and, in his view, likewise offering funeral prayers if the crowd of people performing them extends as far as where he is. We specified deeds concerned exclusively with the Hereafter in order to exclude adjudicating disputes and reconciling people.

Section

As for the place, it is the mosque. There is disagreement over whether iʿtikāf may be observed in every mosque or only in certain mosques. According to the well-known position reported from Mālik—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—iʿtikāf is valid in every mosque. There is no objection to observing it in a mosque where Friday prayer is not held if the person is not obliged to attend Friday prayer, if the mosque is situated somewhere from which he is not obliged to travel to attend it, or if no Friday occurs during his retreat. This accords with the apparent meaning of the words of Allah, Exalted and Majestic:

“While you are staying for worship in the mosques.” [al-Baqarah: 187]

For He mentioned mosques generally, without singling out some to the exclusion of others. Ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam reported from Mālik that iʿtikāf may be observed only in a mosque where Friday prayer is held. This was also the view of a group of the early generations. It is reported from Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān and Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab that iʿtikāf may be observed only in a mosque built like the Prophet’s Mosque—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—the Mosque of Aelia, and the Sacred House.

According to Mālik—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—women and men are alike in this respect. This differs from the position of Abū Hanīfah and his companions, who hold that a woman may observe iʿtikāf only in the prayer area of her home. Those who defend their position cite the Prophet’s words—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“A woman must not travel a day and a night’s journey unless accompanied by a male relative whom she is permanently forbidden to marry.”

They also cite the report of ʿĀʾishah:

“Had the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—seen what women have introduced, he would have barred them from the mosque, just as the women of the Children of Israel were barred from it.”

They say: Those who permit this cannot take as evidence the Messenger of Allah’s permission—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—for some of his wives to observe iʿtikāf with him. It is possible that this concession applied to them, unlike other women, because he was with them as their husband, or because marriage to them was forbidden to all Muslims other than him. A woman may travel long distances with her husband or with male relatives whom she is permanently forbidden to marry, whereas women may not do so with anyone else. Allah is the One who guides to what is right.

Ibn Lubābah held that iʿtikāf is valid outside a mosque, and that refraining from intimate contact