Wearing One Leather Sock Before Washing the Other Foot

The disagreement

• Scholars agreed that the condition for wiping over leather socks is that both feet must be in a state of purity from ablution (wudu).
• They disagreed on the permissibility of wiping for one who wears the first sock before washing the other foot. They agreed, however, that if a person removes the first sock after washing the second foot and then puts it back on, wiping is permissible. This disagreement consists of two opinions.

The opinions

1. It is not permissible to wipe for one who wears the sock before washing the other foot:

• Held by: Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad

2. It is permissible to wipe for one who wears the sock before washing the other foot:

• Held by: Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Thawrī, al-Muzanī, al-Ṭabarī

Reason for the disagreement

• Does the purity of the two feet become complete before the washing of both feet is finished?

Evidence

• The Hadith of al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah ﷺ: «...فَإِنِّي أَدْخَلْتُهُمَا وَهُمَا طَاهِرَتَانِ» ("...for I put them [my feet] in while they were both pure") [Agreed upon]. The permissibility of wiping is conditioned upon putting the socks on after the state of purity is complete, whereas this person wore the first sock before completing the state of purity.
• The Hadith of Abi Bakrah ﷺ: "That the Prophet ﷺ allowed the traveler three days and nights... and for the resident one day and night, if he purifies himself then wears his leather socks, to wipe over them." [Narrated by al-Bayhaqī; authenticated by al-Bukhārī and al-Nawawī].

Response

• Wearing the two socks occurred after the completion of purity [once the second foot was washed], so wiping over them is allowed.
• Analogy (al-Qiyas): Analogy to the permissibility of wiping for one who removes the first sock after washing the second foot and then puts it back on (as this case is agreed upon).

The Preponderant View (الراجح)

• The first opinion: (It is not permissible to wipe for one who wears the sock before washing the other foot); because the condition for wiping is the completion of the state of purity

References

Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid (1/47), Badā’iʿ al-Ṣanā’iʿ (1/139), al-ʿInāyah (1/149), al-Tafri' (1/199), al-Ma'unah (1/31), Nihayat al-Matlab (1/291), al-Bayan (1/160), al-Sharh al-Kabir (1/388), al-Mughni (1/361), al-Muhalla (2/100), Sharh Ibn Zāḥim (1/142).