# What did Imam Malik and the Maliki jurists say about boys wearing earrings?

*Malik's son's earring, Malik on gold earrings for boys, and theft rulings that assume boys wore earrings*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/pkjtq8axgre/s/7/
- Date: 2019-07-24 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Holistic Overview: Can Men Wear Earrings? -Mufti Abu Layth (22:12–27:25)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkjtq8AXGRE&t=1332s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/pkjtq8axgre/

**Topics:** Jewellery, gold and silk for men; The Maliki school

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Malik preferred that boys not wear gold earrings, which Ibn Rushd explains as a ruling about gold rather than earrings, and Maliki theft rulings by al-Lakhmi and Ibn Abi Zayd treat an earring stolen from a boy as an ordinary case. Mufti Abu Layth concludes that boys wearing earrings was common and not seen as feminine.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that Malik's reported preference against gold earrings for boys concerned the gold rather than the earring, and that the Maliki theft rulings of al-Lakhmi and Ibn Abi Zayd about earrings stolen from boys show that boys commonly wore them and the early generations did not treat earrings as restricted to women.

**Evidence, his words at 25:59:** “but look at this being a common issue that boys wearing earrings so this ruling” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkjtq8AXGRE&t=1559s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says Malik wore an earring at least as a young man, whether or not he kept it later, and that Malik's son Muhammad was known to wear an earring while playing with his falcon. He then cites al-Bayan wa'l-Tahsil of Ibn Rushd al-Jadd, volume eighteen page 441 in the Kitab al-Jami', where Malik is asked about a gold earring for young boys and answers that he prefers they not wear it; Ibn Rushd explains the dislike by the fact that although the child is not mukallaf his parent is, so just as a parent may not give a child alcohol he should not adorn his son with gold, the issue being the gold rather than the earring. From al-Lakhmi's [?] Tabsira he takes a discussion of theft and what counts as guarded property, in which the case of someone snatching an earring from a boy is considered: if the boy was old enough it counts as theft, while an infant's case is discussed separately. He notes that a hundred years earlier Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani in Tunis addressed the same issue of someone stealing an earring or bracelet from a boy, and concludes that these rulings, discussed by the ulama across the centuries, show that boys wearing earrings was a common matter and that the early generations did not see earrings as something restricted to women.

## Sources and names cited

- Imam Malik
- Ibn Rushd al-Jadd
- al-Bayan wa'l-Tahsil
- mukallaf (legally responsible)
- al-Lakhmi [?]
- al-Tabsira of al-Lakhmi [?]
- Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani
- hirz (guarded property)

## Transcript (machine tier, 22:12–27:25)

[21:40] this is who Imam Malik this is then transmitted again by another you got another scholar Maliki scholarship I heard mohammed ur diri who wrote a book which was then authorized and you know his part of his tacky Kamel kora is a Sudanese great chef I mean he's got hadith the rules there on YouTube and things like that in his book is the reach of the hadith of the Madonna in the introduction to Imam Malik he mentions the same thing work an AVI or Imam Malik would have an earring in his ear especially when he was a young

[22:18] man maybe in later age whether he kept it in or not but he worried while he was a young man and hence you have the hence you have the the tradition as well Imam Malik son wore an earring Mohammed he would often be when when people looked at him and he was playing with the Falcon and and he would wear an earring and that was the the stories kind of well known but let's not stop there people will then say what else where are these traditions people where what else

[22:52] have we got people all beyond what a seal by even a ruched algid that the daddy the daddy nourished was so la speaking about Imam Malik was so Allah and courted the hablas sabi he is asked about a Golden Earring for young boys Carla Turku habbo Aliyah fulfillment he said it's better to leave it for young men all a blur ruched al-qura javi had a beginner he says why is it discouraged

[23:27] that's obvious lianna sabi he goes on to say let me finally me Hakuna Matata be done for Walid Huma Abedin fee now he says that because even if the child isn't McAuliffe his parent is McAuliffe so as its knock Amalia hello Lamia scale Hummer so as he shouldn't be giving him alcohol to drink for kadala calamba allahu and you halia will be that so likewise he shouldn't be adorning his son with gold the issue was golden earrings the question that he asks Malik young boys

[24:06] wearing golden earrings what is your ruling and Imam Malik said I prefer that they don't okay so this is from beyond what I tell people you've got volume 18 page four for one kitab of Jamia thurman kappa pasa you know some of these party debaters they think of this volume this pay this this this this number left side there you go uh cup up uh some people come

[24:42] over so you've got that then you've got rulings now check this out you've got I love me he's being asked in his in his table Salah that about certain things if when you punish certain people for what they steal now look at what was often being stolen look at what was often being stolen and he discusses this muscle and he says he says what in soraka shaken he says what about from a young boy if they got a young boy and they robbed him is that do you can because what they debating is what is the head is what is

[25:21] guarded property and what like assets like you've hidden something and something isn't he didn't like you just put it here and somebody takes it then there's a distinction between robbery and theft so they're drawing this distinction but and they're looking at the issue what about if you're wearing something like I'm wearing a necklace somebody snatches he and something that would often happen and he speaks about young boy like a young boy and he says he says oh Soraka Portland Maine Oh Donaghy what if he stole the earring from the boy for Encana Sabich a baron

[25:59] yeah Hadees uma Ali he so he says if the boy was old enough he was an old like a young man and they robbed his earring then that is protected like they would be punished like that would count as theft but he says if it was a young boy like a very like a infant doesn't know what's going on then he discusses that ruling of his but look at this being a common issue that boys wearing earrings so this ruling and you might think well really left me saying it people young Malick and what there was hear that and well there was hear that people

[26:39] same thing same issue hundreds of years this is in the fourth century for 300 people love me you're talking a hundred years later this 100 years earlier look the same issue woman Soraka court pan whosoever stolen earring min owes me sabe o see Warren or a bracelet or bangle that he was wearing for most famous ilaha il-allah he's talking about the same issue does it count as a so if no B's aid is addressing it as well we lived in Tunis a different North Africa so you can see these rulings being discussed by olomana

[27:19] right through a so it's very clear the early generations did not see this as something to do with women or restricted to women in fact they generally always the young boys especially they would make them we and here what's interesting is a man son I mean subra Salam under bubble Atika he brings the narration he says that

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment pkjtq8AXGRE/s/7. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/pkjtq8axgre/s/7/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.