Wiping Over Thin Socks That Reveal the Skin
Fatwa No: 533251

Question

I only recently realized some of the socks I wiped over in the past were see through, do I make up those prayers now? Answer according to the Hanbali madhab please

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad () is His slave and Messenger.

Wiping over thin socks that reveal the skin is not permissible. Ibn Qudāmah stated in Al-Sharḥ Al-Kabīr: "If the sock is thin and reveals the foot, wiping over it is not permitted, for it does not cover the place of obligation –  that is, the foot." [End quote]

Thus, if you performed ablution in this manner and prayed with it, your prayer is invalid. It is therefore obligatory to make up all prayers performed with such a incomplete ablution – even if you were unaware that it constituted a nullification of purity. This is because ignorance does not serve as a valid excuse in matters concerning the invalidation of ritual purity.

Al-Bahūtī stated in Kashshāf Al-Qināʿ: "…even if the one who omitted the condition did so out of forgetfulness or ignorance." [End quote]

Allāh Knows best

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