586 – ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “The sunnah for a person in iʿtikāf is that he does not visit the sick, attend a funeral, touch his wife, have intercourse with her, or leave (the mosque) to fulfil a need except one that is unavoidable. There is no iʿtikāf without fasting, and iʿtikāf is valid only in a congregational mosque.” Reported by Abū Dāwūd, and there is no weakness in its transmitters, although the stronger view is that the last part is mawqūf. ⦗1⦘

Hadith grading:
The root of the report is found in al-Bukhārī (2025) and Muslim (1172) from the hadith of ʿĀʾishah: “The Prophet ﷺ used to observe iʿtikāf during the last ten nights of Ramadan until Allah caused him to die.” Al-Bayhaqī added (8377): she said, “The sunnah for the one in iʿtikāf is that he should not visit a sick person …,” and so on; its chain is sound. Abū Dāwūd likewise recorded this additional wording with a good isnād that meets Muslim’s criteria.

Vocabulary of the hadith:
• al-sunnah: meaning the religion and Sacred Law; ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) was attributing these rulings to the Prophet ﷺ, both in word and deed.
• yaʿūdu (to “visit”): from ʿāda – yaʿūdu – ʿawdan; one who does so is ʿāʾid, plural ʿuwwad or ʿuwwād. Visiting a sick person is termed ʿiyādah.
• yashhad (to “attend”): shahida – yashhadu – shuhūdan; i.e., to be present. Here it refers to accompanying a funeral procession until burial.
• janāzah (“funeral”): the jīm may be vocalised with fatḥah or kasrah, the latter being more eloquent, and the nūn is lightened; its plural is