Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Dear Brother Burhan,

At the outset I sincerely appreciate your efforts in answering on the various important issues in the religion & pray Almighty Allah to shower HIS choicest blessings on you.

Kindly advise me on the following two issues:
1- Is one allowed to do ablution without having any clothes on one`s body? This situation arises when one is planning to take bath or Ghusl. Is the ablution done this way valid & can one pray Salah or read Quran Majeed after this ablution? I had asked this question earlier also but did not get the response from you. Kindly advice.

2- It is a widely prevalent practice in the Middle East Gulf countries that if a complete ablution is done once before wearing socks (including washing of one`s feet) & if required to do another ablution for attending to Salah, one is NOT required to wash the feet with water & only doing Masa`h on the socks (going over the socks with wet hands) is enough to complete the ablution & then one is allowed to pray the Salah. Pls. advice if this is an acceptable practice in Islam.

Kindly advice me as soon as possible on the above two issues in the light of Quran & Sunnah of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

Jazakallah Hu Khairan.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Wudu socks nude naked

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

May Allah Subhanah reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. If our humble and modest efforts have helped even one brother or sister get closer to Allah and His Deen of Truth, then we would consider ourselves indeed fortunate to have been given this opportunity by the Lord Most Merciful to serve in His Cause. We hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accepts our humble and weak efforts, forgives us our shortcomings, and saves you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.

Your Question: Is one allowed to do ablution without having any clothes on one`s body? This situation arises when one is planning to take bath or Ghusl. Is the ablution done this way valid & can one pray Salah or read Quran Majeed after this ablution?

Abu Hurairah reported the Prophet as saying, "Whoever touches his sexual organ without any covering (between them) must perform ablution."

Related by Ahmad, Ibn Hibban and al-Hakim.

It is absolutely permissible in Shariah for a believer to perform the ‘ghusl’ or the ‘wudu’ in one’s privy without wearing any clothes (in the state of nakedness); but one should not touch their private organs with their bare hands after they have completed the ‘ghusl’ or the ‘wudu’; for the touching of one’s private organs indeed invalidates and breaks one’s ‘wudu’.

Thus if one performs the ‘ghusl’ and wipes oneself dry with a towel, making sure that one’s bare hands did not touch one’s private parts, their ‘ghusl’ and ‘wudu’ would be absolutely valid and one can very well make themselves available for prayer. Similarly, there is absolutely no harm if one happens to perform the ‘wudu’ in the state of nakedness, and provided they did not touch their private parts with their bare hands after their ‘wudu’, their ‘wudu’ will be considered absolutely valid and they can make themselves available for prayer, if they wish to do so.

Your Question: It is a widely prevalent practice in the Middle East Gulf countries that if a complete ablution is done once before wearing socks (including washing of one`s feet) & if required to do another ablution for attending to Salah, one is NOT required to wash the feet with water & only doing Masa`h on the socks (going over the socks with wet hands) is enough to complete the ablution & then one is allowed to pray the Salah. Pls. advice if this is an acceptable practice in Islam.
If one has put the socks on when he was in the state of ‘wudu’, and then has to refresh his ‘wudu’ later, he need not take off his socks and wash his feet. The wiping of wet hands over the socks would suffice for his ‘wudu’, as was the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws).

If has been reported in an authentic narration from Said al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah, who said, "I was with the Messenger of Allah (saws), one night during an expedition. I poured water for him (saws) to make ablution. He (saws) washed his face and arms and wiped his head. Then I went to remove his socks and he (saws) said, 'Leave them on, as I put them on while I was in a state of purity,' and he (saws) just wiped over them."

Al-Humaidi related in his Musnad that al-Mughirah reported, "We said, 'O Messenger of Allah (saws), may we wipe over our socks?' He (saws) said, 'Yes, if you put them on while you were in a state of purity."

It has been reported by Hammam an Nakha'i who said, "Jarir ibn Abdullah urinated, performed ablution and wiped over his socks." It was said to him, "You do that and you have urinated?" He said, "Yes, I saw the Messenger of Allah (saws) urinate, and then do (wudu) likewise."

In light of the above and several other authentic narrations, it is permissible for one to wipe his wet hands over his socks when refreshing his ablution, as long as the condition is met that when he did put on the socks he was in a state of ‘wudu’.

The absolute majority of the scholars in Islam are of the opinion that one may refresh their ‘wudu’ by wiping over their socks, regardless of the material used to construct the socks. And Allah Alone Knows Best.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan