Chapter: Wiping over the Khuffayn (leather socks)
This chapter presents some of the proofs for the lawfulness of wiping over the khuffayn, for wiping replaces washing the feet. It is a form of ritual purification unanimously recognized by the accredited scholars of Islam because of the numerous clear, sound, and consecutive texts that establish it—praise be to Allah.
The dissent of a few sects that reject its legitimacy and the hadiths supporting it carries no weight, for their stance contradicts explicit, mutawātir evidence. Wiping over the khuffayn is one of the concessions Allah loves His servants to avail themselves of and part of the ease built into this gracious Sharīʿah.
Hadith 1
Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah reported: “I was with the Prophet ﷺ on a journey and reached out to remove his khuffayn, but he said, ‘Leave them, for I put them on while I was in a state of purity.’ He then wiped over them.”
Unfamiliar terms
- “fa-ahwaytu li-anziʿa” – I stretched out my hands to take them off his feet so that they could be washed.
Overall meaning
Al-Mughīrah accompanied the Prophet ﷺ on one of his journeys. When the Prophet began his ablution—washing his face and arms and wiping his head—al-Mughīrah reached for the Prophet’s khuffayn to remove them so that he could wash the Prophet’s feet. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Leave them; do not take them off, for I put my feet into them while I was in a state of ritual purity,” and he wiped over his khuffayn instead of washing his feet.
Scholarly disagreement
The Shīʿah diverged by denying the permissibility of wiping over the khuffayn, and the same has also been attributed to Mālik and to some Companions. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah affirmed that the report of their denial is weak. Regarding Mālik, the sound narration from him supports wiping, and his later followers unanimously deemed it permissible. Thus, it is the Shīʿah alone who opposed the consensus, relying on the genitive recitation of the verse “and your feet” (wa-arjulikum), which they consider to have abrogated the hadiths on this issue.