Islamic Fiqh > Fasting > Ramadan: fasting, rules and dispensations > The general rules of fasting
Contents
Updated on 27 September 2026 at 3:52 AM
Alongside fasting itself, the sheets cover i'tikaf, the retreat of worship in the mosque that the Prophet observed during the last ten nights of Ramadan: its required purity, its intention, its place, its duration, the permitted exits, what voids it and the recommended occupation. They also join general rules of fasting, such as the guardian's charge over the child.
Every rule is reported with its school opinions and proofs as the sources carry them, hadiths and numbers included.
I'tikaf is not valid in a state of janabah, the mu'takif then being forbidden to stay in the mosque (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 3/6; Radd al-Muhtar, 2/485; Nihayat al-Muhtaj, 2/354). The jurists agreed on the validity of the woman's i'tikaf with the stated conditions, the married woman needing her husband's authorization: i'tikaf suits her only with his permission. Then the difference: he authorized the voluntary i'tikaf, she entered it; can he prevent her from completing it? Abu Hanifah and Malik: he cannot, for in authorizing it he relinquished his right to her service and intimacy with no possibility of return, constituted for himself the transfer of a benefit he possessed for the sake of Allah, and covered her with an intended act of nearness he cannot undo, as if he authorized her pilgrimage and she entered ihram. Al-Shafi'i and Ahmad: he can, for whoever can prevent her at the start can prevent her continually, like the loan for use; the pilgrimage differs, it binds only upon entering ihram, unlike i'tikaf. If she has vowed i'tikaf and the husband wishes to prevent her from entering it: the vow made with his permission, with his support, escapes him; made without his permission, he can prevent her (al-Mughni, 4/291; al-Majmu', 6/470).
The majority of jurists, Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis, admit the stipulation and its validity in obligatory i'tikaf, by the account of Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) concerning Dhuba'ah bint al-Zubayr:
The Messenger of Allah visited Dhuba'ah bint al-Zubayr and said to her: do you wish to perform the pilgrimage? She said: by Allah, I am but a sick woman. He said to her: perform the pilgrimage and stipulate a condition, say: O Allah, my release wherever You detain me.
narrated by al-Bukhari (5089) and Muslim (1207)
Ibn Taymiyyah draws from it: ihram, the most binding of acts of worship through its bond at entry, admits the condition that departs from its original cause; i'tikaf more so (Sharh al-Umda, 2/809). Al-Shafi'i: nothing prevents stipulating a condition in obligatory i'tikaf, so that he says: if an event befalls me, I exit (al-Umm, 2/157). Al-Athram reports that Ahmad was asked about the mu'takif who stipulates eating with his family: if he has stipulated, yes; he was told: you validate the condition in i'tikaf? He said: yes; and sleeping with his family? He said: if it is voluntary, it passes (al-Mughni, 4/274). Ibn Taymiyyah comments: some companions drew from the account the permission to stipulate sleeping at home from the permission to stipulate eating, and this is not good: Ahmad allowed eating by condition without restriction, and sleeping at home only for the voluntary, without tying it to a condition, so it is known that it does not pass in the vow; and the condition is not the issue, but the fact that the voluntary act may be left at any moment, the one who sleeps with his family making i'tikaf of the day without the night (Sharh al-Umda, 2/811). Ibn Qudamah adds: the obligation arises from the contract, the condition there standing as in the waqf; i'tikaf not being tied to a quantity, stipulating the exit amounts to vowing the quantity maintained; and whoever says: if I fall sick or an event befalls me, I exit, his condition is valid (al-Mughni, 4/275).
The Malikis, who carry the view opposite the soundest view of the Shafi'is, nullify the condition. Malik: I never heard a man of knowledge stipulate a condition in i'tikaf; i'tikaf is an act of worship among acts of worship, like prayer, fasting and pilgrimage: whoever enters it acts only by the past sunna, with no right to introduce into it a condition or an innovation, the Prophet having made i'tikaf and the Muslims knowing its sunna (al-Muwatta, 1/332; Sharh al-Zarqani, 2/377). The majority then differ over what the condition may cover.
The Hanafis: stipulating at the time of the vow the exit for visiting a sick person, praying a funeral or attending a circle of knowledge is permitted (ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, 2/493; Hashiyat at-Tahtawi, 1/462).
