We ask you to explain the rulings on wiping over leather socks?
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The questioner : May your eminence, we ask your eminence to explain something about the rulings on wiping over leather socks?
The Shaykh : Yes. Wiping over leather socks is one of the legislations that Islam came with, and it is one of many matters that indicate the ease and simplicity of Islam, and that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, has bestowed upon us, and praise be to Allah.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : With a religion that is made easy.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : A person may need to wear leather socks or stockings, which are called sharab, to protect against cold, dust, or the like, as people’s purposes differ in this regard. Therefore, a dispensation was granted to the servants to wipe over the stockings or knickers and not to burden themselves by removing them and washing their feet. However, there are conditions for wiping over them that are necessary.
The first condition: that they be worn while in a state of ritual purity. If they are worn while not in a state of ritual purity, wiping over them is not permissible. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to al-Mughirah when he reached out to remove his socks, which were the socks of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Sahih al-Bukhari 206 If they are worn while not in a state of ritual purity and one forgets and wipes, it is obligatory for him to renew his ablution, wash his feet anew, and repeat the prayer if he prayed with the ablution in which he wiped over what he had worn while not in a state of ritual purity.
The second condition: that it be for minor ritual impurity, not major ritual impurity. If a man has major ritual impurity and he has stockings on that he wore while in a state of ritual purity, it is obligatory for him to remove them and wash his feet, because major ritual purity, which is the purification for major ritual impurity, is more difficult than the purification for minor ritual impurity. Therefore, it covers the entire body, and there is nothing wiped in it except a cast for dire necessity. And it is obligatory to reach the water in major ritual purity to what is under the hair, even if it is thick. It is more severe and heavier. For this reason, the Sunnah came with the ruling that one does not wipe over stockings or leather socks in major ritual purity. The evidence for this is the hadith of Safwan ibn 'Asal (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered us, when we were traveling, not to remove our leather socks for three days and their nights, except from major ritual impurity, but from defecation, urination, and sleep".
The third condition: that the wiping be within the time period specified by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which is one day and one night for the resident and three days and their nights for the traveler. This period begins from the first time one wipes after the occurrence of ritual impurity, not from the wearing, nor from the occurrence of ritual impurity, but from the wiping in ablution after the occurrence of ritual impurity, until the three days are completed if he is a traveler, or one day and one night if he is a resident.
An example of this: if a person purifies himself for the Fajr prayer and wears them, then he has a state of minor ritual impurity at ten in the morning and does not perform ablution, then he purifies himself at twelve o’clock and wipes, then the beginning of the period is from twelve o’clock, not from Fajr, nor from ten o’clock, but from twelve o’clock, because that is the hour in which the wiping began.
It should be known that if a man wipes while he is a resident and then travels before the completion of the resident’s wiping period, he completes the wiping of a traveler. For example, a man wears his leather socks and then wipes over them for the Zuhr prayer, for instance, and then travels after Zuhr or after 'Asr, he completes the wiping of a traveler. However, if the resident’s wiping period is completed before he travels, he does not build upon the completed period, but it is obligatory for him to wash his feet when he performs ablution. And the reverse is the reverse: if he wipes while he is a traveler and then arrives in the city, his wiping is the wiping of a resident. If a day and a night have passed for him in travel, he must remove them and wash his feet when he performs ablution. If some of the day and night remains, he completes it for one day and one night only.
It should also be known that if the wiping period is completed while he is in a state of ritual purity, his purity does not break, but he remains pure until his purity is broken by one of the known nullifiers. If it happens that a person wipes for the first time at twelve o’clock on Sunday and he is a resident, then he wipes on Monday at eleven thirty, meaning he has half an hour left to complete a day and a night, and then twelve o’clock, one o’clock, and two o’clock pass while he is still in a state of ritual purity, then his purity remains and has not been broken by the end of the period. But if his ablution is broken after the completion of the period, it is obligatory for him to wash his feet when he performs ablution, because the period has been completed.
Thus, wiping over leather socks or stockings is a recommended practice if a person is wearing them, but with three conditions. The first condition: that he wears them while in a state of ritual purity.
The second: that it be for minor ritual impurity, not major.
