✿ When Should a Person Begin Iʿtikāf? ✿
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
The person intending to perform iʿtikāf should arrive at the mosque on the evening of the 20th of Ramadan, and enter the designated place of iʿtikāf after the Fajr prayer on the following day.
➡ This is the view held by the majority of scholars, including the four Imams (A’immah Arbaʿah).
[Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 3/584; Fayḍ al-Qadīr: 5/96; Fatḥ al-Bārī: 4/323]
➊ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to perform iʿtikāf during the last ten nights of Ramadan.
[Bukhārī: 4998, Kitāb Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān: Bāb Kāna Jibrīl Yuʿāriḍ al-Qurʾān ʿalā al-Nabiyy; Tirmidhī: 790; Abū Dāwūd: 2466]
➋ As narrated by ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها, when the Prophet ﷺ intended to observe iʿtikāf:
صلى الفجر ثم دخل معتكفه
“He would perform the Fajr prayer and then enter his place of iʿtikāf.”
[Tirmidhī: 791, Kitāb al-Ṣawm: Bāb Mā Jāʾa fī al-Iʿtikāf; Bukhārī: 2033; Muslim: 1172; Abū Dāwūd: 2464; Ibn Mājah: 1771]
✍ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ Timing of Entering the Place of Iʿtikāf
The person intending to perform iʿtikāf should arrive at the mosque on the evening of the 20th of Ramadan, and enter the designated place of iʿtikāf after the Fajr prayer on the following day.
➡ This is the view held by the majority of scholars, including the four Imams (A’immah Arbaʿah).
[Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 3/584; Fayḍ al-Qadīr: 5/96; Fatḥ al-Bārī: 4/323]❖ Evidences Supporting This Practice
➊ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to perform iʿtikāf during the last ten nights of Ramadan.
[Bukhārī: 4998, Kitāb Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān: Bāb Kāna Jibrīl Yuʿāriḍ al-Qurʾān ʿalā al-Nabiyy; Tirmidhī: 790; Abū Dāwūd: 2466]➋ As narrated by ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها, when the Prophet ﷺ intended to observe iʿtikāf:
صلى الفجر ثم دخل معتكفه
“He would perform the Fajr prayer and then enter his place of iʿtikāf.”
[Tirmidhī: 791, Kitāb al-Ṣawm: Bāb Mā Jāʾa fī al-Iʿtikāf; Bukhārī: 2033; Muslim: 1172; Abū Dāwūd: 2464; Ibn Mājah: 1771]
