Some people in America and Canada wear socks made of cotton or wool that go up to the knees, and wear shoes over them, but the shoes do not reach the ankles. Is it permissible to wipe over these shoes when doing wudoo’? If they take off the shoes, is their wudoo’ still valid? When they go to pray, they take off their shoes; is their wudoo’ still valid?

Praise
be to Allah

Firstly:

If the shoe
covers the foot with the ankles, then it is permissible to wipe over it,
because it is like the khuff [a type of leather sock that covers the foot
and ankle; the word may also refer to a boot or any footwear that also
covers the ankle].

But if it does
not cover the area that must be washed, which is the entire foot with the
ankle, then it is not permissible to wipe over the shoes according to the
majority of fuqaha’. See: al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kuwaitiyyah
(27/264).

This is the view
favoured by Shaykh Ibn Baaz and the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: One of the conditions of it being
permissible to wipe over the khuffayn and the socks is that they should
cover the area that must be washed.

End quote from
Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa by Ibn Baaz (10/111). See also: Fataawa al-Lajnah
ad-Daa’imah (5/396).

Secondly:

If a person
wipes over the shoes that cover the area that must be washed, then he takes
them off when he is still in a state of purity, his wudoo’ is not rendered
invalid, according to the correct scholarly view.

This issue has
been discussed previously in the answers to questions no.
100112 and 26343.

But it should be
noted that the concession allowing him to wipe over them ends when he takes
them off, so if he puts them on again and wants to do wudoo’, he has to take
off his shoes and socks and wash his feet.

Thirdly:

If he puts on
socks and puts over them shoes that do not cover the ankles, then there are
three scenarios:

i.       

He wipes over the shoe only; we have stated above that this
is not permissible.

ii.     

He wipes over the socks only, in the sense that he takes off
his shoes and wipes over his socks with his hands, then put the shoes back
on. This is permissible and there is nothing wrong with it, and in this case
it is permissible for him to take off the shoes, and that does not render
his wudoo’ invalid.

iii.   

He wipes over the shoes and socks together; this is also
permissible

If he wipes over
the shoe that does not cover the ankle, and completes the wiping over the
socks, then the ruling applies to both of them together.

If he takes off
the shoe only, or takes it off with the socks, that does not render his
wudoo’ invalid and it is permissible for him to pray, but it is not
permissible for him to wipe over them again after that, unless he has done
wudoo’ in full and washed his feet.

It says in
Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (5/396):

The one who does
wudoo’ may wipe over his sock only, or wipe over his shoe only, if it covers
the ankles and the skin of the feet cannot be seen beneath it.

If it does not
cover the ankles, he may wipe over it if it is worn over socks that do cover
the ankles, and also wipe over what appears of the socks above the area that
is to be washed in wudoo’, and he may pray wearing both of them.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the shoe, it is like the
sandal: if it does not cover the foot plus the ankles, then if he wipes over
the shoes with the socks, the ruling applies to both, and if he limits it to
wiping over the socks only, that is sufficient. In that case is permissible
for him to take off the shoes whenever he wants, and his wudoo’ remains
valid, because the ruling of wiping is connected to the socks only.

Majmoo‘ Fataawa
Ibn Baaz (29/73).

We would like to
point out that the rulings having to do with the khuffayn are applicable to
socks and shoes/boots that cover (the feet plus the ankle), because the
ruling on both is the same, according to the more correct view.

And Allah knows
best.