Salafi Research Institute SRI
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
وأنتم عاكفون في المساجد [٢: ١٨٧]
“While you are doing I’tikāf in the mosques” [2: 187]
قال ابن حجر: فعلم من ذكر المساجد أن المراد أن الاعتكاف لا يكون إلا فيها [فتح البارئ (٤/ ٢٧٢)]
Ibn Ḥajar said: “So it is known from the mention of the mosques that what is intended is that Iʿtikāf does not occur except in them.” [Fatḥ al-Bārī (4/272)]
قال مالك فعم الله المساجد كلها. ولم يخصص شيئا منها [موطأ مالك (١١١٣)]
Mālik said: “So Allāh made it general for all mosques, and He did not specify any particular one among them” [Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik (1113)]
This brings to an important principle which al-Shāfi’i said:
والقرآن على ظاهره حتى تأتي دلالة منه أو سنة أو إجماع بأنه على باطن دون ظاهر [الرسالة (٨١٨)]
“And the Qur’ān is upon its apparent (meaning) until an evidence comes from it (the Qur’an) or Sunnah or Ijma’ that it is upon a hidden (meaning) not an apparent one.” [Al-Risālah (1727)]
Meaning that the default is that if a person wants to specify a condition, he must come with evidence for this is something the people of knowledge have consensus about [cf. al-Ishrāf by Ibn al-Mundhir 4/212]. Therefore, those who condition fasting or certain mosques as a condition for I’tikāf are wrong and against clear evidences.
عن الزهري قال: لا اعتكاف إلا في مسجد جماعة يجمع فيه [ابن أبي شيبة (٩٩٣٢) وسنده صحيح]
Al-Zuhrī said: “There is no Iʿtikāf except in a congregational masjid in which congregational prayers are held.” [Ibn Abī Shaybah (9932); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
شعبة قال: سألت الحكم وحمادًا عن الاعتكاف (فقالا): لا يعتكف إلا في مسجد يجمعون فيه [ابن أبي شيبة (٩٩٣٣) وسنده صحيح]
Shuʿbah said: I asked al-Ḥakam and Ḥammād about Iʿtikāf, so they said: “One does not perform Iʿtikāf except in a masjid where they gather for congregational prayers.” [Ibn Abī Shaybah (9933); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
عن أبي جعفر قال: لا اعتكاف إلا في مسجد يجمع فيه [ابن أبي شيبة (٩٩٣٤) وسنده صحيح]
Abū Jaʿfar (al-Ṣādiq) said: “There is no Iʿtikāf except in a masjid in which congregational prayers are held.” [Ibn Abī Shaybah (9934); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
عروة بن الزبير قال: لا اعتكاف إلا في مسجد جماعة [ابن أبي شيبة (٩٩٣٥) وسنده صحيح]
ʿUrwah bin al-Zubayr said: “There is no Iʿtikāf except in a congregational masjid.” [Ibn Abī Shaybah (9935); Isnād Ṣaḥīḥ]
All of these narrations have been authenticated by shaykh Amanpuri. Another benefit derived from this is that women can’t do I’tikāf in their house [cf. Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 8/68]
