✿ Fasting Is Not a Condition for Iʿtikāf ✿
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ Fasting Is Not a Condition for the Validity of Iʿtikāf
This is supported by previous ḥadīths, as fasting is not observed during the night, yet iʿtikāf is valid during that time.
✔ This is the view held by Imām al-Shāfiʿī and Imām Aḥmad رحمهما الله.
Ibn Qudāmah رحمه الله also preferred this opinion.
❖ Opposing View: Fasting Is Required for Iʿtikāf
- Imām Mālik and Imām Abū Ḥanīfah رحمهما الله considered fasting a necessary condition for iʿtikāf.
📚 [Al-Umm: 2/148; Al-Ḥāwī: 3/486; Al-Hidāyah: 1/132; Al-Mabsūṭ: 3/115; Bidāyat al-Mujtahid: 1/220] - Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله also supported the opinion that fasting is a condition.
📚 [Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/255]
❖ Preferred (Rājiḥ) Opinion
The stronger view is that iʿtikāf is valid without fasting, but it is preferable and more complete with fasting.
📚 [Al-Lubāb fī ʿUlūm al-Kitāb – Tafsīr al-Qurʾān: 3/319]
Imām al-Shawkānī رحمه الله affirmed the correctness of Imām al-Shāfiʿī’s opinion,
📚 [Nayl al-Awṭār: 3/255]
and Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān رحمه الله also upheld the same.
📚 [Al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 1/573]
❖ Ḥadīth: “There Is No Iʿtikāf Without Fasting”
There is a narration from ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها:
ولا اعتكاف إلا بصوم
“There is no iʿtikāf without fasting.”
📘 [Ḥasan Ṣaḥīḥ: Ṣaḥīḥ Abū Dāwūd: 2160, Kitāb al-Ṣiyām: Bāb al-Muʿtakif Yaʿūd al-Marīḍ; also Abū Dāwūd: 2473]
🔎 However, scholars consider it more appropriate to classify this statement as mauqūf — i.e., a statement of ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها, not the Prophet ﷺ.
📚 [Al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 1/572]
