Is it permissible to wipe over sandals and shoes?
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The questioner : The questioner says, "May the Shaykh know, it is established in a sound report from 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) that he performed wudu' and wiped over his sandals, then he went to the mosque and removed them, then he entered the mosque and prayed. The question is: Is wiping over sandals permissible, and is wiping over shoes permissible?"
The Shaykh : Over what?
The questioner : Over shoes.
The Shaykh : This is a point of disagreement among scholars regarding whether one wipes over sandals or not. Some said: He does not wipe over them, because wiping was only reported regarding socks and leather socks, and the original ruling is to wash the feet unless there is sound evidence. He considered wiping over sandals to be weak.
Some understood that there were socks under the sandals, so the wiping was apparently over the sandals but in reality over the socks. Some said: The foot has three states: being exposed, being covered by socks or leather socks, and being covered by sandals. If it is exposed, its obligation is washing; if it is covered by socks or leather socks, its obligation is wiping; and if it is covered by sandals, its obligation is sprinkling water, which is sometimes called wiping. This is what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) chose. However, the precaution without a doubt is not to wipe and not to sprinkle, because removing the sandals is easy and does not involve hardship, so let him remove them and wash the feet.
The Shaykh : Over what?
The questioner : Over shoes.
The Shaykh : This is a point of disagreement among scholars regarding whether one wipes over sandals or not. Some said: He does not wipe over them, because wiping was only reported regarding socks and leather socks, and the original ruling is to wash the feet unless there is sound evidence. He considered wiping over sandals to be weak.
Some understood that there were socks under the sandals, so the wiping was apparently over the sandals but in reality over the socks. Some said: The foot has three states: being exposed, being covered by socks or leather socks, and being covered by sandals. If it is exposed, its obligation is washing; if it is covered by socks or leather socks, its obligation is wiping; and if it is covered by sandals, its obligation is sprinkling water, which is sometimes called wiping. This is what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) chose. However, the precaution without a doubt is not to wipe and not to sprinkle, because removing the sandals is easy and does not involve hardship, so let him remove them and wash the feet.