Masḥ ʿalā al-Khuffayn: Wiping on Leather Socks

Extract from Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ by ʿAllāmah al-Kāsānī and Tuḥfat al-Fuqahāʾ by ʿAllāmah ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn al-Samarqandī.

The permissibility of masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn

Masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn, wiping over leather socks, is permitted by the majority of scholars and Companions (raḍ. ʿanhum). Imām Mālik holds that it is permitted for a musāfir (traveller) but not for a muqīm (resident).

Ḥasan al-Baṣrī is reported to have said: "I met seventy Companions of the Prophet ﷺ who fought at Badr, all of whom permitted masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn." Many narrations from the Companions concern this practice; Imām al-Karkhī goes so far as to say: "I fear kufr for the one who does not consider masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn valid."

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās is said to have differed from the Companions on the permissibility of masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn, but he later retracted that view. His student ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ reports: "ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās differed from the people on masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn, yet he did not pass away until he had returned to their opinion."

The period of masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn

Is masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn restricted to a fixed period?

The ʿulamāʾ differ over whether masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn is bound to a fixed period. The majority hold that it is one day and night for a muqīm, three days and nights for a musāfir.

Imām Mālik holds that no period applies. The Companions also differed: ʿUmar, ʿAlī, Ibn Masʿūd, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿUmar, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Jābir ibn Samurah, Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī and Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah held that the period is fixed; Abū al-Dardāʾ, Zayd ibn Thābit and others held that it is not.

The Aḥnāf hold that the period is fixed, on the strength of the ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.

When does the period begin?

For those who hold the period to be fixed, three opinions on its starting point are recorded.

The first, held by the majority of ʿulamāʾ, is that the period begins from the moment a person, having put on the khuffayn, first enters the state of ḥadath.

The second is that it begins from the moment of the first masḥ.

The third is that it begins from the moment of putting on the khuffayn.

Practical effect of the differing views

Take a worked example. On the first day, before dawn, a man performs wuḍūʾ, puts on the khuffayn and prays fajr. After sunrise he enters the state of ḥadath. After midday he performs wuḍūʾ with masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn. When does his period of masḥ end?

For the majority, he may continue masḥ until just after sunrise on the second day if he is a muqīm, or on the fourth day if he is a musāfir.

For those who reckon the start at the time of the first masḥ, the same end-points apply: just after sunrise on the second or fourth day.

For those who reckon the start at the time of putting on the khuffayn, the period ends just after the start of dawn on the second day if he is a muqīm, or on the fourth day if he is a musāfir.

The conditions for masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn

The condition for masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn to be valid is that the khuffayn, or what stands in their place, are put on while one is in a state of complete purity.

A man washed his feet, put on the khuffayn, completed his wuḍūʾ, and then entered the state of ḥadath: for the Aḥnāf, masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn is now valid for him. The Shawāfiʿ disagree, holding that it is valid only if he completes the wuḍūʾ and then washes his feet.

There is ijmāʿ that if a man washed his feet and put on the khuffayn, but then entered the state of ḥadath before completing his wuḍūʾ, masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn is not valid.

A second condition is that the person be free of ḥadath akbar (major impurity); masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn is not established in that case.

A further condition is that the khuff cover the ankles and have no large holes.

Masḥ upon jawrabayn (cloth socks)

The ruling on masḥ over jawrabayn falls into three cases.

If the sock is mujallad (made of leather) or munaʿʿal (with leather soles), masḥ is permitted.

If it is not munaʿʿal and is so thin that what is beneath shows through, masḥ is not permitted.

If it is not munaʿʿal but is thick, the matter is disputed: Imām Abū Yūsuf and Imām Muḥammad permit masḥ; Imām Abū Ḥanīfah does not. He is reported to have retracted his view towards the end of his life and adopted the position of his two students.

Imām al-Shāfiʿī does not permit masḥ upon jawrabayn, even if they are munaʿʿal, unless they are leather up to the ankle.

Holes in the khuffayn

If the khuffayn have holes, permissibility of masḥ depends on their size. A small hole does not bar masḥ; a large one does.

The scholars define a large hole as one bigger than the breadth of three fingers. Anything beyond that bars masḥ; anything within it does not.

If there are several holes in one khuff, their sizes are added together; if the total exceeds three fingers, masḥ is not permitted. If the holes are spread between both khuff, the sizes are not pooled, as Imām Muḥammad notes; instead, the three-finger limit applies to each khuff separately.

The masḥ prescribed in sharīʿah is to wipe once over the visible surface of the khuffayn, not over the underside or the heel. Masḥ on the underside, the side, the heel or the shin does not count. So Imām al-Shāfiʿī.

For the Aḥnāf, masḥ is performed on the visible surface using both hands: the right hand for the right foot, the left for the left. One begins at the tips of the toes and moves towards the shins.

The amount of masḥ that is farḍ

The minimum of masḥ that fulfils the farḍ is to wipe with three fingers; wiping with one or two, even over the same area, does not suffice. So the Aḥnāf.

Imām al-Shāfiʿī holds masḥ valid even with one or two fingers, provided the action would naturally be called wiping; this is also his position on masḥ of the head in wuḍūʾ. The Aḥnāf reject this. Imām Zufar disagrees with the Aḥnāf.

The nullifiers of masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn

When the period of masḥ expires (one day and a night for a muqīm, three days and nights for a traveller), masḥ is no longer permitted. At that point a person is either in the state of ḥadath or not. If he is in ḥadath, he must perform wuḍūʾ and then pray. If he is pure at the moment the period expires, he must only wash his feet, not repeat the rest of the wuḍūʾ, before he prays. This is the position of the Aḥnāf and of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar.

Imām al-Shāfiʿī records two opinions: the first matches the Aḥnāf; the second, that the whole wuḍūʾ must be repeated once the khuffayn are removed.

Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī records three: the first agrees with the Aḥnāf; the second with the Shawāfiʿ; the third holds that nothing need be repeated, neither the wuḍūʾ nor the washing of the feet, if the person was already pure when the khuffayn came off. His reasoning is that wuḍūʾ breaks only by ḥadath, and removing the khuffayn is not ḥadath.

Removing one or both khuff likewise nullifies the masḥ, and the feet must be washed at minimum. It is not permitted to wash one foot and do masḥ on the other.

The whole khuff need not come off for masḥ to be nullified: if the majority of the foot or the heel exits the khuff, the ruling is the same as full removal, and masḥ is nullified.