Solah wearing Shoes When it is Necessary

Permissibility of Solah wearing Shoes When it is Necessary

Is it permissible to performed solah wearing shoes when necessary, or not?

In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful;

All the praise and Thanks is due to Allāh, the Lord of al-‘ālameen. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allāh, and that Muhammad, Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam, is His Messenger

The Sunnah indicated that it is permissible to perform solah wearing shoes when it is necessary; with condition it must be clean from najāsah (impurity). The Prophet (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) performed solah wearing his shoes and removed it when Jibreel told him there were some impurities.

In a hallmark evidence on this issue is sahih hadith narrated that Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri (radiyallāhu’anhu), who said:

 The Messenger of Allāh (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) led us in solah whilst he was wearing his shoes, then he took them off [whilst still in solah], and the people took their shoes off too. When the Messenger of Allāh (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said the Taslīm [concluding the solah], they said: “O Messenger of Allāh you took off your shoes, so we took off our shoes too.”

Messenger of Allāh (Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: “Jibreel came to me and told me that there was some dirt on them, so I took them off. When any one of you comes to the mosque, let him look at his shoes, and if he sees any dirt on them, let him wipe them. And they can be purified with dust.”

[Narrated by Abu Dawūd, no. 650]

The point here is that praying in shoes is permissible. It says in another hadīth: “Be different from the Jews, pray wearing your slippers or shoes.” [Narrated by Abu Dawūd, no. 652]

The condition as laid in the hadith is that the shoes must be tāhir (pure, clean). If there is any najāsah (impurity) or dirt on the shoes, then one should not pray wearing them or enters the mosque in shoes, unless he is sure that they are free of impurity or dirt. And Allāh knows best.

[Fatāwa Samāhat al-Shaykh ‘Abd-Allāh ibn Humayd, p. 93] 

And Allāh Almighty knows best.

[Via Islam Q&A (12033)]