Ruling on wearing necklaces for men

What is the ruling on wearing necklaces for men? Please note that this
is not by way of imitating (women); nowadays it has becomequite common
among men, and it is no longer limited to women. Sometimes it is worn
because of necessity. Does this come under the heading of
imitatingwomen?.
Praise be to Allaah.
It is proven that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) forbade men to imitate women and women to imitate men.
It was narrated that Ibn 'Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
cursed men who imitate women and women who imitate men." Narrated by
al-Bukhaari,5885.
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him)
said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) cursed men who wear women's clothing and women who wear
men'sclothing.
Narrated by Abu Dawood, 4098; classed assaheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani
(may Allah have mercy on him).
It says in al-Mawsoo'ah al-Fiqhiyyah, 11/268: There is no difference
of opinion among the fuqaha' that it is haraamfor men to imitate women
in their movements, soft speech, adornments, clothing and other things
that are exclusively theirs according to custom or nature… Ibn Daqeeq
al-'Eid gave as a guideline on what it is haraam to imitate them in as
being whatever is exclusively theirs, whether it is the thing itself
or the way it is made or the fact that it is more commonly made for
women, and the converse is also true. Endquote.
See also the answer to question no. 81994
Secondly:
It does not mean that something is not the kind of imitation that is
haraam if there are people who wear the item concerning which there is
the fear of it being imitation in a certain country or at a certain
time. It is very rare to find none of it at all. Rather what may take
it out of the category of being haraam is if it becomes widespread in
that particular place, and it becomes commonly practised and like a
custom, without anyone objecting to it, to the point that the one who
does it is no longer regarded as odd, and people of dignity and
decency would not refrain from it.
Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said: at-Tabari
said:What is meant is that it isnot permissible for men to imitate
women with regard to the garments and adornments that areonly for
women, or vice versa.
I say: This applies to ways of speaking and walking. As for styles of
clothing, that may vary according to the differences in customs from
one land to another. There may be some people who do notdifferentiate
between the clothing of their women and their men, but the women are
distinguished by observance of hijab and covering.
End quote from Fath al-Baari, 10/332
In the commentary on al-Qawaa'id al-Fiqhiyyahby Shaykh Sa'd ibn Naasir
ash-Shatri it says: Custom (al-'urf) in any country must meet certain
conditions in order for it to be acceptable in sharee'ah. The
conditions for custom are four:
The first condition is thatthe custom should be consistent and widely
practised; it should not be inconsistent because if it is inconsistent
and not widely practised, it isnot called custom. This iswhat they
expressed by saying: What counts is what is widely known and
practised, not that which is rarely practised.End quote.
In al-Mawsoo'ah al-Fiqhiyyah (30/58) it says: What is important with
regard to custom is that it should be consistent or widely practised.
What is meantby consistent is that the custom is ongoing and persists
so that it does not disappear in different situations. What is meant
by widely practised is that it is done a great deal, and isnot done.
That is because consistency and being widely practised proves that the
custom isdefinitively well established and well known. As-Suyooti
said: It is regarded as a custom if it is consistent; if it is not
consistent then it is not regarded as a custom. End quote.
With regard to the necklaces that you askedabout, it is not known
inyour country (Saudi) that this custom is consistent, and it is not
widely practised among men without any objection; rather hardly anyone
does it except effeminate men and their ilk, or those who imitate
women or evildoers. So it is not permissible for you to wear it for
that reason.