English translation
5030. Narrated Sahl bin Sa'd: A lady came to Allāh's Messenger ﷺ and said, "O Allāh's Messenger! I have come to you to offer myself to you." He raised his eyes and looked at her and then lowered his head. When the lady saw that he did not make any decision, she sat down. On that, a man from his Companions got up and said, "O Allāh's Messenger! If you are not in need of this woman, then marry her to me." Allāh's Messenger ﷺ said, "Do you have anything to offer her (as Mahr)?" He replied, "No, by Allāh, O Allāh's Messenger!" The Prophet ﷺ said to him, "Go to your family and see if you can find something." The man went and returned, saying, "No, by Allāh, O Allāh's Messenger! I have not found anything." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Try to find something, even if it is an iron ring." He went again and returned, saying, "No, by Allāh, O Allāh's Messenger, not even an iron ring, but I have this waist-sheet of mine." The man had no upper garment, so he intended to give her half his waist-sheet. So, Allāh's Messenger ﷺ said, "What would she do with your waist-sheet? If you wear it, she will have nothing of it over her body, and if she wears it, you will have nothing over your body." So that man sat for a long period and then got up, and Allāh's Messenger ﷺ saw him going away, so he ordered somebody to call him. When he came, the Prophet ﷺ asked him, "How much of the Qur'an do you know?" He replied, "I know such Sūrah and such Sūrah and such Sūrah," and went on counting them. The Prophet ﷺ asked him, "Can you recite them by heart?" He replied, "Yes." The Prophet ﷺ said "Go, I have married this lady to you for the part of the Qur'an which you know by heart."