Dr. Muzzamil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), states the following: “There are a number of Hadiths that indicate that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade the males of his Ummah from wearing pure golden jewelry and pure silken garments.
Besides the jewelry, the Muslim jurists also forbid men to use golden pen, golden watches, gold cigarette cases and lighters, golden cutlery. All these things are forbidden, unless the amount of gold in them was insignificant or they are not golden, or they are gold-plated with a very small amount of gold.
There are many Hadiths on this subject. For example, it is reported by ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took some silk in his right hand and some gold in his left hand and then he said, “These two are haram for the males among my followers.”
(Reported in Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Hadith no. 1642 and also in An-Nasai, Hadith No. 5170.)
The aforementioned Hadith does not make any distinction between the yellow gold and the white gold.
Since the general word ‘gold’ is used, we can say that all types of gold – natural and pure gold- are forbidden for men. They are permissible for women. Men are allowed to use silver but not gold. This is the command of Allah and it is given to us through the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. We should observe all the commands whether they are in the Qur’an or in the authentic Sunnah.”
Thus, it is clear that men are prohibited to wear golden adornments irrespective of whether those golden adornments are made of white gold or not.”
Somebody may ask a question: what is the wisdom behind prohibiting men from wearing gold irresepective of whether it is white gold or not?
The answer to this question is dealt with in the following quotation that is excerpted with slight modifications from ‘the lawful and the Prohibited in Islam’, by the well known erudite scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi:
“There is a social aim underlying the prohibition of men wearing gold. The prohib
ition of gold and silk to males is part of a broader Islamic program of combating luxuriousness in living. From the Qur’anic point of view, luxurious living leads to weakness among nations and to their eventual downfall; the existence of luxury is also an expression of social injustice, as only a few can afford luxurious items at the expense of the deprived masses of people.
In addition to this, luxurious living is an enemy of every call towards truth, justice, and social reform. Allah Almighty says: “And when We intend that We should destroy a township, we permit its luxury-loving people to commit wickedness therein. Then the word is proved true against it, and We then destroy it utterly.” ( Al-Israa’: 16)
In keeping with the spirit of the Qur’an, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade Muslims to indulge in conspicuous consumption. He not only forbade the use of gold and silk to men but also forbade men and women alike the use of gold and silver utensils.”