and he should not take them off, following the practice of the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions. One whose feet are uncovered must wash them, and he should not put the socks on with the sole intention of being able to wipe over them. The Prophet ﷺ would wash his feet when they were bare and would wipe when he was wearing leather socks. Shaykh al-Islām says in al-Ikhtiyārāt (8)—and then adds (9): “The ablution of a person who has wiped over leather socks or a turban is not invalidated by removing them, nor by the expiry of the allotted period.” Ibn Ḥazm said the same (2/80–84 & 97). Such a person is not required to re-wipe his head or wash his feet. This is also the position of al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī, Ibn Abī Laylā and Dāwūd, as reported in al-Muḥallā (2/94), just as ablution is not nullified by shaving off hair that had been wiped over according to the sound opinion in Aḥmad’s school and the view of the majority. Al-Ṭaḥāwī narrates (1/58) through Shuʿbah, from Salamah ibn Kuhayl, from Ẓubyān, that he saw ʿAlī perform ablution, wipe over his sandals, then enter the mosque, remove his sandals and pray; the chain is exceedingly sound.

9 – Wiping over socks

It is authentically established that the Prophet ﷺ wiped over socks; the ḥadīth is sound, and any objection to it is without merit. After citing the report, Abū Dāwūd said: “It is also narrated from Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī that the Prophet ﷺ wiped over socks, but the chain is neither connected nor strong.” Al-Ṭaḥāwī likewise records it (1/58). Abū Dāwūd further stated: “ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Abū Masʿūd, al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, Anas ibn Mālik, Abū Umāmah, Sahl ibn Saʿd and ʿAmr ibn Ḥurayth all wiped over socks, and the same is related from ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and Ibn ʿAbbās.” Socks thus share the ruling of leather socks regarding wiping, as Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib and others have said, as in