This report further establishes that it is lawful to destroy the very object by which a sin is committed. The Messenger ﷺ removed the ring, threw it to the ground, and did not say, for instance, “Pick it up and give it to your family.” The man’s response shows his sound understanding of the law: when people told him, “Take your ring,” he replied, “I will never retrieve something the Prophet ﷺ has discarded.” He realized that the Prophet’s action fell under taʿzīr—disciplinary punishment—meant to obliterate the instrument of disobedience.

Whenever an item becomes the means of a sin or of neglecting a duty, a person may, without blame, destroy it as a form of self-retribution. This is what the Prophet-king Solomon (peace be upon him) did when the fine horses distracted him until the sun had set and he missed the afternoon prayer. He then ordered the horses brought back and struck them, slashing their shanks and necks, as Allah says: “And he set about wiping their legs and necks” (Sad 38:33)—that is, he destroyed them in order to discipline himself and earn Allah’s pleasure.

Accordingly, if someone realizes that part of his wealth is diverting him from obedience to Allah and he wishes to destroy it as an act of self-discipline and chastisement, there is no harm in doing so.

The same hadith also proves that wearing gold exposes a man to punishment by the Fire—may Allah protect us—because the Prophet ﷺ said, “Does one of you deliberately take a live coal from the Fire and place it in his hand?” He likened the gold ring to a burning ember, meaning that it will torment its wearer on the Day of Resurrection. This is a partial punishment, confined to the limb that committed the violation, just as in his statement concerning the man who lets his garment trail below the ankles