Do You Have to Be Ritually Pure before Putting on My Khuffs?

Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi

Question

Do you have to keep and maintain wudhu before putting on a Khuf to be able to use the benefit of it (i.e., wiping over it for the next wudu)?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

Yes, you need to have been in a complete state of purity when you put on your khuffs in order to be allowed to wipe on them instead of washing your feet for a valid wudu. [Quduri, Mukhtasar]

This means that if you had performed an incomplete wudu (such as leaving a part of your face unwashed while and wiping the rest of the limbs for wudu), put on your khuffs, and then are affected by an invalidator of wudu (such as urinating), you are not allowed to wipe on your khuffs for your wudu. You will need to wash your feet. [Zayla’i, Tabyin al-Haqa’iq]

Reason for This Ruling

In order for the Khuff to act as a barrier for the ritual impurity affecting the skin of the feet, these Khuffs must have been put on while being in a full state of purity. Because in a full state of purity, there is no ritual impurity affecting the skin of the feet. Thus when wudu will be broken, the ritual impurity will be stopped by the khuffs and won’t reach the feet. It will be valid to wipe on the khuffs.

But if the khuffs have been put while being in a state of ritual impurity, then the ritual impurity is already on the skin of the feet. Thus, the khuffs won’t be able to act as a barrier to prevent the ritual impurity from reaching the feet because the ritual impurity has already reached the feet. It will be useless in this situation to wipe over the khuffs because the ritual impurity is under them, namely on the skin of the feet. [Marghinani, Hidaya]

Important Note

It is valid to wipe over the khuffs even if you have only washed your feet, then put your khuffs on, and then completed the rest of your wudu as long as you are not affected by an invalidator of wudu during this process. [Marghinani, Hidaya]    

And Allah knows best.
Wassalam
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found. Then, he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha’ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others. He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.