Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother,

Recently I came to know some hadiths which were quoted by

Shaik Al-Albani which prohibits gold jewellery for women. Please clarify. Is there any exception?

Please find below the hadiths Quoted by Shaik Al-Albani.

First: «Whoever would like to put a ring of fire on his beloved, let him put on him a ring of gold, and whoever would like to put a necklace of fire on his beloved, let him put on him a necklace of gold, and whoever would like to put a bracelet of fire on his beloved, let him put on him a bracelet of gold. Rather, go to silver and play with it, play with it, play with it.» [Aboo Daawood and Ahmad: Hasan].

[[The word for "beloved" (i.e. Habeeb) is neuter and could be either male or female, but the construction for "put on him" uses a pronoun which can only be male singular ( i.e. -hu). Since when do males, old or young, wear rings, necklaces or bracelets of either gold or silver?? Then if we take it to refer to small boys - then we are saying that minors are punishable for acts they commit - which is obviously incorrect, or rather that they are punishable for acts of their fathers, who dress them with that! ! And taking it to refer to males does not solve anything, since the majority of scholars who forbid gold for men also forbid silver. So the end of the hadeeth remains a problem for them.]]

Second: On the authority of Thaubaan (radhi-yAllaahu 'anhu) who said: "Sint Hubaira came to the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) wearing large rings of gold on her hand. The Prophet (sallallaahu '$laity wa sallam) began hitting her hand with a small stick which he had, saying:

«Would it please you for Allaah to put rings of fire on your hand?» And so she went to Faatimah to plead her case." Thaubaan said: "The Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) went to Faatimah and I was with him. She had taken a gold chain from around her neck and she said: `This was given to me by Abu Hassan' ( i.e. `Ali, her husband), and the chain was in her hand. The Propeht (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) then said:

«O Faatimah would you be pleased if the people were to say that Faatimah the daughter of Muhammad has a chain of fire on her hand?» Then he became harsh with her, and left without sitting. She took the chain, sold it, and bought the freedom of a number of slaves. When that reached the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) he said:

«All praise be to Allaah who has saved Faatimah from the fire.» [Ahmed, an-Nasaa.ee and others: Saheeh].

Third: On the authority of 'Aa.ishah that the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) saw two twisted bracelets made of gold on her wrist. He said:

«Cast them away from yourself, and put in their place two bracelets made of silver and dye them yellow with Saffron.» [an-Nasaa.ee and others: Saheeh].

Fourth: On the authority of Umm Salama, wife of the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) , who said: "I put some gold bead-shaped ornaments around my neck. The Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) came in and turned away from it. I said to him: `Will you not look at its beauty?' He said:

«It is from your ornaments which I have turned away.» Then I broke the necklace, and he turned to face me." The narrator said:"They believed that the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) then said:

«How will it harm one of you women if you make earrings out of silver, and then dyed them (yellow) with Saffron?» [Ahmad and others: Saheeh].

Brother, what is the opinion of other scholars such as likes of Al-Albani?

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Women gold unlawful albani

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 808 Narrated by Abu Musa Ash'ari

The Prophet (saws) said: ‘Wearing silk and gold has been made unlawful for the males of my Ummah and lawful for their females.’

Respected brother in Islam, although the hadiths quoted by you and referred to by the eminent scholar Shaikh Albani are found in the authentic Sunnah, the absolute majority of the scholars and jurists in Islam, from the earliest of the noble companions of the Messenger of Allah (saws), the four recognized and respected schools of thought (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafei, and Hanbali) and even the most respected and eminent scholar of our times, Shaikh Ibn Baaz ….they all are of the opinion that the wearing of gold jewelry is absolutely permissible for the believing women of the Muslim Ummah….and they base their opinion on this authentic and established narration of the Messenger of Allah (saws):

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 808 Narrated by Abu Musa Ash'ari

The Prophet (saws) said: ‘Wearing silk and gold has been made unlawful for the males of my Ummah and lawful for their females.’

Shaikh Albani did start a huge controversy when, based on the above quoted narrations, he declared his opinion that the wearing of gold jewelry is categorically forbidden for the believing woman in Islam. But the absolute majority of the scholars and jurists in Islam, from the earliest times until today, consider those narrations quoted by the Messenger of Allah (saws) more as a dislike that his own family should adorn themselves with gold rather than a comprehensive prohibition for the believing Ummah. And Allah Alone Knows Best.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan