He needs to put on special socks before getting out of bed and doing wudoo’; can he wipe over them?
Question I had an operation to treat varicose veins for the second time. I have to wear a special sock that prevents blood from stopping in my leg’s veins, otherwise the disease will return, and it is not easy to have a third operation. I have to wear this sock before leaving bed or my…
Question
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
We ask Allaah to heal you
and grant you well being in this world and in the Hereafter.
Secondly:
If you can put on these
socks before you sleep, when in a state of complete purity, this is good. It
is well known that the non-traveller may wipe over the khufoof (leather
slippers) and the like for one day and one night (24 hours) from the first
time he wipes over the socks after breaking his wudoo’.
If you do wudoo’ and then
put them on before you sleep, and you wipe over them at the time of Fajr, it
is permissible for you to wipe over them until the time of the next Fajr.
This will solve the problem
of putting on the socks when not in a state of purity.
Thirdly:
If you cannot do that, such
as if it will be harmful to wear them whilst sleeping, then there is nothing
wrong with putting them on before getting out of bed, and that will come
under the ruling on plaster casts, because you have no choice but to wear
them and you will be harmed by not doing so., and it is not essential to
have put the plaster cast on when in a state of purity in order to wipe over
it. This is the view of the Hanafis and Maalikis. See al-Mawsoo’ah
al-Fiqhiyyah (15/108).
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may
Allaah have mercy on him) said in Sharh al-Kaafi: Undoubtedly the
correct view is that it is not essential that plaster casts be put on when
in a state of purity, rather when there is a reason to do so, they may be
put on and one may wipe over them. End quote.
But it must be noted that
if we regard these socks as being like plaster casts, in that case one must
wipe over the whole thing, top and bottom, down to the ankles, and it is not
permissible to limit it to the upper surface only, as is the case with
khufoof and socks.
And Allaah knows best.
