What is the ruling on wiping over the sandals?

The questioner : Now, wiping over the sandals, which is completely different from wiping over the leather socks, is it valid?

The Shaykh : Wiping over the sandals is valid absolutely, just as wiping over the leather socks is valid absolutely, and just as wiping over the socks is valid absolutely. And whoever comes with a restriction on this returns to the previous research: it is not permissible to restrict what is absolute, nor to make absolute what is restricted. So when it came from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that wiping over the leather socks is mass-transmitted, it is not permissible to stipulate any condition, such as, for example, that they are not torn. Some people may go on to say, for example, that they must be made from the skin of such-and-such an animal. All of this is contrivance and difficulty. Yes, give me your number, how much? What Allah willed. May Allah make your eyesight clear and make them happy in this world and the Hereafter, if Allah wills. I hope to meet you, if Allah wills. Welcome, welcome, and upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. We said that the hadiths that came regarding wiping over the leather socks, and wiping over the socks, and wiping over the sandals are absolute hadiths, so it is not permissible to restrict them with a restriction based merely on opinion. Were it not that the timing mentioned earlier was authenticated, we would not have been allowed to adopt anything other than the school of Malik, which permits wiping without timing. But since the hadith was authenticated from every angle, as you heard earlier, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) set the time for wiping over the leather socks for the resident at one day and one night, and for the traveler at three days and their nights," it is obligatory to stand by this restriction. As for the other restrictions that come in some books of Islamic jurisprudence, despite the vast and wide disagreement between them, nothing of them is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). Perhaps you have read in some books of Islamic jurisprudence that wiping over the leather socks is permissible on the condition that they are not torn. It was narrated from al-Hasan al-Basri that he said, "Were the socks of the Ansar anything but torn?" And this is what agrees with the ease of Islam, because if a person wants to be restricted by such conditions, he might abandon the Sunnah three times over, and the dispensation would return to the default ruling, and people would do without it because of the restrictions and conditions added to this dispensation. There is no doubt that the dispensation, by the nature of being a dispensation, requires that it be free from every restriction, condition, or description, except what came in the Shari'ah. We, as Allah the Exalted said, And the furthest thing from the opinion of the majority is wiping over the sandals, because they do not cover the place where the washing of the feet is obligatory. But since that was established first from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and then established secondly from some of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and I mean specifically 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), it was established from him that he wiped over the sandals. And when he came to the mosque, he took them off and led the people in prayer as imam. So we understood from here another facilitating ruling, which is that removing the item wiped over does not invalidate the ritual purity, nor does it require repeating the washing of what was wiped over, meaning the washing of the two feet. So this is how we must stand with the texts, whether they are for us or against us, whether they contain ease or strictness. For Allah (Mighty and Majestic) makes us worship Him as He wills, and we do not use our minds at all toward these texts, whether they are absolute or restricted. Yes, and upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Please go ahead... I have finished my speech regarding wiping.