Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
❖ Question:
What is the ruling if a person wearing shoes prays behind someone not wearing shoes, or vice versa?
✿ Answer:
If the shoes are clean (ṭāhir), then it is permissible to pray while wearing them.
Whether the Imām or followers are wearing shoes or not, the prayer of all is valid — there is no difference in ruling.
❀ Evidence from the Sunnah:
Sayyidunā Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī رضي الله عنه narrated:
إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى في نعليه، فصلى الناس في نعالهم، ثم ألقى نعليه، فألقى الناس نعالهم وهم في الصلاة، فلما قضى صلاته قال: ما حملكم على إلقاء نعالكم في الصلاة؟ قالوا: يا رسول الله، رأيناك فعلت ففعلنا، قال: إن جبريل أخبرني أن فيها أذى، فإذا أتى أحدكم المسجد فلينظر، فإن رأى في نعليه أذى، وإلا فليصل فيهما.
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed wearing his sandals, so the people also prayed wearing theirs.
Then during the prayer, the Prophet ﷺ removed his sandals, and seeing this, the people also removed theirs.
When the Prophet ﷺ finished the prayer, he said:
‘What made you remove your sandals during the prayer?’
They replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah, we saw you do so, and we did the same.’
The Prophet ﷺ said:
‘Jibrīl informed me that there was some impurity (najāsah) on them.
Therefore, when any of you comes to the mosque, he should look at his sandals; if he finds impurity on them, let him remove them, but if not, let him pray wearing them.’”
(Musnad al-Ṭayālisī, p. 286; Musnad Aḥmad, 3/20; Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 650; Musnad Ibn Ḥumayd: 880; Musnad Abī Yaʿlā: 1194; al-Sunan al-Kubrā lil-Bayhaqī, 2/406)
❀ Authentication of the Ḥadīth:
- Imām Ibn Khuzaymah (ḥadīth no. 1017) and Imām Ibn Ḥibbān (ḥadīth no. 2185) declared it Ṣaḥīḥ (authentic).
- Imām al-Ḥākim graded it Ṣaḥīḥ according to the conditions of Imām Muslim, and Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī agreed.
- Imām al-Nawawī also said: “Its chain is authentic.”
(Khilāṣat al-Aḥkām, 1/319)
❀ Explanation:
This authentic ḥadīth clearly establishes that:
- The Prophet ﷺ himself prayed in shoes when they were clean.
- He only removed them when Jibrīl عليه السلام informed him of impurity.
- Therefore, wearing shoes in prayer is permissible as long as they are free from najāsah (impurity).
Hence, there is no objection if:
- The Imām prays with shoes while the followers do not, or
- The followers pray with shoes while the Imām does not.
All such prayers are valid and acceptable, provided cleanliness is ensured.
✅ Summary:
- Praying with clean shoes is permissible and established from the Sunnah.
- Praying without shoes is also permissible.
- Whether the Imām or followers wear shoes or not, all prayers remain valid.
- The Prophet ﷺ himself prayed in both manners — with shoes and without — demonstrating flexibility and ease in the religion.
