19- Zur ibn Hubaysh related: I came to Safwān ibn ʿAssāl — may Allah be pleased with him — to ask him about wiping over the khuffayn (leather socks). He said, “What has brought you, O Zur?” I replied, “The pursuit of knowledge.” He answered, “The angels lower their wings for the seeker of knowledge, pleased with what he seeks.”

I then said, “A question has troubled my heart about wiping over the leather socks after defecation and urination. As you were one of the Prophet’s Companions, I have come to ask you: did you hear him mention anything on the matter?” He said, “Yes. When we were on a journey — when we were travelers — he would order us not to remove our leather socks for three days and nights except in the case of janābah (major ritual impurity). As for defecation, urination, or sleep, we could still wipe over them.”

I asked, “Did you hear him mention anything about love?” He replied, “Yes. We were once with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, when a Bedouin called to him. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, answered him in a voice like his own, saying, ‘Hā’um’ (Here I am). I said to the Bedouin, ‘Woe to you, lower your voice!’ The Bedouin went on, ‘A man loves a people but has not yet caught up with them in deeds?’ The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘A person will be with those he loves on the Day of Resurrection.’”

Safwān continued to exhort us until he mentioned a gate in the west — Sufyān, one of the narrators, said: “toward Syria” — which Allah, exalted is He, created on the day He created the heavens and the earth. It has remained open for repentance and will not be closed until the sun rises from that direction.

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī and others; he graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.)