A silver ring is permissible for a male, ………

The author’s statement, “A silver ring is permissible for a male”: the author now mentions what is permissible for men and women of gold and silver. This relates to zakah insofar as it concerns jewellery prepared for use; otherwise, its connection to the Book of Dress is more apparent.

That which is permissible is that whose performance and omission are equal; that is, neither reward nor punishment results from doing it or leaving it. The basic ruling of what is permissible is that it remains permissible: if you wish, do it, and if you wish, do not do it. Yet if it becomes a means to something else, it takes that thing’s ruling.

Thus, selling is lawful. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Allah has permitted trade” [al-Baqarah 2:275]. This is the basic ruling. But if you sell after the second call to the Friday prayer, while you are among those upon whom the Friday prayer is obligatory, the sale becomes unlawful, because it is a means to neglecting the prayer. If you sell weapons during a time of civil strife, it becomes unlawful, because it entails assisting in sin. If you sell grapes to someone who will make them into wine, it is unlawful. And if you need water for ablution, purchasing it becomes obligatory.

Thus, if something permissible is a means to what is commanded, it is commanded; and if it is a means to what is prohibited, it is prohibited.

Some scholars of legal theory say that nothing is truly permissible, giving the following reasons:

First: it entails no legal obligation.

Second: it must necessarily have some effect, and the least that can be said is that it wastes time; and wasting time is disliked.

The correct view is that it is one of the categories of legal rulings, due to the saying of Allah, Exalted is He: