because gold is less prone to tarnishing than silver. Thus, when one of the Companions had a silver nose made after his nose had been cut off in one of the battles—the Battle of al-Kulāb in the pre-Islamic period—it developed a foul odor, so the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, instructed him to have a nose made of gold (1), because it does not develop a foul odor.
The basis for stipulating need in the hadith is that the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, only used it due to a need—namely, the break.
His statement, “due to a need”: The scholars said that need is when it serves a purpose other than adornment (2); that is, it should not be used as an adornment. Shaykh al-Islam said: It does not mean that one can find nothing else with which to mend the break; for
(1) He was Arfajah ibn Asad. The hadith was narrated by Ahmad, 5:23; Abu Dawud, Book of Rings, chapter: “What Has Been Reported Regarding Fastening the Teeth with Gold,” no. 4232; al-Nasai, Book of Adornment, chapter: “If Someone’s Nose Is Injured, May He Take a Nose of Gold?” 8:163; and al-Tirmidhi, Book of Clothing, chapter: “What Has Been Reported Regarding Fastening the Teeth with Gold,” no. 1770. It was transmitted by a number of narrators, including Ibn al-Mubarak, Ibn Mahdi, and Yazid ibn Harun, from Abu al-Ashhab, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Tarfah, from his grandfather Arfajah ibn Asad.
Ibn al-Qattan and Ibn Hajar deemed it defective because its chain of transmission differs. Ibn Ulayyah and Ismail ibn Ayyash narrated it from Abu al-Ashhab, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Tarfah, from his father Tarfah, from Arfajah. However, Tarfah ibn Arfajah is unknown. See Bayan al-Wahm wa al-Iham, no. 443; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, 5:11, 7:176.
I say: al-Mizzi and others explicitly stated that the preserved version is the first one, not the second. Thus, the narrations of Ibn Ayyash and Ibn Ulayyah are anomalous (shadhdh) and unpreserved, since they contradict a number of hadith masters. See Tahdhib al-Kamal, 17:192; Ilal al-Tirmidhi al-Kabir, 2:739. Abd al-Rahman ibn Tarfah had seen his grandfather Arfajah. Al-Tirmidhi said: “This is a hasan hadith.”
(2) See al-Insaf, 1:154.