Q:
(A) I had a shower at night. I washed my slippers and feet whilst in the shower.
(B) Then I went out of the house for just over 2 hours wearing the same slippers. When I returned home it is most likely that, by that time, my slippers were dry.
(C) I then got in to the sleeping bag, which I have borrowed from my parents home and which I am using at my house. At the time I went to sleep in the sleeping bag it is most likely that my feet were dry. At the time of sleeping, I thought to myself, when I wake up in the morning I must wash my feet and slippers again as a precautionary measure.
The reason for this was because I was unsure as to whether the sleeping bag was paak.
Let me explain. There was a time I suffered from OCD very badly. I therefore did not perform Salah. One day my dad forced me to perform Wudhu. I wore slippers provided to me which were most probably wet. I felt very uncomfortable wearing them because I thought my feet are napaak, but I had no choice. I wore them, performed Wudhu & then put my feet back in the slippers. I did not wash the slippers. I then walked in my mum & dad’s carpeted room.
Ever since that day, a year or two ago it’s been on my mind that they too walk in that room after performing Wudhu & then perform Salah on the carpet. There is no visible sign or smell of napaaki on the carpet. So how does the sleeping bag fit in to this? Well, my dad will have subsequently taken that sleeping bag in Jamat at some point & slept in it or, he may have, on occasion used it at home when visitors came. This means that if he slept in it after performing Wudhu, the sleeping bag may well have become napaak too.
(D) This morning, when I woke up and got out of the sleeping bag, I must have, as a precautionary measure, washed my slippers and feet prior to performing Wudhu and walking on the clean carpet in my room with wet feet. I then performed Salah on that carpet.
(E) When I went back to sleep in the sleeping bag after Fajr, I had no doubts about having washed my feet & slippers, as a precautionary measure, at Fajr time.
However, when I woke up a few hours later, the question came to my mind that did you really wash your slippers & feet prior to performing Wudhu, because
if you washed your feet only, and not the slippers, then there is a chance that the carpet became napaak. Logic tells me that even if I did not wash my feet AND slippers prior to Wudhu, the carpet would still be paak because when I went to sleep in the sleeping bag at night, my feet were most probably dry. Therefore any napaaki would not have transferred to my feet.
Based on the aforementioned, in Shari’ah do I regard the carpet in my room as paak to walk on with wet feet and to perform Salah on?
NB: My overwhelming concern is that IF the house carpet has become napaak due to my having washed my feet only & not my slippers, then when I go to the
Masjid, like I have been doing, & walk in the Wudhu Khana, then any napaaki would have transferred to the Wudhu Khana floor, which is wet potentially
also to the Masjid carpet after having performed Wudhu. Nevertheless I have not abandoned going to the Masjid for Salah, despite this risk, because I am UNSURE whether or not my feet have or did indeed become napaak.
A: There is no need to have any waswasah. You are paak and your clothing is also paak. You do not need to wash your clothing, sleeping bag or anything else.
And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
Answered by:
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)