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Fatwa CenterPerforming prayer after wiping on socks worn while in a state of ritual impurity
Question
Assalam alaykum, if omeone made mistakes and offered some fard salah without having wiped correctly over the socks, is the salah valid or she has to make them up? the mistake made was that the person was ignorant at that time that one must have had wudu when one put on the socks to be able to wipe over it in ablution. also, the person isnt really sure of how many salhs were offered i that state. Jazaakumllah khair as u answer.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.
One of the conditions for the validity of wiping over the socks is that they have to be worn while the person is in a state of complete purity. Al-Mawsoo‘ah Al-Fiqhiyyah Al-Kuwaitiyyah (The Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia) reads, “There is no difference of opinion among Muslim jurists regarding the fact that one of the conditions for the validity of wiping over the socks is that they have to be worn while the person is in a state of complete purity.” For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 82001 and 91480.
Complete purity means that wiping over the socks should be after performing a valid ablution. If the person wears the socks while in a state of ritual impurity, and wipes over them during ablution, his ablution is invalid and if he performs prayer with this ablution, the prayers are invalid and he is obliged to make up for them even if after a while. If the person does not know the number of the prayers, which he has prayed after the invalid wiping over the socks, he should make up for as many prayers as he can until he is sure that he is cleared of this obligation. Another opinion suggests that he should make up for as many prayers as he can until he believes his the obligation is most likely to have been met.
Shaykh Wahbah Az-Zuhayli 
wrote, “Fifthly, making up for the prayers the actual number of which the person does not know; the Hanafis held that when the person has to make up for so many prayers whose exact number is unknown to him, he should make up for as many prayers as he can until he believes with certainty that he is cleared from this obligation. However, the Maaliki, Shaafi‘i, and Hanbali scholars maintained that he should make up for as many prayers as he can until he believes with certainty that he is cleared of the obligation …” [Al-Fiqh Al-Islaami]
Mahmood Khattaab As-Subki wrote, “When a person misses obligatory prayers and he is not aware of their exact number, he should make up for as many prayers as he can until he believes that it is most likely that he is cleared from the obligation, according to the Hanafis and Maalikis. The Shaafi‘is and Hanbalis, on the other hand, held that he should make up for as many prayers as he can until he believes with certainty that he is cleared from this obligation.” [Ad-Deen Al-Khaalis]
Allaah Knows best.
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