Wearing shoes made of pig skin
3-11-2009 | IslamWeb
Question:
Asalamualaikum...i have a doubt here about pig skin shoes...that day..my friend brought a shoe from a store which is placed in normal category shoes..after a month...we saw the same shoe(same pattern and color) in another franchise of that store placed under the category of pig skinned shoe...now we are in doubt whether my friends shoe is really made out of pig skin or not..my friend checked the skin..there is no 3dots and signs showing it is made out of pig skin..what should we do...when my friend wore that shoe some times his shoe used to touched my leg skin...i mean..his foot step of the shoe touched my leg skin..i dont know that time my leg was wet or not..i just came out from toilet i think..i dont really remember...did i have to wash my leg 7 times with water and the 1st one with soil mixed water?i'm really confused...but in the 1st place we are not really sure whether his shoe is from pig skin or not...what should i do?please help me..i'm really in doubt and confused i am really worried that my ibadah will not be accepted because of this issue..
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
As it is known, the skin of pig is impure and it does not become pure with tanning according to the view of the majority of the scholars 
. Therefore, the shoes that are made from pig skin are impure and it is not permissible to wear it according to this view. Our view in Islamweb, is that the skin of pig becomes pure after tanning it and it is permissible to wear the shoes that are made of the skin of pig. However, it is more appropriate to avoid it and not benefit from it especially during the prayer as a way of being on the safe side and avoiding the difference of opinion. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 82164 and 84103.
Nonetheless, the fact that the two kinds of shoes are identical in color and shape does not mean that the shoes of your friend are also made of the skin of pig. You may ask the shop owner where your friend purchased the shoes.
Even if we presume that it is made of the skin of pig, your foot does not become impure just by touching those shoes and your acts of worship do not become void. Therefore, you should not have whispers. Even according to the view that the skin of pig that is tanned does not become pure, the jurists stated that if an impurity touches something pure while both of them are dry, then it does not render it impure. If an impurity is dry and a dry thing touches it, then the impurity is not transferred to it by this, but if it is wet, it renders the dry thing that touches it impure.
Contrarily, if the impurity is dry and it is touched by a pure wet or soft thing, then the impurity is transferred to it according to the view of many scholars . For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 81546.