Feet in Salah: To Cover or Not to Cover?
Assalamu alaikum everyone. As a revert, alhamdulillah, I'm not tied to one madhab yet and would appreciate clarity on an issue with evidence from different opinions, jazakumullahu khairan. I've learned there's a difference among scholars about whether women must cover their feet during prayer. This has really played on my mind because I sometimes struggle with waswas, leading me to repeat prayers over doubts about my awrah, even though I know in fiqh, initial certainty shouldn't be overturned by later uncertainty. When I first started praying, I sometimes prayed in a long skirt with my feet showing in ruku and sujood, thinking the differing views meant it was optional. After finding out the majority opinion favors covering, I began covering them. Recently, I prayed with socks that were slightly sheer-like, if you stared close with a flash, you might see skin through the stitching, but from a distance probably not, especially since they matched my skin tone. I worried but then recalled the minority view that feet don't need covering, plus some fatwas say it's fine if skin isn't visible from about 5 meters away (though I'm still unsure in my case). Another time, my socks were a bit see-through at the toes, but only under close inspection. I looked up fatwas and they clearly said no to such socks for prayer. My question is: do I need to repeat those past prayers where my feet were somewhat exposed? Honestly, I've been trying to avoid repeating anything to fight the waswas-it got so bad I'd redo prayers over doubts about wudhu, my hijab, khushu, or pronunciation, and even refast days in winter over imagined swallowing during showers. I don't want to go overboard ignoring waswas and end up with invalid prayers, but I also don't remember exactly how many prayers might be affected, which is disheartening. Any advice would mean a lot.