and were commanded to pray in our leather socks and sandals and, if there was any filth on them, to wipe them on the ground, as indicated by the evidence already mentioned.

Further evidence is what Abū Dāwūd also narrated from Abū Hurayra: the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“If any of you steps on filth in his sandals, the earth purifies them.”

Another wording states:

“If he steps on filth in his leather socks, the earth purifies them.”

A report conveying the same meaning was also narrated from ‘Ā’isha, may Allah be pleased with her, from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The hadith of ‘Ā’isha has been graded good.

As for the hadith of Abū Hurayra, its second wording was transmitted through Muhammad ibn ‘Ajlān. Al-Bukhārī included his narrations as corroborating reports, and Muslim included them as supporting transmissions. More than one scholar declared him trustworthy. The narrator of the first wording was not named; nevertheless, its multiple routes of transmission, with neither grounds for suspicion nor contradiction of more reliable reports, mean that it too is good.

This is the sounder of the scholars’ two views. Besides being supported by the Sunnah, it is also what sound reasoning requires: since this is a surface that repeatedly comes into contact with impurity, removing the impurity from it with a solid substance suffices. It is comparable to the two bodily outlets, which may be adequately cleansed with stones, as established by mass-transmitted reports in the Sunnah, even when water is available. The Muslims have unanimously agreed that cleansing oneself with stones is permissible.

This is further demonstrated by the fact that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions used to pray