for ten unspecified days must observe them consecutively; if he breaks them for a legitimate excuse he resumes upon his return, but if he interrupts them without excuse he must start over. Iʿtikāf is valid only in a mosque where the congregational prayers are held. Whoever vows to spend ten days in retreat must do so in the main congregational (Jumuʿah) mosque; should he undertake it elsewhere he would have to go out for the Friday prayer, and—according to Mālik—his retreat would be rendered invalid. ʿAbd al-Malik, however, maintains that he may leave for Jumuʿah, attend it, then return to his place and his iʿtikāf remains sound.
Anyone who intends a retreat of a day or longer is to enter his place of seclusion before sunset of the night preceding the day he wishes to begin, and he leaves after sunset of the final day. Entering before dawn would still suffice. Mālik recommends that a person observing the last ten nights of Ramadan spend the night preceding Eid al-Fiṭr in the mosque and proceed from there to the place of prayer. If someone in such a retreat falls ill and recovers before Eid, he returns to his spot and continues, building on what has passed; but if the festival overtakes him while he is still indisposed, he goes home, for iʿtikāf is not valid on that day. This is the report of Ibn al-Qāsim.
Ibn Nāfiʿ relates from him that the retreatant should break his fast, go out with the people to the Eid prayer, then return to his place of seclusion without entering his house, and that the time he spends in the mosque on Eid day is not counted as part of his iʿtikāf. ʿAbd al-Malik holds the same view, saying that the day of Eid in this respect is like the nights of fasting; Sahnūn also preferred this opinion.
If someone observes five days of retreat in Ramadan and five in Shawwāl, he should leave the mosque on the day of Eid to visit his family and then return before sunset that same day. ʿAbd al-Malik, however, says he should remain in the mosque that entire day, not go out to his family, and that the day is to be treated like the nights of retreat.
The retreatant may not leave the mosque for anything except relieving himself or obtaining the indispensable nourishment and provisions—nor