A mast is a waterproof shoe covering that part of the foot which is fard to wash (in ablution). When the masts are so big that the toes do not reach the ends of the masts and masah is made on the vacant sections, masah is not permissible. If the mouths of the masts are so wide that the feet can be seen when looking down from above, this will be of no importance. The masts must be strong and fit well enough so that the feet would not go out of them if one took an hour's walk. masts can not be made of wood, glass or metal. For one cannot walk for an hour in something hard. Masah is permissible on any socks whose soles and parts on the toes or only soles are covered with leather or which are so tough that they will not fall down when walked in. In the Maliki Madhhab, the masts have to be of leather.

   When a person wearing masts loses his ablution, whatever the means, the state of being without an ablution spreads throughout the limbs of ablution and the masts, but not the feet. To retain the state of ablution upon the mast, we simply make masah on them. This indicates that the masts prevent the state of hadas (being without an ablution) from reaching the feet. Therefore, if a person washes his feet only, puts on his masts, and then completes his ablution, and loses his ablution afterwards, he can make masah on his masts when he performs his ablution later. For it is not necessary to have performed a complete ablution when putting on the masts. But when his ablution is broken, the broken ablution must be re- performed completely. For example, if he has put on his masts after making a tayammum, his ablution which will be broken when he finds water is not complete; therefore, he cannot make masah when he re-performs the ablution with water. In this case, he washes his feet, too. If a person with a excuse performs a complete ablution and puts on his masts before the excuse (e.g. blood) issues, he can make masah for twenty-four hours even if his ablution is broken by the excuse. But if he puts them on after the excuse has issued, he can make masah only within the time of that namaz.

   The duration of time one can continuously make masah on masts is twenty-four hours for a settled person and three days plus three nights, that is seventy-two hours, for someone traveling. This duration begins not when one puts on the masts, but when one's ablution is broken after putting on the masts. It is written in Fatawa-i Khayriyya that the duration of time for masah for a person with an excuse is until the end of each prayer time for namaz. If a person with an excuse performs ablution when the cause of his excuse is over and puts on his masts before the cause begins again, he will have put them on with taharat-i kamila (precise purification), and he can make masah for twenty-four hours. [In Maliki, masah is permissible until one has to take off the masts for ghusl.]

   In the Hanafi Madhhab, masah is done on the upper faces of the masts, not under the soles. To perform the masah in accordance with the sunnat, the entire five moistened fingers of the right hand are put in their full length on the right mast and fingers of the left hand on the left mast, then they are drawn up towards the legs beginning from the ends (of the masts) right on the toes. The palms of the hands must not touch the masts. It is fard that masah cover an area as wide and as long as three fingers of the hand. To do this, it will be enough to put three fingers or the ends of the fingers which are so wet that water is dropping from them or the palm of the hand together with the fingers, or only the palm on the toe end of the mast and to draw them towards the leg. It is also permissible to put the fingers on the outer side of the mast and to rub them gently across its width. Though masah with the back of the hands is permissible as well, it is sunnat to make masah with the inner parts of the hands. It is not permissible to make masah under the masts, on the sides of the heels or on the parts towards the legs. [In the Maliki Madhhab, the right hand is moistened and the lowest parts of the fingers are placed on the upper end of the right mast. Then, the tip of the thumb being on the left side and the tips of the other fingers being on the right, the hand is drawn up towards the mouth (of the mast). Then the moistened hand is put likewise under the mast and drawn via the back of the heel towards the mouth. Next, the same procedure is followed with the left mast, yet this time the right hand will be used for the sole of the mast and the left hand for the upper part. This practice is mustahab (causes blessings)]. After washing a limb, one can make masah on the masts with the wetness remaining on the hands. But one cannot make masah with the wetness remaining from the masah of a limb, e.g. the head or the neck. If a person who has performed ablution puts on his masts and does not make masah but instead puts his feet with the masts on into water when he performs ablution again, this will replace the masah, provided one foot or more than half of the feet will have not been moistened. If water penetrates and moistens the feet, he will have to take off his masts and wash his feet, too. If the outer surface of the masts are moistened by walking on damp grass or by rain, this replaces the masah, for which intention is unnecessary. If a person wearing masts sets out for a journey within twenty-four hours after the breaking of his ablution, he can make masah on his masts for three days plus three nights. A person who becomes settled after having been a traveler, takes off his masts and performs ablution by washing his feet, if twenty-four hours have passed. In the Maliki Madhhab there is no time limit for masah on masts. If a person puts on another pair of masts, wellingtons, gloshes, plastic or nylon shoes on his masts before his ablution is broken, he can make masah on the outer footwear if they are water proof. Even if they allow considerable water through, he can make masah on them, too. For the inner ones will get moistened and he will have thereby made masah on the inner ones. If he has put on the outer ones after his ablution has been broken, he can make masah on the inner masts only. If one of the outer shoes goes off his foot after he has made masah on them, he must immediately take off the other one, and make masah on the inner masts. It is permissible as well not to take off the other one and to make masah on it also.

