for its maximum any binding limit. True, all of the jurists prefer the last ten days of Ramadan, yet iʿtikāf is in principle permissible throughout the entire year—absolutely so according to those who do not regard fasting as a prerequisite, and at every time except the days on which fasting itself is forbidden according to those who do.
As for the minimum period, they differed, and they likewise disagreed about the exact moment when the devotee must enter the mosque to begin his retreat and the moment at which he should leave it. Concerning the shortest valid duration, al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Ḥanīfah, and the majority of jurists hold that there is no lower limit at all.
The reports from Mālik are varied. One view stipulates three days; a second says a day and a night; while Ibn al-Qāsim relates from him that the least is ten days. The Baghdādīs among his followers consider the ten merely recommended and maintain that the minimum is a single day and night.
The root of their disagreement is the clash between analogy and transmitted evidence.
By analogy, anyone who believes fasting to be a condition argues: “iʿtikāf for only a night is invalid. If one night is invalid, the least that can be accepted is a day together with its night, for the fast of the day actually begins at night.”
The opposing textual proof is the report recorded by al-Bukhārī: “ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—vowed to observe iʿtikāf for one night, and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, commanded him to fulfil his vow.” In the face of such an authentic report, further reasoning has no weight.
Regarding the time of entry for someone who has vowed a specified number of days—or a single day—Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Abū Ḥanīfah agree that whoever vows a full month must enter the mosque before sunset.
For one who vows a single day, al-Shāfiʿī says: “He should enter before dawn (fajr) and depart after sunset.” Mālik applies the same ruling to both a day and a month.
Zufar and al-Layth likewise require entry before dawn, making no distinction between a day and a month.
Abū Thawr differentiates between nights and days: if the vow is for ten days he must enter before dawn, whereas if it is for ten nights he must enter before sunset.
Al-Awzāʿī holds that one begins his iʿtikāf after the Fajr Prayer.
The cause of all these differences is the competition among various analogies and their collective collision with the transmitted proof. Thus, whoever regards the first part of a month as its night and therefore counts nights says: “He must enter before sunset.” Whoever does not count the nights says: “He must enter before dawn.”
And whoever maintains that the Arabic word “day” embraces both night and daylight requires, when a person vows a single day, that he enter before sunset; whereas whoever limits the term to the daylight hours obliges entry