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Fatwa CenterNot permissible to use a pen with a gold nib
Question
As salamu alaykum, Is it halal (for males or females) to buy fountain pens with gold nibs? If it is halal for women, is there an exception for men? Is it halal for a man to use them, if somebody give it as a gift for example or shouldn't we even accept them as gifts? Do they have the same status as jewelleries? BarakAllahu feekum wa salamu alaykum
Answer
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Adorning and beautifying oneself with gold is permissible for women but it is forbidden for men. As regards the use of gold in other than bodily beautification, like a pen, inkstand, mirror, comb, kohl container and the like, it is either forbidden or disliked. Some scholars are of the view that this is forbidden while others hold the view that it is disliked.
Ibn Muflih said in Al-Aadaab Ash-Shar‘iyyah: "It is forbidden for both men and women to adorn with gold or silver an inkstand, an inkwell, a pen case, a mirror, a comb, a kohl stick, a drinking cup, an eye pencil, a chair, a utensil, a rosary, a niche, books of knowledge, a lamp, an incense burner, an ashtray or a spoon; and it was also said that: these are all disliked (not forbidden)."
The Al-Fataawa Al-Hindiyyah reads: "It is disliked to write with a pen made of gold or silver, or to use a gold or silver inkwell; this applies to both males and females."
The view that it is forbidden is stronger than the view that it is disliked due to the general evidence that gold is forbidden for men, and nothing is excluded from it except what the Sharee'ah has excluded, and the pen is not excluded. Similarly, there is evidence that it is permissible for women to be adorned by it, so it should be restricted to adornment. Using gold in a pen and the like may be included in Islamically dispraised extravagance as it breaks the hearts of the poor.
If we adopt the view that it is forbidden, then it is not permissible to use it to write. However, it is permissible to accept it as a gift and extract the gold from it and make use of it if possible.
For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 31071.
Allaah Knows best.
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