to invoking abrogation, thereby setting aside the hadiths that prohibit it, and he declared:

“When the two camps both advanced the claim of abrogation, we had to examine the chronology in order to prefer one of the two positions and to identify which report abrogates and which is abrogated. The historical record, in fact, supports the view of the majority!”

“There is no doubt,” he continued, “that in the earliest days of Islam the Companions were in dire need of money… The Helpers even divided their wealth in half with the Emigrants. To wear gold rings during that period would have been nothing but ostentation and extravagance. Once time passed, however, and Allah granted His Messenger ﷺ a series of conquests, people began to live in ease, and the Prophet ﷺ therefore permitted the wearing of gold, for the impediment had disappeared!”

I say: My reply to him is threefold. First, he has cited no chronological text that proves the permission came after the prohibition, thereby supporting the majority view. What he has offered is merely the assertion that the permission was granted after material prosperity had set in—so where is the evidence for that?!