Letters to the Editor

Sameer Ahmed, via email

There are several questions that trouble me and for which I have not got a satisfactory answer. I hope you will be able to answer them.

Why is gold and silk prohibited for men in Islam?

YMD

When we read the first line of your letter, which speaks of a troubled mind, we anticipated questions of a different sort. We thought you will ask some soul-touching questions such as, for example, “Seeing that the TV-serials are the most corrupting influence upon Muslims, one is forced to ask how some Muslim scholars could allow watching the TV.” Or, as a young man, who is supposed to be acutely conscious of economic disparities, you could be wondering, “Why Islam has not made every saving above the basic needs, totally prohibited, (as Abu Dharr thought), so that thousands around us, who are in acute want, could be provided one square meal a day.” Or, as a child of nature, and aware of how sexual morality largely depends on women’s social behavior, you could be wondering, “Why should there not be martial law against women going about in full make-up and perfume.” But instead, you have asked about gold and silk for men!

In any case, you are right. Why should men be allowed to wear gold and silk? What would be the point, seeing that many of the modern males are quite similar to females in looks and behavior, without wearing golden bangles on their wrists and sliver anklets (with little jingling-jangling bells) around their ankles?

In addition to your own logic, we could add the following. Islam has allowed some evil to humankind in view of greater profit ensuing therefrom. Women wearing gold and silken clothes is an evil since gold is thus locked away from areas of economic activity, and silk production engages larger number of people than cotton production does. But the greater hidden benefit is that of the propagation and multiplication of humankind. Women wear attractive clothes and jewelry, whose only function is to beautify them, of which the only function is attraction of males, ending up with the final objective: human proliferation. If not for this benefit, surely wearing of gold and silk could have been prohibited for women as well.

Could the battering of the Y-Chromosome (as a modern biological study suggests), reduction of its power to influence, and a sharp drop in sperm count (a fall out of Western outfit habits) be the direct cause of appearance of rings on the ears of Western males? Way back several decades ago, but quite ahead of his time, Nirad C. Chaudhry had also speculated whether genetic changes could be the cause of feminism among males, (first appearing in the West, and now spreading among its mindless imitators in the East).

Is breeding a pet dog at home prohibited in Islam? If yes, why?

YMD

We are not sure whether you mean “keeping” by saying “breeding” or you literally mean breeding.

If it is breeding you meant to ask, then it is allowed, since dogs serve other functions besides being adopted as pets. In the civilized parts of the world, for instance, they are extremely essential to keep away stealthy night-visitors.

As for keeping them as pets, this is disallowed. Islam desires that you replace the dog as a pet, with a human as a guest. You feed the guest, educate him, teach him Islam, and when of age, marry him (or her) off, and help settle in life.

A noble religion offers noble enterprises. A dog-culture offers doggish pursuits.

Is it wrong to stretch the legs towards the Ka’bah while sleeping?

YMD

No.

What is the Islamic ruling on astrology, palmistry and numerology?

YMD

Have you not yet known that Islam has banned all kinds of deceitful vocations, professions and occupations? The Prophet has said, “He who deceived us, is not of us.”

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