The Hanbalis and the Shafi'is in the soundest view: i'tikaf binds by the commitment, he owes according to what he committed to; the stipulated exit for a lawful sought need, not contradicting i'tikaf, validates the condition: if the need is specific, like visiting a particular sick person, he exits only for it, even if something else is more important; if the need is general, like work that befalls, he exits for every important religious duty, Friday or congregational prayer, or lawful need such as claiming a debt, with no exit for what is forbidden.
The Hanbalis specify: stipulating the exit for trade, hire or a craft practiced in the mosque is an invalid condition without disagreement; and the clause: if I fall sick or an event befalls me, I exit, is valid in the correct course of the madhhab (al-Insaf, 3/376; al-Mughni, 4/284; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/359; Mughni al-Muhtaj, 2/213-214). All this bears on obligatory i'tikaf, that is, the vow; for the voluntary, Ibn Qudamah: exiting to visit a sick person or attend a funeral is permitted, each of the two deeds being voluntary with nothing imposed, but staying within his i'tikaf is better, the Prophet not visiting the sick during his i'tikaf; if he exits for a necessity and asks after the sick person on the way without stopping, it is permitted, the Prophet having done so; if he stipulated it, he has the right to it, i'tikaf obligatory or not, and likewise the acts of nearness, visiting his family, a righteous man or a scholar, attending a funeral, and indispensable lawful needs such as dining and sleeping at home (al-Mughni, 4/274).
Ibn Qudamah first recalls the series of necessary exits that do not break i'tikaf: eating and drinking when no one brings them, vomiting outside the mosque, everything one cannot do without and cannot do in the mosque, the obligations of Allah such as the exit of the woman in waiting to count her period, saving a drowning person, extinguishing a fire, giving a testimony that is due (al-Mughni, 4/268-271). The case of Friday: whoever owes the Friday prayer and makes a continuous i'tikaf in a mosque where it is not held is a sinner, and the exit for Friday becomes obligatory upon him, the prayer being an obligation. Difference: does this exit void the i'tikaf?
The Hanafis, the Hanbalis and Malik in one narration: no, for he exited for an obligation, as the woman in waiting exits to count her period, as the one who saves a drowning person, extinguishes a fire or gives a due testimony, and because whoever vows days containing a Friday has excepted it by his own words (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 3/22; al-Insaf, 3/380; Tabyin al-Haqa'iq, 1/351). Ibn Qudamah: exiting for an obligation maintains the i'tikaf so long as one does not linger, the exit resembling the exit for a need; for Friday, hastening is permitted, Ahmad: I hope it is granted him, a permitted exit allowing haste, like the exit for a need (al-Mughni, 4/268-269).
The Malikis in the most widespread course and the Shafi'is: the exit for Friday voids the i'tikaf, which is restarted, for he could have avoided it by settling in the Friday mosque; the Shafi'is except the stipulated exit: the condition is valid and the exit does not void (al-Majmu', 6/514; Hashiyat ad-Dasuqi, 2/182; Mughni al-Muhtaj, 2/213).
The consensus of the four schools, Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis in the madhhab, refuses the exit for visiting a sick person or praying a funeral, no necessity requiring it, except a stipulated condition with the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis. The proofs:
When the Messenger of Allah made i'tikaf, he entered the house only for a human need.
narrated by al-Bukhari (2029) and Muslim (297)
The sunna for the mu'takif: not to visit a sick person, not to attend a funeral, not to touch a woman nor be intimate with her, and not to exit for a need, except the indispensable.
sahih hadith, cited above
It is not an obligation: one therefore does not abandon the obligatory i'tikaf for it, as one does not for walking with his brother in a need to be settled for him. Ibn Qudamah: if the funeral prayer is due from him and he can perform it in the mosque, the exit is not permitted; if he cannot, the exit is permitted him; if the burial or the washing of the deceased is fixed upon him, he may exit for it, a determined obligation that precedes i'tikaf as Friday does (al-Mughni, 4/274). If he exits for a necessity then passes by a sick person or a funeral, it is permitted on condition of not prolonging the stay; by the majority, the stop by the sick person does not exceed the greeting:
He passed by the sick person during his i'tikaf without stopping, he asked after him.
