for the traveller, and one day and night for the resident.”
That is, he prescribed wiping over leather socks without qualification. It is well known that many leather socks ordinarily have splits or tears, especially after prolonged use. Many of the Companions were poor and could not afford to replace them.
“When the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked about praying in a single garment, he said, ‘Does every one of you have two garments?’”
Just as their clothes frequently developed splits and tears that required patching, so too did their leather socks. Small splits in garments and leather socks are not ordinarily patched; only large ones are. A man among them would pray in a garment so small that, when they prostrated, their garments would ride up and expose some of their private parts. The women were instructed not to raise their heads until the men had raised theirs, lest they see the men’s private parts because of their narrow waist wrappers. Yet covering one’s nakedness is obligatory both during prayer and outside it, unlike covering the feet with leather socks.
Since the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded wiping over leather socks without qualification, knowing their usual condition, and no condition was stipulated that they be free of defects, his command must be understood without qualification. His words may not be restricted except on the basis of evidence from Islamic law.
His wording entails that people may wipe over any leather socks that they wear and walk in, even if they have splits or tears, without any prescribed limit on their size, for setting such a limit requires evidence. Abū Hanīfah sets the limit at one quarter, as with comparable limits