The third: that it be within the specified period, which is one day and one night for the resident and three days and their nights for the traveler. This period begins from the first time one wipes after the occurrence of ritual impurity. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you, may your eminence. This listener, Samir from Irbid, Jordan, says.
The Shaykh : Yes. Wiping over leather socks is one of the legislations that Islam came with, and it is one of many matters that indicate the ease and simplicity of Islam, and that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, has bestowed upon us, and praise be to Allah.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : With a religion that is made easy.
The questioner : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : A person may need to wear leather socks or stockings, which are called sharab, to protect against cold, dust, or the like, as people’s purposes differ in this regard. Therefore, a dispensation was granted to the servants to wipe over the stockings or knickers and not to burden themselves by removing them and washing their feet. However, there are conditions for wiping over them that are necessary.
The first condition: that they be worn while in a state of ritual purity. If they are worn while not in a state of ritual purity, wiping over them is not permissible. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to al-Mughirah when he reached out to remove his socks, which were the socks of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
He ordered me to leave them as he had put them after performing ablution
دعهما فإني أدخلتهما طاهرتينThe second condition: that it be for minor ritual impurity, not major ritual impurity. If a man has major ritual impurity and he has stockings on that he wore while in a state of ritual purity, it is obligatory for him to remove them and wash his feet, because major ritual purity, which is the purification for major ritual impurity, is more difficult than the purification for minor ritual impurity. Therefore, it covers the entire body, and there is nothing wiped in it except a cast for dire necessity. And it is obligatory to reach the water in major ritual purity to what is under the hair, even if it is thick. It is more severe and heavier. For this reason, the Sunnah came with the ruling that one does not wipe over stockings or leather socks in major ritual purity. The evidence for this is the hadith of Safwan ibn 'Asal (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered us, when we were traveling, not to remove our leather socks for three days and their nights, except from major ritual impurity, but from defecation, urination, and sleep".
The third condition: that the wiping be within the time period specified by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which is one day and one night for the resident and three days and their nights for the traveler. This period begins from the first time one wipes after the occurrence of ritual impurity, not from the wearing, nor from the occurrence of ritual impurity, but from the wiping in ablution after the occurrence of ritual impurity, until the three days are completed if he is a traveler, or one day and one night if he is a resident.
An example of this: if a person purifies himself for the Fajr prayer and wears them, then he has a state of minor ritual impurity at ten in the morning and does not perform ablution, then he purifies himself at twelve o’clock and wipes, then the beginning of the period is from twelve o’clock, not from Fajr, nor from ten o’clock, but from twelve o’clock, because that is the hour in which the wiping began.
It should be known that if a man wipes while he is a resident and then travels before the completion of the resident’s wiping period, he completes the wiping of a traveler. For example, a man wears his leather socks and then wipes over them for the Zuhr prayer, for instance, and then travels after Zuhr or after 'Asr, he completes the wiping of a traveler. However, if the resident’s wiping period is completed before he travels, he does not build upon the completed period, but it is obligatory for him to wash his feet when he performs ablution. And the reverse is the reverse: if he wipes while he is a traveler and then arrives in the city, his wiping is the wiping of a resident. If a day and a night have passed for him in travel, he must remove them and wash his feet when he performs ablution. If some of the day and night remains, he completes it for one day and one night only.
It should also be known that if the wiping period is completed while he is in a state of ritual purity, his purity does not break, but he remains pure until his purity is broken by one of the known nullifiers. If it happens that a person wipes for the first time at twelve o’clock on Sunday and he is a resident, then he wipes on Monday at eleven thirty, meaning he has half an hour left to complete a day and a night, and then twelve o’clock, one o’clock, and two o’clock pass while he is still in a state of ritual purity, then his purity remains and has not been broken by the end of the period. But if his ablution is broken after the completion of the period, it is obligatory for him to wash his feet when he performs ablution, because the period has been completed.
Thus, wiping over leather socks or stockings is a recommended practice if a person is wearing them, but with three conditions. The first condition: that he wears them while in a state of ritual purity.
The second: that it be for minor ritual impurity, not major.
The third: that it be within the specified period, which is one day and one night for the resident and three days and their nights for the traveler. This period begins from the first time one wipes after the occurrence of ritual impurity. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you, may your eminence. This listener, Samir from Irbid, Jordan, says.