narrated by Abu Dawud (2472)
a narration graded weak by al-Albani in Da'if Abi Dawud (532); and the words of Aishah: I entered the house for a need, the sick person was there, and I asked after him only in passing (narrated by Muslim (297)). Ahmad in one narration permits the visit and the funeral even without a condition, by the account of Asim ibn Damrah from Ali: when a man makes i'tikaf, let him attend Friday, visit the sick person, pray the funeral, come to his family and settle their need standing (narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah in his Musannaf, 3/334; Ahmad: Asim ibn Damrah is a proof with me; al-Mughni, 4/273).
The Malikis, united with the majority on the voiding, refuse to validate the condition of these exits, a condition in worship of what contradicts it, like stipulating in prayer to eat if needed; they yet make obligatory the exit to visit a sick person of the father or the mother, one or both, by filial piety, more pressing than the promised i'tikaf: the exit voids it and he makes it up, the exit being neither of the kind of i'tikaf nor a primary need the mu'takif cannot part with, but an event like exiting to save a drowning person, obligatory and voiding; and everything akin to it, like the exit for piety toward parents, follows the same status (Hashiyat ad-Dasuqi, 2/182; Balghat as-Salik, 1/470; al-Muwatta, 1/312-313). For voluntary i'tikaf, exiting for the visit or the funeral is permitted, staying is better, and asking after the sick person on the way without stopping is permitted, the Prophet having done so (al-Mughni, 4/274).
A prior question of expiation: Ibn al-Mundhir reports that most of the people of knowledge, the people of Madinah, Syria and Iraq, place no expiation upon whoever voids his i'tikaf: a worship not originally prescribed, it carries no expiation through its voiding, like voluntary acts; wealth does not enter into its compensation, as with prayer; and expiation is established only by legislation, which has prescribed nothing here. Ahmad in one narration, chosen by the qadi, places an expiation upon him (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 3/25; al-Insaf, 3/380; al-Majmu', 6/510; Tafsir al-Qurtubi, 2/332).
The exit itself: the jurists agree that exiting the mosque, for the man and the woman, and with the Hanafis also the woman's exit from the mosque of her house, voids the obligatory i'tikaf when made without need; the Malikis and Abu Hanifah in the narration of al-Hasan extend it to the recommended i'tikaf, small or great exit, the exit contradicting the staying and what contradicts a thing standing by the little as by the much, like eating and drinking in the fast or impurity within purity. Abu Yusuf and Muhammad: it voids only beyond half the day, by juristic preference, a broader course, the small exit being necessary to meet needs (al-Bahr al-Ra'iq, 2/322; al-Mabsut, 3/123; Ibn Abidin, 2/495). If the exit has a necessary cause, what one cannot do without: the natural need, the major ablution after janabah, mobilization, fear of discord, the waiting period of the woman whose husband has died, menses and lochia, the i'tikaf does not fall with them all. Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her):
The Messenger of Allah would incline his head toward me while he was in the mosque, and I would comb it; he did not enter the house for a need when he was in i'tikaf.
narrated by al-Bukhari (2029) and Muslim (297)
Her words: the sunna for the mu'takif is not to exit for a need, except the indispensable. Ibn Qudamah: no disagreement: the exit toward the indispensable is permitted him. Ibn al-Mundhir: the people of knowledge agreed that the mu'takif may exit his retreat for his natural needs (al-Ijma', p. 34): it is of the indispensable, impossible to do in the mosque, and were the i'tikaf to fall by this exit, no one could validly make i'tikaf; the Prophet made i'tikaf and exited for his need; the human need designates urine and excrement, designated by euphemism; the same holds for the need to eat and drink when no one brings it, and for vomiting: everything indispensable impossible in the mosque permits the exit, without voiding, the i'tikaf resting upon him so long as he does not linger (al-Mughni, 4/267; al-Majmu', 6/524, 531; al-Ijma', p. 40).