   It is not permissible to make masah on any mast which has a rip large enough to let three toes through. It is permissible if the rip is smaller than this. In the Maliki Madhhab, if the rip is smaller than one-third of the foot, masah is permissible. In Maliki, again, whereas it is sunnat for the body and the clothes to be clean, it is fard for the masts to be clean. If small rips at several places on a mast amount to three toes if they were put together, it is not permissible to make masah on it. If one mast has a rip through which two toes can be seen and the other has a rip which would allow two toes or one to be seen, one can make masah on them. For (the limit of) three toes covers one mast, not two. However, the amounts of najasat or the awrat parts that are seen on a person's various limbs are combined and his case is judged accordingly. The rip that makes masah not permissible is large enough not only to let the points but the whole of the three toes to be seen. If the rip is on the toes, the toes will be counted. But if it is at some other part, it must not be large enough to allow three small toes to be seen. If the rip is longer than three toes, but if its opening is smaller than three toes, masah is permissible. If a mast is torn by the seam, and yet if it does not open and the toes cannot be seen, masah is permissible. If the rent or rip opens and three toes can be seen as one walks, but even if it does not open when one stops, masah cannot be made. If vice versa, masah is permissible. Any rent above the heel bones does not prevent masah no matter how large it is. For it is not necessary for the masts to cover these parts. It is permissible to make masah on any masts that are buttoned, fastened, zipped on the tops or sides, or on such shoes. [The mast should not have any rips or holes according to the Shafi'i Madhhab].

   When the heel of a foot goes out of the mast, it must be judged that the mast has gone off the foot. Yet the majority of books state that unless more than half of the foot has left that part of the mast which is level with the heel bone, the mast will not be judged to have gone off the foot. Accordingly, the masah of a person is permissible whose masts are over-sized and whose heels move in and out of the masts as he walks. His ablution is not broken when walking.

   If a mast has a rip wider than three toes, and yet if its lining is strong and sewn on the mast so that the foot is not seen, masah on it is permissible.

 When one or both of a person's feet go out of the masts, his ablution performed by making masah is not broken at that moment. After he puts on the masts again, the breaking of his ablution spreads on the feet. If he, therefore, washes only his feet, he will have completed the ablution during which he made masah. Also, when the duration of masah is over he washes his feet only. But it has been declared (by Islamic scholars) that it would be better to perform a new ablution in both cases. For, muwalat is sunnat in Hanafi Madhhab and fard in Maliki Madhhab.

  It is not permissible to make masah on a turban or skullcap, on a headgear, on a veil or mask, or on gloves.

   It is permissible to make masah on splints, that is, on strips of wood bound to a broken bone on both sides. The ointment, the cotton, the wick, the gauze, the plaster, the bandage or the like, which is put on or in a wound, boil, or cut or crack on the skin, if it will be harmful to untie it or to take it off, or if after taking it off washing or masah will harm the wound, we pour water on it if it is waterproof, e.g. covered with an ointment or rubber. If it lets water through we make masah on it. If cold water will do harm to a wound, warm water must be used. If warm water will be harmful it is necessary to make masah on it. If masah will be harmful, too, we make masah on what is on it. We can make masah on that part of the bandage coinciding with the healthy part of the skin as well as on the skin under the bandage. It is acceptable to make masah on more than half of it. If even this masah will do harm to the wound, we do not make masah. If it will not be harmful to make masah on it, it is necessary to make masah. If it will not be harmful to take it off and wash the healthy part of the skin under it, it is necessary to wash under it. [As it is written in the book Al- fiqh-u 'alal-madhahib-il-arba'a, the four Madhhabs are unanimous in the fact that the permissibility of making masah on a bandage or ointment applied on a wound is dependent on the condition that washing the wound or making masah on it will aggravate the wound. Aggravation means a delay in recovery or an exacerbation of pain]. If, after the masah, it is taken off or falls off before the wound heals, the masah is not annulled. If it falls off after the wound heals, it becomes necessary to wash under it. Masah on any of all these things (which are mentioned above) replaces washing under it. He who makes masah on one of them is not a person with an excuse. He can be an imam for others. Any part which a specialist Muslim doctor has said must not be washed is like a wound. In making masah on it a man, a woman, a muhdis and a junub are all in the same category. Intention is not necessary for any of them. Ibni Abidin 'rahmatullahu 'alaih', after explaining the fards in an ablution, writes: "If a person who has a wound or cut on his hand cannot use water, that is, if he cannot wash his hands with water or put his face, head, ears or feet in the water he makes tayammum. A person one part of whose arm or foot has been cut away washes the surface of the remaining part." If a prisoner who is fastened by the hands and feet cannot perform tayammum, without an ablution he makes the ruku' and sajda without reciting the suras. If he cannot do this, either, he performs the namaz standing by making signs. When he becomes free he performs it again.

