Is it prescribed to turn a shoe over and put it the right way up if the sole is facing the sky?
Question Is there any basis in sharee‘ah for turning over upside-down shoes? I am seeking reward from Allah when I do that Because people say “I am turning this shoe away from the Countenance of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.” This is something that I have had the habit of doing since I…
Question
I am seeking reward from Allah when I do that
Because people say “I am turning this shoe away from the Countenance of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.”
This is something that I have had the habit of doing since I was small.
Praise be to Allah.
There is no such basis in sharee‘ah for turning over a shoe
that is upside down. Ibn ‘Aqeel al-Hanbali (may Allah have mercy on him)
regarded going to extremes in that regard as the one of the actions of the
ignorant. He (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Woe to the scholar who does not strive his utmost against the
ignorant …One of them swears by the Mushaf for the sake of a grain, and he
strikes with the sword whomever he meets on the basis of tribal feelings.
And they threaten the one who they see placing a loaf of
bread facedown or leaving an upside-down shoe with its sole pointed towards
the sky. End quote.
Al-Adaab al-Shar‘iyyah,
1/268-269
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was
asked:
There are some people who say that if a shoe is placed upside
down, the angels will not enter that house or Allah will not look at that
house. What you say about this matter?
He replied:
We say: That is not correct and I do not know of there being
anything wrong with a shoe being upside down. But this is a very serious
matter for some people. It may be very serious for some people but there is
no basis for it. End quote.
Noor ‘ala al-Darb, 13/65
There is nothing wrong with changing the position of the shoe
because the sole is usually dirty, so it is not good manners to leave it
(the sole) uppermost where people can see it.
The Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas was asked:
Some old people say that it is not permissible to leave a
shoe upside down because it is facing towards the Face of Allah. Is this
true?
They replied:
If a shoe is left upside down, that is off-putting and
disliked, because its sole is usually in contact with the ground and the one
who wears the shoe steps on the ground with it, and he may step in something
dirty. End quote.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah,
26/302-303.