Is i'tikaf without fasting valid? Abu Hanifah in the narration of al-Hasan, some of the early Hanafis, the Malikis, a word attributed to the old al-Shafi'i and Ahmad in one narration: no. Proofs: the words of Aishah: no i'tikaf without fasting (narrated by al-Daruqutni (2/199), al-Hakim (1/441) and al-Bayhaqi (4/317), graded weak by al-Albani, who reports the version of al-Mahfuz: the sunna for whoever makes i'tikaf is to fast, narrated by Abu Dawud (2473) and al-Bayhaqi (4/320) with a sahih chain); Umar had vowed i'tikaf at the Ka'bah in the Jahiliyyah and asked the Prophet, who said: make i'tikaf and fast (narrated by Abu Dawud (2474)); and the Quran, which mentions i'tikaf with fasting:
Eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread at dawn. Then complete the fast until night, and do not approach these women while you are in retreat in the mosques.
Surah al-Baqarah, 187
Malik: the order with us is that there is no i'tikaf without fasting. Abd al-Wahhab of the Malikis: do not approach these women while you are in retreat in the mosques, restricts the address to the fasting person, and without fasting as a condition the statement would lose its meaning; the most frequent state of i'tikaf is to be general, and the Prophet clarified it by his deed: he made i'tikaf fasting, never reported otherwise; staying in a place not being in itself an act of worship, like the standing at Arafah (al-Ishraf, p. 212-213).
The Shafi'is in the madhhab, the Hanbalis in the most widespread course, and the apparent Hanafi course: fasting is not a condition of the validity of i'tikaf. Ibn Umar: I vowed i'tikaf for a night in the Sacred Mosque, and he said: fulfill your vow (narrated by al-Bukhari (1938)); were fasting a condition, the night i'tikaf would be invalid, no fasting occurring in it; it is a worship valid at night, like the other worships; the obligation of fasting is a ruling requiring only legislation, with no text or agreement here; and the Prophet made i'tikaf the first ten days of Shawwal (narrated by Muslim (1172)), which includes the day of Eid, proof that fasting is not a condition. al-Kasani specifies: for voluntary i'tikaf, the condition is one of the two pillars of fasting itself, abstention from intercourse by the verse of retreat, not abstention from eating and drinking; the narration of al-Hasan from Abu Hanifah that makes it a condition ties to the question of boundedness: Muhammad in al-Asl holds the voluntary i'tikaf unbounded, valid even for an hour, hence with no fasting condition, fasting requiring the day; the narration of al-Hasan holds it bounded to a day, where fasting may become a condition (Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 3/9). Ibn Qudamah concludes: fasting is recommended in it, the Prophet fasted during his i'tikaf, the mu'takif being invited to worship and nearness, fasting among the best, freeing him from occupations and taking him out of the disagreement (al-Mughni, 4/256; al-Muwatta, 1/315; Majmu' al-Fatawa, 25/292).
Staying in the mosque is the pillar of i'tikaf with all the jurists. Its minimum duration in the recommended i'tikaf is a matter of assessments.
The Hanafis: at least a portion of time, night or day, per Muhammad, the apparent course of Abu Hanifah, the voluntary act resting on leniency and the ruling being given accordingly: i'tikaf being staying and residence, it is not measured by a full day like the standing at Arafah; the portion of time of the jurists designates a share of duration, not a quarter of the day (ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, 2/488; Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 3/23-24; Ibn Abidin, 2/488).
The Hanbalis carry the same course: Ibn Qudamah: whoever vows an absolute i'tikaf owes what makes him named mu'takif, even a portion of night or day; al-Insaf: the minimum, for the voluntary or the absolute vow, is what makes one called a staying mu'takif; al-Furu': apparently even a moment, while several companions hold a portion of time, not a moment, the apparent sense of his wording; the recommended with them is not to fall below a day and a night, to exit the disagreement (al-Insaf, 3/359; al-Furu', 3/118; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/347).
The Shafi'i course: the staying must exceed the time of stillness in bowing and its like: the time of the pillar does not suffice, but hesitation suffices. One voice: mere passing without staying suffices, like the standing at Arafah. Another voice: a stay of about a day, what is below it being the custom of needs settled in the mosque or on its path. Al-Shirbini rules: in the soundest view, the vow of a portion of time is valid, the absolute vow suffices with a moment, but the recommended is a day, and the sunna is to intend i'tikaf at every entry into the mosque (Mughni al-Muhtaj, 2/205; al-Iqna', 1/247). Among the Malikis the question divides: Ibn Wahb reports three days, Ibn Habib a day and a night, Ibn al-Qasim saw Malik disapprove that and fix ten days, and the Baghdadi companions of his hold the ten recommended and the minimum a day and a night (al-Istidhkar, 3/402; Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/429; al-Dhakhira, 2/542).
