—the ḥadith of Ibn ʿUmar and the ḥadith of Anas.

Al-Shawkānī comments in his commentary:
“On the basis of these two reports the author permits praying on a mount that is itself impure and on one that has been soiled with impurity. This argument only holds if one maintains that the donkey is intrinsically impure (najis al-ʿayn). Still, the ḥadith can indeed be cited to allow prayer on something that carries impurity, for a donkey is rarely, if ever, free of being spattered by it.”

The same ḥadith is also evidence for the permissibility of performing voluntary prayers while mounted, an issue on which the authorities agree; it will be examined in its proper place.

He adds under the third point, “Sandals: the Prophet ﷺ prayed in them, and this practice is mass-transmitted from him. Yet one must inspect the sandals before starting the prayer; if he notices any filth, he should rub it off against the ground and then pray in them.”

Know that the Prophet’s praying in sandals is reported by a number of Companions. In our larger work, The Prophet’s Prayer Described, we have documented the sound chains for the reports from Anas ibn Mālik, Abū Hurayrah, ʿĀʾishah, Ibn Masʿūd, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Shikhkhīr, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr, and Aws ibn Abī Aws. Accordingly, Imām al-Ṭaḥāwī declared:
“The reports about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ praying in his sandals are mutawātir.”

He gathered many of those chains. Here we will cite one of them only and refer the rest to our aforementioned book.