Al-Albānī: Is It Allowed to Wipe over Sandals (Just Like We Wipe Over Socks)?

From Aws ibn Abī Aws Al-Thaqafī, that the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ performed ablution [wuḍū] and wiped over his sandals and feet.¹

And from Ẓabyān, that he saw ʿAlī, may Allāh be pleased with him, perform wuḍū and wipe over his sandals; later, he entered the mosque, took off his sandals, and then prayed.²

Shaikh Muḥammad Naṣir Al-Dīn Al-Albānī, may Allāh have mercy on him, said:

…[W]hen you come to know this, then it is not allowed to hesitate about accepting this license [to wipe over one’s sandals] after having established [the authenticity] of the ḥadīths concerning it because it’s as the author [of this book, Al-Masḥ ʿalá Al-Jawrabayn, Jamāl al-Dīn Al-Qāsimī,] said earlier: “The ḥadīth has proven to be authentic, so there is nothing but to hear and obey.” [p. 40]

This is all the more worth mentioning after [establishing] that the Companions followed the same way [with regard to wiping one’s sandals], at the head of them the rightly guided Caliph ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allāh be pleased with him, as mentioned earlier. [Additionally, this opinion] is from those held by some of the imams from among the first three righteous generations of Muslims, may Allāh be pleased with them all.³

¹Ṣaḥīḥ Sunan Abī Dāwūd (145)
²Tamām Al-Minnah, p. 115
³Tamām Al-Nuṣḥ fī Aḥkām Al-Masḥ, p. 83