The jurists are united: no i'tikaf without intention, by the Prophet's words: deeds are only by intentions (narrated by al-Bukhari (1)), and because staying in the mosque may be habit or worship: the intention is what distinguishes the stay of habit from the stay of worship. Difference over the recommended i'tikaf interrupted by an exit: the Hanafis in the apparent madhhab, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis: the exit ends the recommended i'tikaf, and on return a new intention of another recommended i'tikaf becomes necessary, the exit from the mosque terminating the recommended i'tikaf without voiding it.
The Malikis, carrying the view opposite the soundest Hanafi view: the voluntary binds as soon as it has been intended, little or much, through entry into the retreat place, the voluntary act being completed only by entry; whoever does not enter it owes not what he intended; having entered then interrupted, the make-up is required even without a no-make-up condition. The apparent sense of the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis: neither completion nor make-up is owed (Radd al-Muhtar, 2/488-489; al-Mughni, 4/267; Hashiyat ad-Dasuqi, 2/187). All this bears on the exit toward what is not indispensable: toward the indispensable, the exit is permitted, as Ibn Qudamah establishes with the words of Aishah already cited.
For the man, the jurists agree: no valid i'tikaf outside a mosque, by the verse of retreat (surah al-Baqarah 187), and by the sunna: the Prophet made i'tikaf only in a mosque. They agree too that i'tikaf in the three mosques is better: the Sacred Mosque, then that of the Prophet, then al-Aqsa; and that the Friday mosque, where the Friday prayer is held, validates i'tikaf and is preferred to others after the three. On the other mosques: Abu Hanifah and the Hanbalis: i'tikaf validates only in a mosque where the five prayers are held in congregation, congregational prayer being obligatory; i'tikaf elsewhere leads to abandoning the congregational prayer or multiplying exits to reach it, which contradicts i'tikaf, the staying in Allah's obedience.
The Malikis, the Shafi'is, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad: every mosque stands, by the generality of the verse. Abu Yusuf distinguishes: obligatory i'tikaf requires the congregation mosque, the voluntary passes in any mosque (al-Mughni, 4/257; Bada'i' al-Sana'i', 3/16; al-Hawi al-Kabir, 3/486).
For the woman, the majority, Malikis, Shafi'is in the madhhab and Hanbalis: she is like the man, her i'tikaf validates only in a mosque, and not in the mosque of her house: the verse of retreat designates the places built for prayer, and the place of her prayer at home is not a mosque, not being built for it; if it is called a mosque, it is metaphorical, without the statuses of true mosques, like the earth being made for me a mosque (narrated by al-Bukhari (427)), replaceable and where the one in janabah sleeps; the mothers of the believers asked the Prophet's permission for i'tikaf in the mosque and he granted it: had i'tikaf at home been better for them, he would have directed them to it; and i'tikaf being a worship requiring the mosque for the man, it requires it for the woman, like the tawaf. A word is attributed to the old al-Shafi'i: the woman's i'tikaf in the mosque of her house is valid, as the place of her prayer. al-Nawawi reports that qadi Abu at-Tayyib and others disapproved that old opinion: never valid in the mosque of her house, and whoever reported two opinions erred (al-Majmu', 6/472-474).
The Hanafis: the woman's i'tikaf in her house is valid, and disliked as voluntary in the mosque; the mosque of her house is better for her than that of her quarter, which is better than the Great Mosque. al-Kasani: the mosque of her house holds the status of mosque for her in i'tikaf as in prayer, through the virtue of the congregation:
The woman's prayer in the mosque of her house is better than her prayer in her chamber, and her prayer in her courtyard is better than her prayer in the mosque of her quarter.
narrated by Abu Dawud (570)
a narration authenticated by al-Albani in Sahih Abi Dawud (579); elsewhere in the house, i'tikaf does not validate. Ibn Rushd sums the cause of the difference: analogy against the report. The report: Hafsah, Aishah and Zaynab, wives of the Prophet, asked permission for i'tikaf in the mosque and obtained it by pitching their tents, proof of the woman's i'tikaf in the mosque. The opposing analogy: the woman's prayer at home being better than in the mosque, her i'tikaf at home should be better (Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/429; al-Majmu', 6/472; Ahkam al-Quran, 1/303).
