is prohibited according to the four imams, for it is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade gold rings, although some Companions wore them because the prohibition had not reached them. Accordingly, Ahmad and others distinguished between a small amount of silk used independently, such as a drawstring—which he prohibited—and a small amount used as an accessory, such as an ornamental stripe, since the exception applies only to the latter kind.

Just as the concession distinguishes between small and substantial amounts, it also distinguishes between something used as an accessory and something used independently. Mu‘āwiyah’s hadith, “except in small pieces,” is understood as referring to gold used as an accessory to something else.

Since small amounts of silver have been permitted in clothing and adornment even when used independently, those who permitted silver as an accessory in vessels, whether in small or substantial amounts, applied the analogy of silk—small amounts of which are permitted to men as an accessory—to silver, small amounts of which were permitted independently in the first place. For this reason, according to one of the two scholarly opinions, which is also one of the two positions reported from Ahmad, silver ornamentation is permitted on belts and similar items of martial clothing, such as helmets, cuirasses, rān, and sword-belts.

Adorning a sword with silver, however, is not subject to this disagreement. Those who disallowed silver as an accessory in vessels said: “The concession applies to clothing, not vessels, and the rules concerning clothing are more accommodating, as explained above.”

It may be said that this is the stronger view, since no transmitted report supports this concession, and the analogy is as you have seen.