In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Book of Iʿtikāf (Spiritual Retreat)

In Arabic usage, iʿtikāf means staying and remaining in a place. Someone is said to have undertaken iʿtikāf in a particular place when he stays there, remains there, and does not leave it. The verb ʿakafa is also used of someone who stays with another person and remains by his side. Hence the words of Allah, Exalted and Majestic:

“And look at your god to which you remained devoted.” [Tā Hā: 97]

That is, remaining with it and constantly attending to it. He, Exalted and Majestic, also says:

“What are these statues to which you are devoted?” [al-Anbiyāʾ: 52]

That is, to which you constantly attend. He also says:

“Then they came upon a people devoted to idols of theirs.” [al-Aʿrāf: 138]

That is, they constantly attended to them and persisted in worshipping them. In Islamic law, iʿtikāf retains its linguistic meaning of remaining, except that it means remaining engaged in a particular activity to the exclusion of others, in a specific place beyond which one does not go, subject to conditions firmly established by the Sunnah.

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There is disagreement about the activity in question. One view restricts it to prayer, recitation of the Quran, and remembrance of Allah Most High, excluding all other righteous deeds. This is the position of Ibn al-Qāsim, for he does not permit a person observing iʿtikāf to visit the sick, study religious knowledge with others, or offer funeral prayers, even though all these are righteous deeds. Another view includes all righteous deeds concerned exclusively with the Hereafter. This is the position of Ibn Wahb, for he sees no objection to a person observing iʿtikāf studying religious knowledge with others or visiting the sick—meaning within the place of his retreat,