On the mu'takif's trade: al-Shafi'i permits him light dealings over his property, selling and buying without excess. Malik: if the i'tikaf is voluntary and the dealing light. Another narration of Malik, reported by al-Jallab, forbids absolutely: the mu'takif neither sells, nor buys, nor engages in a need or trade. Ahmad: neither sale nor purchase absolutely, little or much, nor sewing, whether the mu'takif needs it or not (al-Majmu', 6/558, 564; al-Insaf, 3/384). On silence, the jurists agree: it is disliked for the mu'takif until night, not being part of the legislation of Islam; the Hanafis and the Hanbalis declare it explicitly forbidden by the apparent reports:
Abu Bakr entered upon a woman of Ahmas named Zaynab and saw her not speaking. He said: why does she not speak? They said: she made the pilgrimage in silence. He said to her: speak, this is not permitted: it is a practice of the Jahiliyyah. She began to speak.
narrated by al-Bukhari (3620)
Continuous fasting is forbidden: Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) retained from the Messenger of Allah: no continuous fasting from day to night (narrated by Abu Dawud (2873), authenticated by al-Albani in Sahih al-Jami' (7609)). Ibn Qudamah: whoever vows continuous fasting is not bound to answer it, al-Shafi'i, the people of opinion and Ibn al-Mundhir say so, with no known opponent; the account of Ibn Abbas reports that Abu Isra'il had vowed to stand without sitting, without shelter, without speaking, and to fast, and the Prophet said: command him to speak, to take shelter, to sit and to complete his fast (narrated by al-Bukhari (6704)): the vow of a forbidden act does not bind, and whoever wished to perform it would be prevented, vow or not, the prohibition carrying to forbiddance; the words of Abu Bakr, this is not permitted: it is a practice of the Jahiliyyah, are explicit, with no known opposition from any companion, and following them is preferable (al-Mughni, 4/286-287; Hashiyat Ibn Abidin, 2/494; Fath al-Qadir, 2/398).
The jurists agree that the invocation of Allah, prayer and the reading of the Quran are recommended to the mu'takif, by the generality of the verses and the authenticity of the hadiths inviting to prayer, recitation, invocation and pure works of obedience. Difference over having him teach the Quran, the hadith or fiqh. Malik and Ahmad: not recommended, the Prophet not having been reported occupied, during i'tikaf, with anything besides the worships proper to i'tikaf, i'tikaf being a worship whose condition is the mosque, like the tawaf. Another narration of Malik reported by al-Jallab: nothing prevents the mu'takif writing in the mosque, reading and teaching the Quran. Ibn Wahb reports from Malik, asked about the mu'takif sitting in a circle of scholars and writing knowledge: let him not do it, except a light thing; the leaving is dearer to me. Abu Hanifah and al-Shafi'i: it is recommended, the seeking and teaching of knowledge being a collective obligation, better than the voluntary prayer, correcting prayer and the worships, and benefiting people, with concordant hadiths preferring the occupation of knowledge to the voluntary prayer. al-Marwazi reports from Ahmad, concerning the man who teaches in the mosque and wishes to make i'tikaf: let him teach, that is what I prefer. The qadi Abu Ya'la ibn al-Farra' fixes its basis: it is not recommended for the mu'takif to stand for teaching or study, i'tikaf being interrupted by it; then teaching would be better than i'tikaf, except that its benefit extends beyond. The vizier Ibn Hubayrah reconciles: Malik and Ahmad did not disapprove teaching in itself, but because teaching diverts the mu'takif's concern from contemplating the Quran toward memorizing for the student, his grasp of its meanings toward preserving the pronunciation for others; otherwise, one does not think they preferred any mu'takif worship to the meditative reading of the Quran; i'tikaf is the detention of the soul and the gathering of the heart to penetrate the contemplation of the Quran and the meanings of glorification, praise, oneness and the invocation of Allah, every scattered thought contradicting it (al-Ifsah, 1/441-442; Fath al-Qadir, 2/397-398; Kashshaf al-Qina', 2/363).
