and he prostrated on it to protect himself from the ground’s heat and harm. The hadith concerning the khumra is authentic. As for making it large enough to pray on, to protect oneself from impurities and the like, neither the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, nor his Companions used a prayer mat for this purpose. Rather, they prayed both barefoot and wearing sandals, and they prayed directly on earth, woven mats, and other surfaces, without any intervening covering.

It is established in the two Sahīh collections that:

“He used to pray wearing his sandals.”

He also said:

“The Jews do not pray wearing their sandals, so differ from them.”

Once, he prayed wearing his sandals, and his Companions were also wearing theirs. He removed his sandals during the prayer, so they removed theirs. He asked, “Why did you remove your sandals?”

They replied, “We saw you remove yours, so we removed ours.”

He said, “Gabriel came to me and told me that there was filth on them. When any of you comes to the mosque, let him inspect his sandals. If there is filth on them, let him rub them against the earth, for the earth purifies them.”

If the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions prayed wearing their sandals without removing them, but instead walked on the ground in them and prayed in them, how could anyone suppose that he would use a prayer mat, spreading it over a woven mat or another surface and then praying on it? None of the Companions used to do this. It is reported from Mālik that when one of the scholars arrived and spread something of this kind in the Prophet’s mosque, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he ordered that he be imprisoned, saying, “Did you not know that this is an innovation in our mosque?”

Allah knows best.