Women may wear such gold and silver as is customary for them to wear, …

His statement, “Women may wear gold and silver,” means that it is lawful. Permission here means lawfulness, and the One who grants this permission is the Lawgiver. The wisdom behind permitting this for women, but not for men, is that women need it for beautification and adornment. Thus, they have been permitted that by which their deficiency is completed. Men, by contrast, have no need for this. It thereby becomes clear that permitting it for women is a mercy to them and to their husbands.

His statement, “such as is customary for them to wear.”

The word “such” is a relative pronoun functioning as the passive subject; that is, whatever they customarily wear, in whatever manner it may be: whether on the head, hand, chest, neck, ear, or foot; and whether it is much or little, provided that it does not exceed what is customary. We stipulated this because whatever exceeds customary practice is extravagance, and extravagance is forbidden, as Allah Most High says:

“Do not be extravagant; indeed, He does not love the extravagant.” [al-A‘raf 7:31]

His statement, “such as is customary for them”: customary practice differs according to countries, times, and circumstances.

As for differences between countries, it may be customary in one country for women to wear a certain type of gold, unlike another country.

As for differences between times, people may have abundant wealth in times of prosperity, so that women wear a great deal of gold; or the reverse may be the case. Thus, what is permissible in the first period may not be permissible in the second.

As for differences in circumstances, one woman may be poor while another is wealthy,