Wiping over Socks – 24 Hour Clock

Ustadh Tabraze Azam is asked about wiping over socks, how and when the validity timeframe resets, and what states affect this.

Question:

Assalam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.

If after doing wudu, you intend to wipe over your socks (masah) later that day, but miss a salah, does your 24 hour masah clock begin from the start of the missed prayer (say isha if you fell asleep without praying), or does it still begin from the first time you wipe your socks (after waking up, assuming socks were kept on after the original wudu at the start of the day)?

Jazak Allah khayr.

Answer:

Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.

The time limit for wiping over your footgear (khuffs) begins when you nullify your ritual ablution (wudu) for the first time. With respect to sleep, this would be the time you fell asleep and not the time you woke up.

For example, if you performed wudu at 3pm, and then nullified it at 5pm, you would have until 5pm the following day to wipe over your footgear. In the same example, if you fell asleep at 4pm and awoke at 6pm, you’d have until 4pm the following day.

Your footgear forms something of a metaphysical barrier around your feet preventing any ritual impurity from affecting them. As such, this barrier only begins to work when you nullify your wudu for the first time because ritual impurity would have now affected your limbs.

Missing a prayer, though clearly wrong, doesn’t change this ruling, but it does necessitate repentance.

(Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah; Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar ‘ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar)

Please also see: A Reader on Tawba (Repentance) and The Ruling of Wiping over Footgear (Khuffs)

And Allah Most High knows best.

Wassalam,

Tabraze Azam

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.