In the Name of Allaah…

On the live radio show, Noor ‘alad-Darb, the great scholar, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen [d.1421] – may Allaah have Mercy on him – was asked about the things that nullify the allowance to wipe over the footwear, other than the legislated time running out (one day for residents and three days for travelers).

He replied:

Removing the footwear is also something that nullifies the (allowance for) wiping over it. When a person takes off the footwear, the allowance to wipe over it ends, no matter when that occurs. However, the state of purity remains (i.e. removing the footwear does not nullify the wudhoo’).

The proof that removing the footwear nullifies (the allowance for) wiping (over it) is the hadeeth of Safwaan ibn [‘Assaal] (1) (who said): “The Messenger of Allaah – may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace – ordered us not to take off our socks…” This shows that removing them negates the allowance to wipe over them. Thus, when a person removes his socks after wiping over them, the allowance to wipe has been nullified, meaning that he may not put them back on and continue wiping over them until he makes another complete wudhoo’ and washes his feet first.

However, his state of purity after removing them remains intact, as tahaarah (purity) is not nullified by the removal of footwear that was wiped over. This is because when someone wipes over (his footwear), his purification has been completed based on legislative evidences. This state of purification is only affected by something proven to negate it by legislative evidence. There is no evidence that supports someone’s wudhoo’ becoming invalid due to the removal of footwear that was wiped over.

Rather, the evidence only proves that (the period of) wiping is nullified (once the footwear is removed), and that one may not wipe over the socks again until he has washed his feet as part of a complete wudhoo’.

Based on this, we hold that the base rule is that the wudhoo’ remains valid, being (a state of purification) proven by evidence, until evidence exists (that it becomes invalid). If there is no evidence to show that the wudhoo’ has been nullified, then it remains completely valid. This is what we hold to be the correct position.