What is the ruling on men using gold-plated metals that are not gold?

The Shaykh : Regarding a bracelet, whatever metal it is, if it is plated with gold, it is naturally not the same as if it were gold. But in this type of jewelry, as the jurists say, there is a fatwa and there is taqwa (mindfulness of Allah). The fatwa is: as long as it is not gold, it is permissible to use it. But taqwa, as came in his saying (peace be upon him): , and this is an authentic hadith. And as came in another hadith whose chain is weak, but its meaning is beautiful and aligns with the hadith before it: . So now, if a man, for example, takes a ring of silver, and this is permissible, but he plates it with gold, when people see him wearing such a ring, what do they say? Is he wearing a gold ring or a silver one?
The student : A gold ring.

The Shaykh : A gold ring, and he will open a door for himself of bad suspicion from people, and here of people’s bad suspicion of him. And there is a report mentioned in some books that is a hadith, but it has no basis in the hadiths traced to the Messenger (peace be upon him) at all. But it is considered a wise saying: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him not stand in places of suspicion." So this man wearing a silver ring plated with gold has placed himself in places of suspicion. People will rebuke him, and he will say, "This is silver, my brother, it is silver," but they will say, "We see it as gold." There will be a discussion between him and objecting people, and there is no doubt that such a discussion is not in his benefit. This is the taqwa: not to do this thing in order to ward off suspicion from himself. But if he did that between him and one person, such as spouses, for example, there is no objection, because he has not adorned himself with a gold ring. So you have known the fatwa, because the original ruling for things is permissibility. And the taqwa is: This is the answer to the question.