Wearing a medical sock that exposes part of the area of the leg that requires washing
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Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. After that: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from the questioner (via the judge of the General Court in the Al-Wajh province ), and referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Senior Scholars’ Council with number (1506) and date 10/10/1427 AH. The questioner asked a question, the text of which is: I am suffering from varicose veins in the legs, especially in the foot area, which are severely spread around the heel. These varicose veins are veins that are very prominent, such that the vein and its paths are clearly visible, consisting of small veins and even finer ones, and they are blue in color. Sometimes the area where these veins are located swells (this is a disease that affects the veins due to the intense pressure from standing and other causes; the blood flowing in these veins narrows its path, becoming in the form I described to your eminence). After consulting a
medical doctor, they prescribed for me something like a regular sock. This sock is compressive, made of strong rubber, and open at the front, allowing the toes to come out of it so that the pressure is concentrated on the area where these varicose veins are located, which is in the middle of the top of the foot and around the heel area. Of this type, some cover the knee and reach the middle of the thigh, and some reach the middle of the lower leg, which is the one I use. So my question, may Allah preserve you: How is the ablution performed while I am wearing this sock, given that the doctors advised me to wear it for one or two days as needed, and to remove it at night or during rest? And sometimes I do not remove it from my foot for three consecutive days. In addition to that, I find difficulty in wearing and putting it on. Please inform us, may Allah reward you?
A: It is obligatory for the questioner to wash what is exposed of the leg and wipe over the sock covering the rest of it for the duration of his need for it to remain until he removes it; because its ruling is the ruling of a cast on a fracture or wound, based on the hadith of the man with the gash, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Mishkat al-Masabih 531, 532. It was narrated by Abu Dawud , and Ibn Majah . Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Wiping over a cast takes the place of washing the limb itself; because it is wiping over a barrier, so it suffices without a tamim, like wiping
over a leather sock, (Majmu' al-Fatawa 21/176, Sharh al-'Umdah 1/286).
medical doctor, they prescribed for me something like a regular sock. This sock is compressive, made of strong rubber, and open at the front, allowing the toes to come out of it so that the pressure is concentrated on the area where these varicose veins are located, which is in the middle of the top of the foot and around the heel area. Of this type, some cover the knee and reach the middle of the thigh, and some reach the middle of the lower leg, which is the one I use. So my question, may Allah preserve you: How is the ablution performed while I am wearing this sock, given that the doctors advised me to wear it for one or two days as needed, and to remove it at night or during rest? And sometimes I do not remove it from my foot for three consecutive days. In addition to that, I find difficulty in wearing and putting it on. Please inform us, may Allah reward you?
A: It is obligatory for the questioner to wash what is exposed of the leg and wipe over the sock covering the rest of it for the duration of his need for it to remain until he removes it; because its ruling is the ruling of a cast on a fracture or wound, based on the hadith of the man with the gash, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
It would have been enough for him to use earth and tie a rag over the sore, then wipe over it
إنما كان يكفيه أن يعصب على جرحه خرقة ويمسح عليهاover a leather sock, (Majmu' al-Fatawa 21/176, Sharh al-'Umdah 1/286).
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.