The Response to the Rafidah on Wiping Over the Feet

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, how do we respond to the Rafidah who wipe their feet, citing the verse and saying that the verse did not say "wash" as it did for the face and the right hand?

Answer:
The well-known reading, which is recognized with the fathah, is , so it is conjoined to "or" (a prohibition). And your hands to the elbows. This is the well-known, recognized reading.
As for the reading with the kasrah, , the intended meaning of wiping the feet is washing, because washing is sometimes called wiping. The evidence is the action of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); the action of the Messenger is what explains and clarifies the Qur'an. He explained this by washing his feet (peace and blessings be upon him). The scholars of Arabic say that this kasrah is for proximity only, because since the feet are adjacent to the wiping of the head, the kasrah was applied to them for the sake of proximity, and not to rule on both with a single ruling. This is called proximity, yes, and it is not a case where the ruling is the same for both; the ruling is different. Some scholars, such as Ibn Jarir and others, hold that the reading with the kasrah is based on the condition that there are leather socks on the feet, meaning if there are leather socks on them. They combined the evidences, and this is not far-fetched. I think the Shaykh al-Islam is pointing to this, yes.