Sunan Abi Dawud 162
سنن أبي داود#162Sahihحَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْعَلاَءِ، حَدَّثَنَا حَفْصٌ، - يَعْنِي ابْنَ غِيَاثٍ - عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ خَيْرٍ، عَنْ عَلِيٍّ، - رضى الله عنه - قَالَ لَوْ كَانَ الدِّينُ بِالرَّأْىِ لَكَانَ أَسْفَلُ الْخُفِّ أَوْلَى بِالْمَسْحِ مِنْ أَعْلاَهُ وَقَدْ رَأَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَمْسَحُ عَلَى ظَاهِرِ خُفَّيْهِ .
Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib: If the religion were based on opinion, it would be more important to wipe the under part of the shoe than the upper but I have seen the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wiping over the upper part of his shoes
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave, each scholar counted once — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. When they judged only its chain of narrators (“Isnaad”), the label says “Sound chain”. Each scholar's own wording:
Our source also lists this ruling under Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid, the editor of the printed edition it was taken from. It is al-Albani's ruling printed again, so it is counted once.
In-book reference: 1:162