Does Taking Off Socks Break Wudu?

Question: 26343

If a person does Wudu and wipes over his socks, then during the period in which wiping over the socks is allowed he takes off his socks before he prays, should he pray and is his prayer valid, or is his Wudu broken by taking off his socks?

Summary of answer

There is no evidence to indicate that taking off leather slippers or socks that have been wiped over invalidates Wudu. If you wish to wipe over the socks again after breaking Wudu, you must perform a complete wudu, including washing your feet, before putting the socks back on.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Taking off one’s leather socks (Khuff, plural: Khufuf) after wiping over them does not invalidate Wudu, according to the correct scholarly view. When a person wipes over his socks, he has completed his Wudu according to what is implied by the Shar’`i evidence.

So if one takes them off, this Wudu is still valid according to the Shar’i evidence and cannot be broken except by something for which there is Shar`i evidence. There is no evidence to indicate that taking off leather slippers or socks that have been wiped invalidates Wudu. On this basis, then, his Wudu remains valid. This was the view favoured by Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) and a group of the scholars.

But if one puts his socks back on after that and breaks his Wudu, then he wants to wipe over them again, that is not allowed, because he has to put the socks on after doing Wudu in which he washed his feet, according to what was stated by the scholars.

References: (Majmu` Fatawa wa Rasa’il Ash-Shayk Ibn `Uthaymin, 11:179 and Majmu` Al- Fatawa by Ibn Taymiyyah, 11:179, 215)

For more details, please see the following answers: 21705, 69829, 116409, 45788.

And Allah knows best.

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Source:

See Majmoo’ Fataawa wa Rasaa’il al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen , 11/179; Majmoo’ al-Fataawa li Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah , 21/179, 215)