Q600 :In the north eastern part of our
sub-continent, people wear a particular type of clothing in winter
woven from the thread made out of cocoon of a worm called Endi. The
process of obtaining the thread is the same as that of obtaining silk
thread from the silkworm. Unlike silk, Endi cloth is worn by men and
women as winter clothing for all natives, rich and poor. We have been
told that we cannot pray wearing Endi clothes unless the material is
mixed with a large percentage of cotton. Please netment.
A600 : Whoever has given you this ruling is
certainly mistaken. Islam does not forbid the wearing of material woven
with the thread made by any type of worm with the exception of silk
which is forbidden to men only. The analogy with silk on the basis of
how the material is woven or obtained does not hold. This is due to the
fact that when the Prophet wanted to make the ruling concerning silk
clear, he took silk in one hand and gold in the other and said: “These
two are forbidden for the men of any nation, permissible for women.” It
is highly significant that the Prophet started his statement by saying:
“these two”. This means that the ruling applies to those two particular
substances. It cannot be extended to a third substance, because of the
definitive nature of the Prophet’s statement. What we should realize is
that the Prophet was able to express any new thought he wanted to
convey. His words were always precise and his meaning clear. Therefore,
if any substance was to be added to gold and silk with regard to their
permissibility or prohibition, the Prophet would have pointed it out.
He could have said silk and similar materials, or silk and material
that is obtained from similar worms. But he chose to say “these two
substances,” which means that the ruling applies only to them. In the
same vein, there are metals which can be used for jewelry and which
perhaps are more expensive than gold, such as platinum. Wearing a
platinum ring is not forbidden for a Muslim man although it may be more
expensive. [Similarly, white gold is forbidden for Muslim men to wear
because the ruling is for gold, without reference to its color.]
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )