He removed his leather socks, and the people looked at him. He said, "I have indeed seen the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wipe over them, but I prefer to perform the full ablution."
أنه نزع خفيه، فنظروا إليه، فقال: أما أني قد رأيت رسول الله ﷺ يمسح عليهما، ولكن حبب إلي الوضوء.
Ahmad narrated it (23574), saying, Muhammad bin Ubayd told us, Amash told us, from Musayab bin Rafi, from Ali bin Mudrak, who said, I saw Abu Ayub take off his socks, and he mentioned it. Its isnad is sahih. Muhammad bin Ubayd is Ibn Abu Umaya Tanafisi.Tabarani also narrated it in Kabir (4040) through the route of Muhammad bin Ubayd, with the same wording.Ibn Abu Shayba (1/176), Tabarani (3982), and Bayhaqi (1/293) also narrated it, all of them through the route of Mansur bin Zazan, from Ibn Sirin, from Aflah, the freed slave of Ayub, from Ayub, mentioning something similar.Hafiz said in Matalib Aliyah (1/no. 100), after narrating it through the channel of Ibn Abu Shayba, "Its isnad is sahih."Harith narrated it in his Musnad, Bughyat Bahith (81), and Abdul-Razzaq (769), both of them through the route of Muhammad bin Sirin, from Abu Ayub, without an intermediary, and he did not attribute it to the Prophet.