Gold Fever
Above are some photos from the Gold Souq. The area has dozens, probably hundreds, of little shops packed into a couple of city blocks downtown. The items on view are typical. Most of what you see is 22 karat gold. The pieces are sold by weight, and currently the price is 60 rials ($16) per gram. Prices are slightly flexible, but not greatly. You can usually knock about ten percent off, but margins are tight, so much more than that is difficult.
You can get a large necklace, with a matching ring and earrings for less than $500. Chunky bangle bracelets go for a couple of hundred dollars. Small, delicate western style pieces are extremely cheap. Most of the stuff you see here are production pieces mass produced in India or elsewhere. There are some very creative original pieces made locally as well, but these cost more.
Qataris typically own a lot of gold. Men never wear it, it is forbidden in Islam. The idea is that it is excessive and vain... a man should spend his money on his family or give it away in charity if he has extra. Women on the other hand, may wear as much as they like. Jewelry has typically been a wealth of last resort... a stockpile of value that can be sold in hard times or emergencies. That would never work in the west, but here in Qatar scrap values are a reasonably high percentage of the purchase price due to cheap (foreign) labor and low overhead.
You can get a large necklace, with a matching ring and earrings for less than $500. Chunky bangle bracelets go for a couple of hundred dollars. Small, delicate western style pieces are extremely cheap. Most of the stuff you see here are production pieces mass produced in India or elsewhere. There are some very creative original pieces made locally as well, but these cost more.
Qataris typically own a lot of gold. Men never wear it, it is forbidden in Islam. The idea is that it is excessive and vain... a man should spend his money on his family or give it away in charity if he has extra. Women on the other hand, may wear as much as they like. Jewelry has typically been a wealth of last resort... a stockpile of value that can be sold in hard times or emergencies. That would never work in the west, but here in Qatar scrap values are a reasonably high percentage of the purchase price due to cheap (foreign) labor and low overhead.
posted by dervish at Saturday, April 30, 2005
5 Comments:
heaven!
In Islam men are forbidden to wear gold or silk. The reason being is that men shouldn't be extravagant in their appearance and for other reasons, which was later, discovered medically. I don't really know how valid this is yet it has been said that gold actually affect men either through skin irritations or may causes other infections.
> "
Qataris typically own a lot of gold. Men never wear it, it is forbidden in Islam."
there are, apparently, several interpretations of the Qu'ran (so i have been told), none of which say that men can not wear gold.
and what is modest ?
You are correct. The prohibition against gold for men is not in the Qur’an, it is found in the hadith…. A collection of sayings, stories and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. The hadith are the secondary source for Islamic teachings.
I will answer the modesty part first, because the prohibition against gold is related to it. Modesty is a vital part of Islam. The word Islam itself means “surrender”. Muslims are those who practice “surrender” as a way of life, and as a way to God. Surrender is the mechanism by which we approach God. What we surrender is our nafs, or ego.
This includes most of what I consider to be "me". My prejudices, my predispositions, my habits, my anger, my envy, my greed, my fears, my perceived superiority, my sense of what is "right", “my way”, ….my ego. Islam is the process of emptying "me" of myself.
Islam, as it is supposed to be practiced, is the process of intentionally cultivating humility. What fills the void is serenity.
As such modesty is a vital component of Islamic character. Men and women have slightly different psychologies, as such the “rules” so to speak are different for them. Women have a pre-disposition to vanity… vanity is something that can easily undermine their state of “islam”. As such modesty for women is defined largely by her appearance and behaviour. A modest muslima will usually wear a hijab, or head covering, and be cautious about her congress with the opposite gender.
Men on the other hand, are more pre-disposed to self-indulgence. Modesty for them is defined more by frugality, discipline, moderation and so forth. As such women get a free pass with the prohibition against gold (and silk)…it is allowed for them. It is not considered harmful to a woman’s psyche.
We get into certain types of issues with this stuff though. Is it a mortal sin for a man in western Europe to wear a 50 Euro wedding band? Probably not! The prohibition is meant to discourage men from being flashy and spending money on themselves. They are encouraged to think of others first.
Because the prohibition is explicit (in the hadith) observant muslims in fact will NOT wear even the 50 Euro wedding band. I pointed that out simply to show that the spirit of this rule is more important than it’s letter. Too often people will remember the letter of the law and forget it's intention.
Modesty for both genders involves courtesy, restraining anger, being humble, avoiding boastful or loud behavior (kids don’t have to worry about any of this btw…until they are teenagers) avoidance of excess, etc.
Here is an example of a modest man: A certain brother was at a Qur’an study. He had forgotten his reading glasses, yet he was asked to read a certain passage. He in fact knew it by heart, and recited it verbatim, but he continued to look at the open book in front of him, as if he were reading it, not wanting to draw any attention to the fact that he had memorized it.
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