First invalidator: intercourse. Ibn al-Mundhir: the people of knowledge agreed that whoever has intercourse with his wife while in i'tikaf, deliberately, voids his i'tikaf (al-Ijma', p. 34); the vizier Ibn Hubayrah: they agreed that deliberate intercourse voids the vowed i'tikaf and the recommended i'tikaf together (al-Ifsah, 1/437). Ibn Qudamah: intercourse in i'tikaf is forbidden by consensus, the origin being: do not approach these women while you are in retreat in the mosques. These are the limits of Allah, so do not approach them (surah al-Baqarah 187); deliberate intercourse voids by the consensus reported from Ibn al-Mundhir, what is forbidden within a worship voiding it, as in the pilgrimage and the fast (al-Mughni, 4/276). On intercourse in forgetfulness: Abu Hanifah, Malik and Ahmad: it voids too, vowed and recommended i'tikaf, by the generality of the verse, the prohibition carrying the nullity of what is forbidden, and what is forbidden in i'tikaf voiding it, deliberate or not. Al-Shafi'i: it does not void, by: my community is forgiven error, forgetfulness and compulsion (sahih hadith, cited above), forgetful intercourse not voiding the fast, hence not the i'tikaf. On the kiss and the touch with desire: Abu Hanifah, Ahmad and al-Shafi'i in one of his two opinions: the i'tikaf does not void, but the mu'takif has done wrong in committing the forbidden, by the verse and by the words of Aishah on the mu'takif's sunna, not to touch a woman nor be intimate; what may lead to voiding being forbidden: if he ejaculates, his i'tikaf falls, otherwise it does not void. Malik and al-Shafi'i in the second opinion, the soundest: the kiss and the touch void, by the generality of the verse and because intercourse with ejaculation invalidates the i'tikaf, the kiss without ejaculation resembling it, like penetration. Finally, the majority of jurists, Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis in the madhhab: the intercourse voiding the continuing vowed i'tikaf, by the sane mu'takif knowing its prohibition, carries no expiation (al-Ifsah, 1/437; al-Mughni, 4/276).
Abu Hanifah, Malik, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad in the most widespread course and most of the people of knowledge: whoever vows i'tikaf of a specified month, like Ramadan, or of ten days, like the last ten of Ramadan, or wills it voluntarily, enters his retreat place before the first night, that is, before sunset, the month opening with the night, as the judgments suspended on the month falling at its opening prove: the debt, the divorce and the manumission. Whoever wills the i'tikaf of the last ten of Ramadan voluntarily thus enters before the sunset opening the night of the 21st. The proof: Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet made i'tikaf the middle ten days of Ramadan; one year, he stayed in it until the night of the 21st, the one whose morning he exited in, and said:
Whoever made i'tikaf with me, let him make i'tikaf the last ten.
narrated by al-Bukhari (1923)
the ten, without ha', counting nights, as: and by the ten nights (surah al-Fajr 2), the first of the ten nights being the night of the 21st. The hadith of Aishah: when he wished to make i'tikaf, he prayed the dawn then entered his retreat place (narrated by Muslim (1172)), is interpreted: he had entered from the start of the night, mu'takif among the assembly since before sunset, and only isolated himself in the prepared place after the dawn prayer. Ibn Abd al-Barr testifies: he knows no one of the jurists of the great regions who used this hadith, despite its transmission and authenticity, for the time of entering, except al-Awza'i and al-Layth ibn Sa'd, and a part of the successors followed them (al-Istidhkar, 3/400).
In practice, i'tikaf holds in a simple frame: an intention, a mosque, continuous staying, and avoiding what breaks it, intercourse, exiting without need, losing the intention. The woman has a right to it: with the Hanafis in her house, and by the majority in the mosque, with her husband's permission. For Ramadan, the i'tikaf of the last ten nights begins before sunset of the twentieth day, and with the Shafi'is every entry into the mosque can carry an i'tikaf intention.