55 – Safwān ibn ʿAssāl (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “When we were travelling, the Prophet ﷺ would instruct us not to remove our leather socks for three days and their nights, except after janābah (major ritual impurity). As for defecation, urination, or sleep, we could keep them on.” Narrated by al-Nasā’ī, al-Tirmidhī—this is his wording—and by Ibn Khuzaymah, and the latter two declared it authentic.⦗1⦘

Degree of authenticity
The ḥadith is ṣaḥīḥ. It was graded sound by al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Ḥibbān, and al-Ṭaḥāwī. Al-Tirmidhī also quoted al-Bukhārī as saying, “It is a ḥasan ḥadith; regarding the time-limit, nothing is more authentic than it.” Al-Nawawī stated that it is transmitted through reliable chains.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī said in al-Muḥarrar: it was recorded by Aḥmad (17625), al-Nasā’ī, Ibn Mājah (478), and by Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Ḥibbān (4/149).

Vocabulary
– safaran: with an open sīn, a silent fā’, ending with a rā’; originally a verbal noun, later used collectively for “travellers”, as rākkib/rekb and ṣāḥib/ṣaḥb. The singular is musāfir and the plural musāfirūn.
– nanzaʿ: from the verb nazaʿa – yanziʿu – nazaʿan (“to pull out, remove”).
– khifāf: plural of khuff; a khuff is a thin leather covering worn on the foot.
– janābah: major ritual impurity; discussed earlier and in greater detail in the chapter on ghusl, Allah-willing.
– ghā’iṭ: originally meant a broad, low-lying spot of land; the word came to be used euphemistically for excrement.
– bawl: urine; a fluid produced by the kidneys, stored in the bladder and expelled through its passage. The plural is abwāl; it has been explained previously.
– nawm: a period of inactivity accompanied by diminished awareness and sensation; in it the