Is silk haraam for women based on this?

Question

I thought that there was a consensus on the permissibility of women being able to wear silk, then how do we reconcile it with this athaar.

حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى عَنْ شُعْبَةَ حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو ذِبْيَانَ سَمِعْتُ عَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ الزُّبَيْرِ يَقُولُ لَا تُلْبِسُوا نِسَاءَكُمْ الْحَرِيرَ فَإِنِّي سَمِعْتُ عُمَرَ يُحَدِّثُ يَقُولُ عَنْ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَنَّهُ قَالَ مَنْ لَبِسَ الْحَرِيرَ فِي الدُّنْيَا لَمْ يَلْبَسْهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ و قَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ الزُّبَيْرِ مِنْ عِنْدِهِ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَلْبَسْهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمْ يَدْخُلْ الْجَنَّةَ قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى [[[{ وَلِبَاسُهُمْ فِيهَا حَرِيرٌ }]]]

"I heard ‘Abdullah bin az-Zubair say: Do not let your women wear silk, for I heard "Umar narrate from the Prophet (ﷺ) that he ﷺ said: "Whoever wears silk in this world will not wear it in the Hereafter." And "Abdullah bin az-Zubair added his own words: And whoever does not wear it in the Hereafter will not enter Paradise. Allah says: “and their garments therein will be of silk" [Fatir 35:33].

Sahih (Darussalam) Musnad ahmed (251) and Sahih Muslim

Was this Abdullah ibn Zubair's own opinion or was it possible that he wasn't aware of the hadiths allowing silk for women?

Answer 1

According to the vast majority of the scholars - including the Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Zahiris and according to my cursory search also the Imamis, Zaydis and Ibadis - silk is permissible for women to wear, based on the ahadith of the Prophet ﷺ such as:

أن أكيدر، دومة أهدى إلى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ثوب حرير فأعطاه عليا فقال ‏"‏ شققه خمرا بين الفواطم

Ukaidir of Dümah gave the Prophet a silken garment, and he gave it to 'Ali and said: "Cut it up to make head covers for the Fatimahs (Fatimah bint Muhammad, Fatimah bint Asad, Fatimah bint Hamzah)"

^{— Muslim}

أنس بن مالك، أنه رأى على أم كلثوم ـ عليها السلام ـ بنت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم برد حرير سيراء‏

Narrated Anas bin Malik: that he had seen Um Kulthum, the daughter of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) , wearing a red silk garment.

^{— Bukhari}

إن الله عز وجل أحل لإناث أمتي الحرير والذهب وحرمه على ذكورها

Allah has permitted silk and gold to the females of my Ummah, and has forbidden them to the males.

^{— Nasai}

However a consensus on it did not always exist in the absolute sense. Rather some of the salaf such as Ibn Zubair and some others are reported to have held the opinion that silk was also makruh or haram for women. It is possible that they were not aware of the above ahadith and instead relied on the apparent meaning of the hadith:

لا يلبس الحرير في الدنيا، إلا لم يلبس في الآخرة منه

There is none who wears silk in this world except that he will wear nothing of it in the Hereafter

As this is general and literally includes both men and women, although it can be argued that this is implicitly specific to men because of the other evidence.

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Ref:

هذا مذهب عبد الله ومن قال بقوله بتحريمه على الرجال والنساء، وحمله له على العموم. وقد انعقد الإجماع بعد من العلماء على جوازه للنساء

^{— Ikmaal al-Mu‘allim bi Fawaa’id Muslim}