Wiping Socks or Feet During Ablution

Question

Can we perform Masah 1 instead of washing our feet in Wudu 2 for prayer? Someone told me that it is also mentioned in the Quran and some people practice it. Please explain it.

Response

During regular ablution, one can perform Masah on socks if they had worn socks after performing ablution with feet washed. This is derived from a narrative attributed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and there is no distinction between any particular types of socks in such cases.

The mention of masah over feet is based on a difference in interpretation of the sixth verse of Surah Al-Maidah. The verse reads:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلاةِ فاغْسِلُواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُواْ بِرُؤُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَينِ وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُواْ وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَى أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاء أَحَدٌ مَّنكُم مِّنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لاَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاء فَلَمْ تَجِدُواْ مَاء فَتَيَمَّمُواْ صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُواْ بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ مَا يُرِيدُ اللّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍ وَلَـكِن يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهَّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

O Believers, when you stand up for the Prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. And if you are polluted, cleanse yourselves; but if you are sick or on a journey, or if any of you comes from the privy, or you have touched women, and you find no water, then have recourse to clean dust, and wipe your faces and your hands with it; God does not desire to put you to any hardship, but He desires to cleanse you and to complete His blessing upon you, that you may be thankful. (Quran 5:6)

The parts relevant to the issue are underlined. One opinion is that the phrase ‘your feet up to the ankles’ is in fact a continuation of wipe your heads, which means that heads should be wiped and feet up to ankles should be wiped. In other words, the translation of the verse should read as “and wipe your heads, and your feet up to the ankles”. However, there are a number of issues with this opinion:

1. The known method of the Prophet (pbuh)’s ablution includes washing the feet instead of he just wiping them.

2. It is against the rules of the Arabic language to include feet under the commandment of Masah because of the sentence construction.

3. In the second underlined phrase, where wiping includes hands, there is no mention of any limit such as ‘up to the elbows’ as is the case in the first part of the verse where washing of the hands is mentioned. There is no need to prescribe a limit when it is being ordered that Masah be preformed, but the phrase in the first part of the sentence referring to the washing of the feet does contain the limit (i.e. up to the ankles).

Based on these arguments, it is quite clear that this verse does not allow wiping of feet during ablution.

1 i.e. the process of wiping the hands.
2 Ablution, required to be performed before offering prayers.