6- WIPING FOOTGEAR
WIPING FOOTGEAR
(Wiping one’s footgear (Ar. khuff) with wet hands is a dispensation that can take the place of the fifth ablution integral of washing the feet. The footgear Muslims generally use for this are ankle-high leather socks that zip up and are worn inside the shoes.)
Wiping footgear is permissible for 72 hours (lit. “Three days and nights”) to a traveller on a lawful trip (one not undertaken for purposes of disobeying Allah) that fulfills the conditions permitting one to shorten prayers on journeys.
Wiping them is permissible to a non-traveller for 24 hours (lit. “a day and a nigh!”). (At the end of these periods, one removes the footgear to perform ablution, or, if one has ablution at the time, to wash the feet, before putting them on again and starting a new period of permissibility.
The beginning of the period is reckoned from the time of the first minor ritual impurity (hadath) that occurs after having put them on while in a state of ablution.
Wiping footgear is permissible for only 24 hours:
1.When one has wiped both of a pair of footgear for ablution or just one of the pair (leaving the other for later) when not on a trip, and then begun travelling
2.Or (when one has wiped both of a pair of foot gear or just one) when on the trip and then finished travelling
3.Or when one is in doubt as to whether one first wiped one’s footgear for ablution while travelling or whether it was while not travelling.
Wiping footgear is permissible for 72 hours if one’s ablution is nullified when not travelling and one then lifts that state of minor ritual impurity by wiping them for the ablution while travelling.
When one doubts as to whether or not the permissible period for wiping them has expired, then one may not wipe them while the doubt exists. (Because dispensations cannot be taken unless one is certain (of their necessary conditions).) If one has doubts (when near the end of the permissible period for wiping them, for example, and uncertain exactly when it began) about whether one nullified one’s ablution at the time of the noon prayer, or whether it was at the time of the mid-afternoon prayer, then one proceeds on the assumption that it was at the time of the noon prayer.
If a state of major ritual impurity (janaba) occurs during the permissible period for wiping footgear, then one must take them off for the purificatory bath (ghusl).
The conditions for the permissibility of wiping footgear are:
a)That one have full ablution when one first puts them on;
b)That they be free of filth;
c)That they cover the whole foot up to and including the anklebones;
d)That they prevent water (if dripped on them drop by drop from directly) reaching the foot (if water reaches the foot through the holes of a seam’s stitches, it does not affect the validity of wiping them, though if water can reach the foot through any other place, it violates this condition)
e)And that they be durable enough to keep walking around upon as travellers do in attending to their needs (when encamping, departing, etc.)
no matter whether they are of leather, felt, layers of rags (including thick, heavy wool socks that prevent water from reaching the foot (not modern dress socks (due to non-Cd) and (e) above), which are not valid to wipe in any school, even if many are worn in layers)), wood, or other; nor whether they have a cleavage laced up with eyelets (provided none of the foot shows).
One may not wipe footgear if wearing just one of a pair, washing the other foot. Nor if any of the foot shows through a hole in them.
It is sunnah to wipe the footgear on the top. Bottom, and heel in lines (as if combing something with the fingers), without covering every part of them or wiping them more than once.
One puts the left hand under the heel and the right hand on top of the foot at the toes, drawing the right hand back towards the shin while drawing the left along the bottom of the foot in the opposite direction towards the toes.
It is sufficient as wiping the foot gear to wipe any part of their upper surface (with wet hands), from the top of the foot up to the level of the anklebones. It is not sufficient to only wipe some of the bottom, heel, side of the foot, or some of the footgear’s inner surface that faces the skin.
When on an ablution that was performed by wiping the footgear, and then some part of the foot shows because of taking them off, or through a hole, it’s sufficient (to complete one’s ablution) to merely wash the feet again (without repeating the ablution).
(Source: The reliance of the traveller, revised edition, Edited and Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller)
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