Early version. Transcripts and tags are labelled by accuracy tier. A position is shown only after two independent reviews have found it in his own words.
Research › Fiqh and daily practice › Dress and appearance
Jewellery, gold and silk for men
16 answers in 7 recordings, 2018 to 2023. 13 with a checked position in his own words.
Indexed so far: 259 of 1,859 recordings (1,904 answers, 2014 to 2025). Anything below may change as the rest are indexed. Limits of the data
Thought Evolution
2018answers checked positions2023
Oldest first. A checked position shows what he holds, then the sentence he says, word for word from the transcript, with its moment. Years without one list the answers that have not been checked yet. Recordings not yet indexed may hold more.
Mufti Abu Layth holds that it is not haram for men to wear earrings, although it is not the general custom, noting that boys wore them in the medieval period and that Imam Malik objected only to a boy wearing gold, not to the earring itself.
“I don't believe it's Haram for men to wear earrings why would it be Haram although the custom generally in the medieval ages was that men did not generally wear earrings but boys did”
Mufti Abu Layth says he is in line with the ulama who held that the Prophet's prohibition of gold and silk for men was a matter of karaha intended to keep the early community focused and away from luxury in a dangerous time, not a categorical haram, while noting that the popular opinion is that it is haram.
“when he told people off from gold and silk in I fall in line with those Olimar who felt that this was who say who felt that this was to do with the kuraha and to keep people focused”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that men may wear earrings according to Islam, and that the idea that earrings are effeminate or exclusive to women is a misconception.
“can men wear earrings according to Islam now the answer is clearly yes they can we hearings”
Mufti Abu Layth says that men across the ancient world, from Assyria and Egypt to Persia, India and Europe, wore earrings for thousands of years, often as a mark of nobility or soldiery, and that their restriction to women in Europe came from the church.
“the church prohibited men from wearing earrings now so you see the church influenced it starts to say that no these things should be restricted to women”
Mufti Abu Layth says that boys commonly wore earrings in the Prophet's time and among the Salaf, that later Sunni clergy prohibited the practice perhaps under the influence of the Christian church, and that the Shia kept it alive.
“you will see that in the society in which the Prophet lived boy is especially young boys wore earrings and you will see that this trend continues or at least during the time of the selleth”
Mufti Abu Layth says that the Prophet's grandsons Hasan and Husayn had their ears pierced and wore earrings, Husayn wearing two, as Shia traditions through Imam Jafar al-Sadiq and accounts of Karbala relate.
“the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam scranton both of his grandsons Hasan and Husayn radi allahu anhu man had the ears pierced and they both wore earrings”
Mufti Abu Layth says that Imam Malik wore an earring as a young man while studying with Rabi'a, as recorded in his teacher Abd al-Ghani al-Daqr's biography of Malik and in another Maliki source.
“at this time Malik was still bursting with youth he was a young man Maya's a law court Maya's a law court people feel Denis he he still had an earring on in his ear”
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.
“but look at this being a common issue that boys wearing earrings so this ruling”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the objections to men's earrings fail: if piercing is permitted for girls the harm argument cannot forbid it for boys, the imitation-of-women claim ignores thousands of years of men wearing earrings, and men wearing kohl shows that what counts as effeminate is a cultural matter.
“if you can do it for girls then you should be able to do for guys it makes no difference the ruling is the same”
Mufti Abu Layth says he believes Hasan and Husayn wore earrings, that dismissing every Shia report as a lie is prejudice, and that accepting the Khariji narrator Imran ibn Hittan, who praised Ali's killer, in Sahih al-Bukhari while rejecting Imam Jafar's reports is a hypocrisy.
“we can't take from imam ja'far or any of the Shia Imams if it's in a Shia book when they're describing that Hussein used to wear earrings why oh because it's coming from that's just stupid”
Mufti Abu Layth concludes that wearing earrings is permissible for men, with the precedent of Hasan, Husayn, Imam Malik and Sufyan ibn Uyayna, that the later ulama's opposition may reflect the influence of the Christian church or other traditions, and that calling it imitation of women is an arbitrary claim.
“so this is a kind of an overview a holistic overview that yes wearing earrings is permissible for men”
Mufti Abu Layth says many of the great imams of the early period, Imam Malik among them, used to wear earrings.
“many of the Great imams in the early Islamic period especially in Arabia uh the great had the theme like Imam Malik like Sofia like all these people used to wear earrings”
How many of these answers cite each (guest speech left out). Cited means named as evidence or discussed, not necessarily accepted: open the answers to see which.
