Some of the brothers insist on praying in their slippers inside the mosque and on the carpet; what is your opinion? And what is the ruling of the Sunnah regarding this?

The questioner : Some of the brothers insist on praying in their slippers inside the mosque and on the carpet; what is your opinion? And what is the ruling of the Sunnah in this matter? And if it is repeated, but like...?

The Shaykh : But what is the word "carpet"?

The questioner : The "zal" which is... the "zal".

The Shaykh : The "zal", the word "carpet". This "zal" reminds me of a clarification that is necessary, and it is not a repetition. I have discussed this issue with some of our brothers, the people of hadith in Makkah, recently. He is enthusiastic, like our other brothers, about entering these carpeted mosques in his slippers and praying in them, holding fast to the Sunnah. So I said to him: First, is it not possible for you to apply this Sunnah outside these mosques, or in other mosques, in other mosques carpeted with sand and gravel? He said: Yes. I said: That is one point. The second: Do you not know that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) has two Sunnahs in this matter? Sometimes he prays barefoot, and sometimes he prays wearing slippers? So if you pray in this mosque, for example, barefoot, you have not contradicted the Sunnah; rather, you are moving from one Sunnah to another. If the Messenger (peace be upon him) had prayed his entire life wearing slippers, it might have been possible for these people to have an excuse for this stubbornness in praying in slippers in carpeted mosques. But since they know that the Sunnah here is in two forms: that he (peace be upon him) sometimes prays wearing slippers, and sometimes prays barefoot, if you pray barefoot in these mosques, and you avoid causing problems and fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) between the hearts of the Muslims, you have not contradicted the Sunnah of the Master of the Messengers. Rather, you are in the Sunnah when you pray in the mosque barefoot, as long as you have not turned away from another Sunnah, which is the Sunnah of praying in slippers. This is the second point.
And the third matter—and it is actually the most important—is that Muslims are exposed to rulings, Muslims are exposed to matters, these matters require new rulings that cannot be handled with the same previous treatment... I want to say: The mosque of the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) was carpeted with sand, so this ruling came regarding praying in slippers, even in the mosque, as is known to everyone. And another ruling came, and I thought that our brothers who are concerned with praying in slippers in these mosques know it, but they are unaware of it. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . I say to them now: It was the custom of the Companions, based on this hadith, that if one of them was praying and saliva overcame him, he would spit to his left under his left foot, and then bury it in the sand. This is how they did it, and this is what the hadith of the Messenger says. So we say to these brothers: Do you do this? If one of you is praying in the mosque of the Messenger and saliva comes to him, does he spit in implementation of some of the hadiths in "Sahih al-Bukhari" and "Sahih Muslim"? . I say to them: Do you implement this Prophetic command? Perhaps they will say: The command here indicates obligation, as they say in other cases; whether they say it indicates obligation or less than that; do you implement it in such carpeted mosques?
My good opinion of them compels me to say: They do not say that. Good opinion carries me to say: They do not say that; because this is rigidity, and those known for rigidity to the apparent text are ashamed to say something like this apparent text. That he is praying in the Prophet's Mosque, for example, or any mosque, even like this one, and saliva comes to him, so he implements the command of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and spits on the carpet. But the hadith says: . And here it is not possible to spit; so this hadith is not... We say: Just as this ruling in this hadith has changed, because if we applied it literally, we would defile and dirty the carpet, and we would not have made it ritually impure; because the saliva of a Muslim, specifically, is not ritually impure, but it is dirty...