anything that eases the body is a good thing. So, if a person feels hot and wishes to undo the top button of his shirt—and perhaps the one below it—there is no objection; in that circumstance it is in fact in accordance with the Sunnah. If, however, he were to leave the buttons open without any need, that would not count as Sunnah, for were it truly Sunnah the very act of sewing buttons on garments would be meaningless, and nothing in Islam is meaningless—the whole religion is earnest and purposeful.

Among the benefits of this ḥadīth is that there is no harm in shielding oneself from whatever may hurt him, whether heat or cold, just as the Prophet ﷺ did. Indeed, it is better for a person to ward off what harms him, for this is part of giving due care to one’s own self. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) even said: “Food—if you fear it will harm you—becomes unlawful for you.” In other words, the very nourishment that sustains you, if you think it will harm you—either because of its quantity or because you have eaten recently and fear that more food will injure you—then eating it is forbidden and you incur sin by doing so, for a person must protect himself with full diligence.

Another benefit derived from the ḥadīth is that it is not permissible to wipe over any covering other than the leather socks (khuffayn) or the turban. Thus, if someone is wearing a garment whose sleeves are so tight that the hand cannot easily emerge and he says, “I will wipe over this sleeve just as I wipe over the leather socks,” we reply: This is not allowed. You must bring the hand out so that it can be washed— even if, hypothetically, the hand could not be brought out without splitting the sleeve, then the sleeve must be opened so that the person can fulfil what