Wearing a ring made of gold and silver for men Fatwa No: 90906
- Fatwa Date:21-12-2005
I would like to know what is the Hukm of men wearing a ring made from combination of gold and silver?
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
It is forbidden for a man to wear a golden ring according to the consensus of the scholars because of the authentic Prophetic narrations which were reported about the prohibition of gold for men. An-Nawawi said: 'The scholars agreed in a consensus that gold is forbidden for men because there are many authentic narrations about this.'
As regards when the ring is made from gold and silver, then this is one of the following situations:
Either the amount of gold is more than the amount of silver, or equal to it or lesser than it. So if the gold is more than the silver or equal to it, then it is forbidden according to the majority of the scholars. If the gold is a little bit lesser than the silver, then the scholars differed in opinion about the permissibility of wearing it. The Maaliki school are of the view that it is disliked, while the Hanafi school are of the view that it is permissible to wear it, and this is the preponderant opinion of the Hanbali school. As regards the Shaafi'ee school, they are of the view that it is absolutely forbidden even if there is only a small amount of gold because of the existence of Prophetic narrations which prohibit gold for men.
Imaam An-Nawawi said: 'The scholars of our school [Shaafi'ee] agreed that gold is forbidden whether it is a small amount or a large amount, even when the ring is a silver one and it has a nib of gold, or a stone of gold, it is forbidden according to the consensus of the scholars of our school because of the existence of the Prophetic narrations in this regard.'
This view is the one which is supported by evidence, because if a person wears a silver ring but it has some gold in it, even a very small amount, he is considered as wearing gold, so he is included in the Prophetic narrations which prohibit it.
However, some Shaafi'ee jurists are of the view that silver jewellery is not forbidden for men if it is electroplated with gold provided that no trace of gold remains if it is exposed to the fire. Nonetheless, in order to be on the safe side, it is better to avoid this.
Allaah Knows best.