What is the ruling on one who is harmed by using water on his feet, so he performs tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth), wears leather socks, and then wipes over them?
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The questioner : He says: I am a young man, O honorable Shaykh. I suffer from wounds in my hands and feet, and water reaching the wounds harms them. I performed tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) on the morning of the recent Friday, then I wore leather socks, then I performed wudu' (the ablution for prayer) for the midday prayer as usual and wiped over the leather socks. I did the same for the afternoon, sunset, and night prayers, and for the dawn prayer on Saturday. Is my action correct or not?
The Shaykh : As for the hands, what I understood is that the man uses water on them. As for the feet, the matter is light if he wears leather socks, provided they are time-bound socks for one day and one night, after he has performed a complete wudu' (the ablution for prayer). In that case, he wipes over the top of them, and that is sufficient. When the time limit expires, he removes them and washes his feet. If he wears them so that water does not reach the wounds, then they become a cast (bandage). The leather socks become a cast, so they are not time-bound, and it is not required that he wear them while in a state of ritual purity. He wipes over them in the state of major ritual impurity and in wudu' (the ablution for prayer). However, he must wipe over the entire surface of the feet, both the top and the bottom, because a cast is wiped over in its entirety, unlike leather socks. As for the hands, what we understood from the question is that he is able to wash them. If he says he cannot use water at all, then tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) is the solution, and praise be to Allah, it takes the place of water. This falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted:[An-Nisa 4:43] Yes.
The Shaykh : As for the hands, what I understood is that the man uses water on them. As for the feet, the matter is light if he wears leather socks, provided they are time-bound socks for one day and one night, after he has performed a complete wudu' (the ablution for prayer). In that case, he wipes over the top of them, and that is sufficient. When the time limit expires, he removes them and washes his feet. If he wears them so that water does not reach the wounds, then they become a cast (bandage). The leather socks become a cast, so they are not time-bound, and it is not required that he wear them while in a state of ritual purity. He wipes over them in the state of major ritual impurity and in wudu' (the ablution for prayer). However, he must wipe over the entire surface of the feet, both the top and the bottom, because a cast is wiped over in its entirety, unlike leather socks. As for the hands, what we understood from the question is that he is able to wash them. If he says he cannot use water at all, then tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) is the solution, and praise be to Allah, it takes the place of water. This falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted: