Hadith Twelve
Abū Maslama—Saʿīd ibn Yazīd—said: I asked Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him), “Did the Prophet ﷺ pray wearing his sandals?” He replied, “Yes.”
Overall meaning
Saʿīd ibn Yazīd asked Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) whether the Prophet ﷺ used to pray in his sandals, hoping to emulate him. Anas answered, “Yes—he would pray in his sandals,” thereby affirming that this is part of the Prophet’s purified sunnah.
Points derived from the hadith
- It is recommended to perform the prayer while wearing sandals, for this was the practice of the Prophet ﷺ.
- Entering the mosque in them is permissible once they have been cleaned of dirt and impurity.
- A mere likelihood that they might be soiled does not override the basic presumption of their ritual purity.
Benefit
Today, praying in sandals and entering the mosque with them has become a point of contention, yet the Prophet’s sunnah is explicit—not only permitting but recommending it, and urging that it be maintained.
He ﷺ said, in the report recorded by Abū Dāwūd from Shaddād ibn Aws: “Be different from the Jews, for they do not pray in their sandals or their leather socks.”
He ﷺ also said, in another narration collected by Abū Dāwūd from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī: “When one of you comes to the mosque, let him look; if he sees filth or dirt on his sandal, let him wipe it off and then pray in the pair.” Many other sound and explicit texts confirm that praying in sandals is legitimate once they have been cleansed of any impurity or grime.
As for the general public and certain overzealous students of knowledge, they argue against this and regard the revival of this sunnah as a major offense that must not be tolerated. When these proofs are presented to them they retort, “That was for another place and another time,” as though the law brought by Muhammad ﷺ had later been annulled or altered. They fail to realize that it is Allah’s law until Allah inherits the earth and all who dwell upon it.