gave ten dirhams. And Ibn Sirin saw no harm in payment for the divider of shares."In this is evidence for the permissibility of ruqya with the Quran, because recitation and ruqya are among permissible acts, and payment has been permitted for it, and likewise for whatever the physician does by way of speech or action.A group of scholars held the view that taking payment for teaching the Quran is not permissible. They have hadiths supporting this, as will be seen in the chapter that follows.