    A person WITH AN EXCUSE performs ablution whenever he likes. With this ablution he performs as many fard and supererogatory prayers of namaz as he likes and reads the Qur'an as much as he likes. When the prescribed time of namaz is over, his ablution is broken automatically. Performing a new ablution after each prayer time arrives, he does every kind of worship until the time is over. He cannot perform a prayer of namaz with the ablution he made before the time of the prayer has arrived. With the exception of early afternoon prayer, he cannot perform any of the other four prayers with an ablution he has made before the beginning of that prayer time. For, the beginning of early afternoon prayer is not at the same time the end of another prayer time. The continuous excuse of a person does not break his ablution within a prayer time. However, it will be broken by another cause. When the prayer time is over it will be broken by the excuse, too.

   Having an excuse requires that something is breaking the ablution continuously. A person who, within the duration of any prayer of namaz which is fard to perform, could not keep his ablution even as long as to perform only the fard namaz if he made an ablution at any time from the beginning till the end of the time of the namaz, becomes an excused person at the moment he notices his excuse. For example, if one of the causes breaking an ablution exists continuously, such as the blood of istihada (see the following chapter), urine and other issues, diarrhea, incontinent wind-breaking, the issuing of blood and pus from a wound, the oozing of blood or any liquid from the nipples, navel, nose, eyes, or ears because of some pain, that is, if from the beginning till the end of any prescribed prayer time one could not stop it as long as to make an ablution and perform only the fard prayer, one becomes a person with an excuse. If the excuse begins long enough to perform the fard prayer after the arrival of the prayer time, one waits until it is nearly the end of the prayer time and, if it has not stopped, makes an ablution at the end of the time and performs the namaz of the time. After the time of the namaz is over, if it stops within the time of the next prayer of namaz, one performs one's former namaz again. If it never stops from the beginning until the end of the time of the next prayer time of namaz, this means that one has become a person with an excuse and will not have to perform one's former namaz again.

 [It is stated in (the book) Al-fiqh-u-ala madhahib-ul-arba'a:

"According to a second report in the Maliki Madhhab, for having an 'udhr (excuse), it will be enough for the involuntary emission that is a result of some illness and which breaks an ablution to occur only once. It does not need to continue throughout the duration of time allotted for a prayer of namaz. Those invalid or old people who suffer involuntary urination or windbreaking before or during namaz, in case of haraj and difficulty, are permitted to imitate the Maliki Madhhab lest they should lose their ablution, which would consequently cost them their namaz; in this case, it will be sahih for them to be imam (and conduct the namaz in jamaat)."]

   In the explanation of the namaz in jamaat (which will be explained in detail in Chapter 20), it is stated that a person with an excuse cannot be an imam for healthy people. In this text, in addition to being without an ablution continuously, having more than one dirham of najasat on you and being naked and being unable to read the Qur'an al-karim correctly are counted as excuses. Therefore, a person with one of these excuses cannot be an imam for those who do not have these excuses. Also, it is explained in the section on ghusl ablution that a person with a filled or crowned tooth should imitate (follow) the Shafi'i or Maliki Madhhab in order to be the imam of the namaz for the Hanafis who are without filled or crowned teeth. [Please see chapter 20!]

   A sick person who has an excuse can make up his prayers which he did not perform when he did not have an excuse.

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Last modified: 08/29/06