Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Can one perform salah with his shoes on? Because I travel a lot long distances by bus/car, many times I have to pray on rough ground, wet surfaces, sometimes even on snow.
Answer:
Walaikum assalam,
Yes, it is permitted to pray with shoes on, unless you can see filth (najasa) on them. The reasoned possibility that there “could well be” filth on them is of no consequence, because the operative assumption about all things is that they are clean (tahir) unless proven otherwise, and anything less than certainty is not sufficient proof to lift the initial certainty of cleanliness.
Wassalam,
Faraz.