al-Muḥallā (2/86): they therefore take the same ruling. It is not a condition that the soles be leather-lined, nor that the socks stay up on their own. For this reason Aḥmad stated that it is permissible to wipe over socks even if they cannot remain firm unaided; if they are held in place by sandals, wiping over them is valid, as Shaykh al-Islām relates in al-Fatāwā (1/262). On this basis, wiping over thin socks is also allowed when they are tightened with an elastic band, as is common today. Ibn Ḥazm (2/81) openly permits this, even if the socks are silk, but only for women.

It is likewise established that the Prophet ﷺ wiped over sandals. Abū Dāwūd transmitted this from the report of al-Mughīrah. Aḥmad (4/9–10) then recorded it from Aws ibn Abī Aws, and al-Ṭabarānī in al-Kabīr, both through Ḥammād ibn Salamah and Shurayk, from Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, from Aws ibn Abī Aws, who said:

“I saw my father perform ablution one day and wipe over his sandals. I asked, ‘Do you wipe over them?’ He replied, ‘That is how I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ do.’”

This chain is sound.

Abū Dāwūd also narrated it by way of Hushaym, from Yaʿlā ibn ʿAṭāʾ, from his father: Aws ibn Abī Aws al-Thaqafī told me that he saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ come to a people’s water-hole, whereupon he performed ablution and wiped over his sandals and his feet.

This version differs from the first in both chain and wording.