Tanbih al-Hair ala Adam Jawaz al-Mash ala al-Jawrab al-Muasir
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- Dār ‘Ammār lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Tanbih al-Hair ala Adam Jawaz al-Mash ala al-Jawrab al-Muasir (Alerting the Perplexed to the Inadmissibility of Wiping over Contemporary Socks) is a legal treatise by the contemporary scholar Muhammad Mahdi Qashlan (completed in 1443 AH / 2022 CE) that examines the jurisprudential rulings on wiping over socks during ablution (wudu) across the four Sunni legal schools.
Background and Composition
The author originally published his research on this legal question on social media platforms in 1437 AH / 2016 CE. Following positive reception and requests from scholars to compile the material into a concise, accessible booklet, Qashlan gathered his findings into a standalone treatise in 1443 AH / 2022 CE. The work includes a commendatory foreword by the scholar Abd al-Hadi Muhammad al-Kharsa dated 17 Rajab 1443 AH (18 February 2022 CE), as well as an introductory text by the Quran instructor Tawfiq Ibrahim Damrah dated 7 Sha'ban 1443 AH (10 March 2022 CE).
Core Argument and Scope
The treatise addresses recurring debates—frequently reignited each winter—regarding the validity of wiping over socks (al-mash ala al-jawrabayn) instead of washing the feet. Qashlan argues that the crux of the disagreement is not whether wiping over socks was historically transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ or the early generations, but rather whether modern manufactured socks satisfy the physical descriptions and legal conditions established by classical jurists.
The author contends that jurists across the four schools agreed on the fundamental requirement that socks must be thick (safiq) and durable enough to allow continuous walking outside the home, similar to leather footwear (khuff). Consequently, standard contemporary thin socks lack this essential qualification, and merely sharing the linguistic label "sock" (jawrab) is legally insufficient to justify transferring the textual dispensation (rukhsah) to them.
Structure and Methodology
The treatise organizes classical legal citations chronologically according to the four Sunni legal schools:
- Hanafi School: Citing Ibn Abidin's Radd al-Muhtar regarding the requirement of being able to walk in them for a farsakh (calculated in the text as 5,544 meters), alongside Ibn Nujaym's al-Bahr al-Raiq on the invalidity of wiping over thin socks by consensus.
- Maliki School: Citing Ibn Abd al-Barr's al-Kafi and al-Qadi Abd al-Wahhab's al-Ma'una regarding the invalidity of wiping over non-leathered socks because one cannot walk continuously in them.
- Shafi'i School: Citing al-Nawawi's Rawdat al-Talibin and al-Majmu', emphasizing that socks must be sturdy enough for a traveler's routine needs and that thin footwear does not qualify.
- Hanbali School: Citing Ibn Qudamah's al-Mughni, Ibn Qasim's gloss on al-Rawd al-Murbi', Ibn Taymiyyah's Sharh al-'Umdah, and contemporary commentary by Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Shinqiti on Zad al-Mustaqni', affirming that thickness is a necessary condition and that analogizing modern thin fabrics to early thick coverings constitutes an invalid analogy with disparity (qiyas ma'a al-fariq).
The work concludes by emphasizing legal precaution (ihtiyat) and piety (wara'), noting that the default ruling established by the Quran is to wash the feet, while dispensations for wiping must remain restricted to what is explicitly warranted by authoritative reports.
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