Fatwa ID: 06820

Answered by: Maulana Burhaan Rahman

Question:

Can you tell me the ruling on wearing necklaces for men?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

Our beloved prophet SAW has mentioned:

لَعَنَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم الْمُتَشَبِّهِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ بِالنِّسَاءِ، وَالْمُتَشَبِّهَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ بِالرِّجَالِ‏.‏ تَابَعَهُ عَمْرٌو أَخْبَرَنَا شُعْبَةُ

Cursed those men who are in the similitude (assume the manners) of women and those women who are in the similitude (assume the manners) of men. [Bukhari Hadeeth no: 5885]

Only a ring can be worn by men. It is mentioned in Rad Al Muhtar:

(ولا يتحلى) الرجل (بذهب وفضة) مطلقا (إلا بخاتم ومنطقة وحلية سيف منها)

(A man can’t beautify) himself (with gold/silver jewellery) and this includes everything (except a ring/valuables and decoration on the sword) [Rad Al Muhtar Vol 6 page 358]

Wearing jewellery is what women have been doing for years upon years regardless if one wants to make it a manly thing or a “not just womanly thing” now or not.

A legal maxim of Islam Law:

العادة محكمة

Custom is taken into account (when deriving a ruling)

With regards to the claim of Urf (custom), it has to be completely normal in society. If there are people who wear the item about which there is a fear of imitation in a specific country or at a certain period, it does not mean that it is not the type of imitation that is haram. Abdullah Bin Mas’ud mentions “Whatever is deemed good by Muslims is good to Allah”. So something may be removed from the haraam category if it becomes widely practised and accepted as a custom in that specific location, with no one complaining, to the point that the person who does it is no longer considered weird, and people of dignity and decency would not abstain from it.

So a man wearing a necklace is not part of Urf.

Only Allah knows best.

Written by Maulana Burhaan Rahman

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham