fasting for iʿtikāf—no verse from the Book, no prophetic Sunnah, no consensus, and no sound analogy establishes it. As for the report from ʿĀʾishah, “There is no iʿtikāf without fasting,” it is mawqūf, and whoever transmits it as a prophetic statement is mistaken. Likewise, the wording found in Abū Dāwūd (2474), “Make iʿtikāf and fast,” is weak.
Even if we were to grant that the first report is marfūʿ and the second authentic, their purport would still be recommendation, for fasting during iʿtikāf is superior, not obligatory.
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The jurists say: Whoever vows to observe iʿtikāf while fasting, or to fast during his iʿtikāf, must combine the two. The proof is al-Bukhārī’s narration (6700) from ʿĀʾishah that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever vows to obey Allah must obey Him,” and a command denotes obligation.
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The ḥadith also indicates that if a disbeliever makes a vow while in disbelief that accords with Islamic law, then embraces Islam, he must fulfill that vow even though he made it before believing. This was the view of Imām Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, Ibn Jarīr, and a group of Shāfiʿī scholars; the wording of the ḥadith is explicit, and because disbelievers are addressed by the subsidiary rulings of the Law just as they are addressed by its fundamentals.
Most scholars, however, held that such a vow is not binding, arguing that an act of worship is not valid from a disbeliever until he accepts Islam. Al-Ṭaḥāwī said: A disbeliever cannot validly draw near to Allah through worship.
The first opinion is the sounder one.
- This ḥadith likewise proves that someone who swore an oath while a disbeliever, then accepted Islam and later broke the oath, must offer the expiation; the same applies to ẓihār—it is valid and requires expiation. This is the position of the two Imāms, al-Shāfiʿī and Aḥmad, may Allah have mercy on them both.
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End of the Book of Oaths.