The issue of wiping over the leather socks and wiping over the sandals.

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh : Regarding the issue of wiping over the leather socks, if the ruling is that one wipes over the sandals, and many scholars have differed on this...?

The Shaykh : Yes, many scholars have differed on this, and some agreed. So what was the case? Is there any issue on which the scholars did not differ, except for very few? The disagreement should not cause a Muslim to doubt what is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or from our righteous predecessors, without there being anything in the Book or the Sunnah that contradicts what may have been established from some of the righteous predecessors. Wiping over the sandals has come in many hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and from others among his Companions. The most famous of these hadiths is what Abu Dawud narrated in his Sunan from al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah (may Allah be pleased with him): "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to wipe over the socks and over the sandals." When I mention this hadith, I recall that some of those who stipulate that if we do not cover the feet, it must be a covering for the place that is obligatory to wash from the feet, which is up to the ankles as in the text of the Noble Qur'an, have interpreted this hadith of al-Mughirah by saying: The wiping that occurred on the socks and on the sandals was intended to be wiping over the socks, and the intention was not wiping over the sandals. We say: This hadith can be interpreted in many ways, but when we gather the hadiths narrated from al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah regarding the text, we find them in three categories. The most famous and most authentic of them is what came in the two Sahihs that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he was traveling and performed ablution and was wearing his leather socks, when al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah intended to remove them, he said to him: . This is one type of the wiping that al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
The second type is what I mentioned earlier, that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to wipe over the socks and over the sandals while they were worn. The Messenger (peace be upon him) used to wipe sometimes over the leather socks, sometimes over the socks, and sometimes over the sandals. Wiping over the socks, as it came from al-Mughirah, also came from others. Abu Dawud narrated it from Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and others. Likewise, wiping over the sandals alone, without mentioning wiping over the socks with them, came from the narration of a famous Companion, Aws ibn Aws al-Thaqafi, and this is also in the Sunan of Abu Dawud.
The fourth and final wiping: It also came from al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to wipe over the turban. So, since wiping over the sandals has been established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it is not permissible for us to hesitate in accepting it, because many or few scholars have not held the view that wiping over the sandals is permissible, as I mentioned earlier. And I say: If we did not have except the report that Imam Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi extracted in his famous book Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar, and Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi in his book known as al-Sunan al-Kubra, they extracted with their authentic chains from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): "That he performed ablution and wiped over his sandals, then he went to the mosque and removed them and led the people in prayer as imam." This is Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), one of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and one of the Ten Promised Paradise, doing what you heard is reported in those hadiths of wiping over the sandals. After all this, how is it permissible for a Muslim to hesitate in accepting this dispensation? And such hesitation in accepting this dispensation is like the hesitation of many in accepting the dispensation of wiping over the socks; and that is by stipulating conditions that did not come in the Sunnah, let alone the Book, such as their saying: It must be thick, it must stay on the legs by itself, one must be able to walk on them—meaning on the socks—for such and such a distance. All these are conjectures; nothing of them came from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or from the righteous predecessors. Rather, more than one person among the people of hadith narrated from al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: "The socks of the Muhajireen and Ansar were nothing but tattered," indicating thereby the rejection of the condition that they not be tattered, because water passes through this tear. All this is complicating a dispensation that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) undoubtedly granted by revelation from his Lord, and in implementation of His saying (Mighty and Majestic): . If the hadith is authentic and is also confirmed by the practice of some of the righteous predecessors, especially if it is from the Ten Promised Paradise, and even from the Rightly Guided Caliphs, then there will remain no room for hesitation in accepting this dispensation. It came from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) his saying: and in another narration: . The Muslim should maintain that he takes the dispensation in what the Lawgiver has granted a dispensation in, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) loves that from His servant (Blessed and Exalted is He).
This is the answer to the last question.