Wiping Over the Second Leather Sock

The disagreement

• The majority of jurists agreed on the legality of wiping over the leather sock
• They disagreed regarding the one who wears two socks: is it permissible to wipe over the second [outer] sock? This disagreement consists of two opinions.

The opinions

1. It is permissible to wipe over the second sock:

• Most of them conditioned that the second sock be worn over a state of purity with water
• Held by: Abū Ḥanīfah, Mālik (famous view/mashhur), and Aḥmad.

2. It is not permissible to wipe over the second sock:

• Held by: al-Shāfiʿī (new view/jadid).

The effect Disagreement

• The first view: One who wears two, three, or four socks over a state of purity with water may wipe over them.
• The second view: One who wears two socks must remove the outer one at the time of ablution and wipe over the first [inner] sock.

Reason for the disagreement

• Does the purity of the lower obligatory sock transfer to the upper sock? Just as the state of purity transfers from the foot to the sock when it covers it

Evidence

For the first opinion:

• Because the purity of the lower sock transfers to the purity of the upper sock, just as the purity of the foot transferred to the sock after covering it.
• Because the second sock is a cover that allows for continuous walking in it, so it is more similar to a single sock.

For second opinion:

• Because the purity of the lower sock (no) does not transfer to the purity of the upper sock because of the difference between them.
• The general concession for the first sock is due to the need for wearing it—similar to a splint—while there is no need for wearing the second.

The Preponderant View

• The first opinion: (Permissibility of wiping over the second sock) provided that the second one is worn over a state of purity with water. Its ruling is like the ruling of the first, just as if one wore a thick sock or sewed a sock from several layers and wore it.

References

(Maraji' al-Mas'alah)

Bidāyat al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid (1/47), Fatḥ al-Qadīr (1/157), al-Baḥr al-Rāʾiq (1/313), al-Tafrīʿ (1/200), Mawāhib al-Jalīl (1/466), Nihāyat al-Maṭlab (1/297), al-Bayān (1/161), Kashshāf al-Qināʿ (1/108), al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr (1/412), Sharḥ Ibn Zāḥim (1/143).