Some reported the consensus on the requirement of the socks being thick. Although this is the position of the vast majority, including (A) + (+H, +M (leathered socks), +S), however, the consensus is contested. For example, Imam an-Nawawi said, “Our companions narrated from ‘Umar (RA) and ‘Ali (RA) that it is permissible to wipe over the socks, even if they are thin. They also narrated that from Abu Yoosuf, Muhammad, Is-ḥâq and Dâwood.” [Al-Majmoo‘] This was also the position of (Z). The majority who required the socks to be thick also disagreed over the criteria of thick socks, so while al-Kâsâni al-Ḥanafi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Badâ’i‘ aṣ-Ṣanâ’i‘, “If (the socks) are thin and let water through, then it is not permissible to wipe over them, according to scholarly consensus,” the authorized position in the Ḥanbali madh-hab is that the seeping of water through the socks does not disqualify them from wiping. (A/SM) Some of the contemporary Ḥanbalis, like Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him), argued that thin socks should have the same ruling as thick ones.
Wiping over socks and over shoes with socks underneath them, as well as over the headscarf for women, are legitimate concessions, based in the revelation, and they facilitate praying for many people. It is, therefore, essential that we propagate these Sunnah acts and show flexibility with some of their technicalities that are subject to juristic opinions and about which the revelation is silent.