(Note) When discussing this hadith, the author—may Allah Most High preserve him—cited it as evidence that wearing an iron ring is permissible. Before doing so, he said:

“As for other metals, such as iron and the like, no authentic text has been reported prohibiting them. Rather, it is reported in Sahīh al-Bukhārī...” (He then cited the hadith and said:) “Al-Bukhārī used it as evidence that an iron ring is lawful.”

I say: There are two observations concerning this:

First, al-Hāfiz Ibn Hajar rejected the aforementioned inference in al-Fath, saying:

“There is no proof in it, for the permissibility of acquiring a ring does not necessarily entail the permissibility of wearing it. It may be that he merely intended for the man to obtain one so that the woman could benefit from its value.”

Second, the prohibition of an iron ring has indeed been authentically reported. Al-Bukhārī narrated in al-Adab al-Mufrad (no. 1021), as did Ahmad, from ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb, from his father, from his grandfather:

“A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wearing a gold ring on his hand, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned away from him. When the man saw his disapproval, he went away, discarded the ring, put on an iron ring, and returned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He said, ‘This is worse! This is the adornment of the people of the Fire.’ The man went back, discarded it, and put on a silver ring, whereupon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said nothing to him about it.”

I say: This is a good chain of transmission, the like of which is accepted as proof by Imam al-Bukhārī outside his Sahīh, Imam Ahmad, Ibn Rāhawayh, al-Tirmidhī, and others. Indeed, a great many legal rulings rest upon chains of this caliber, as the eminent scholar Ibn al-Qayyim established in I‘lām al-Muwaqqi‘īn. How much stronger is the case when the hadith has another chain and corroborating reports, which I cited in Ādāb al-Zifāf (p. 134)! The hadith is therefore unquestionably authentic. Accordingly, a number of leading jurists acted upon it. Ishāq ibn Mansūr al-Marwazī said in his Masā’il ‘an Ahmad wa Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh (p. 224): “A ring made of