Some details about 'Itikaaf

 

It is narrated on the authority of Hadhrat ‘Aisha (May Allah be well pleased with her) that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) would perform ‘Itikaaf for the last 10 days of Ramadhan until He passed away into the presence of Allah.  Then after Him, His wives performed ‘Itikaaf in their respective homes.  Bukhari and Muslim have both related this Hadith.

 

Women should perform ‘Itikaaf in the mosques of their houses

 

It is narrated on the authority of Hadhrat ‘Aisha (May Allah be well pleased with her) that if the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) had seen the women of the later era with their new antics, which they took up after the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), He would have stopped them from entering the mosques the way the women of the Nation of Israel were stopped.

 

Ibn Abdul Rab has related with his chain of narration on the authority of Hadhrat ‘Aisha (May Allah be well pleased with her) that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  People!  Stop your women from beautifying themselves and coming to the mosque and also stop them from walking coquettishly because the Nation of Israel was cursed when their women started beautifying themselves and coming to the mosque and when they started walking around coquettishly in the mosque.  (Unrelated (non-Mahram) Men and women coming together leads to many evils, thus, women should perform ‘Itikaaf in their own houses)

 

Some rules of ‘Itikaaf

 

The aforementioned Hadith says that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) would perform ‘Itikaaf for 20 days.  It is written that to complete ‘Itikaaf of 10 nights, the person performing the ‘Itikaaf should enter the mosque with the intention ‘Itikaaf before the sunset of the 20^th and this is the opinion of the 4 Imams as well.

 

The said Hadith also says that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) performed ‘Itikaaf in the last 10 days of Ramadhan until His passing away.  This shows that the command of ‘Itikaaf hasn’t been abrogated.  In fact, it is a Compulsory Sunnah (Sunnah Moukkada).  It is also mentioned in the Hadith that after the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), His wives also would perform ‘Itikaaf.  This also shows that the command of ‘Itikaaf remains after the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and that ‘Itikaaf is a Sunnah for women as well, but they have to perform ‘Itikaaf in their own houses.  (‘Umdatul Qari, Fath Ul Bari, ‘Inayah)

 

It is narrated on the authority of Hadhrat ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud (May Allah be well pleased with him), he says that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  For a woman, offering Salaat in a room is better than offering Salaat in the hall and offering Salaat in the basement is better than offering Salaat in the room. (Similarly, she should perform ‘Itikaaf where she offers Salaat).  This Hadith has been related by Abu Dawood.