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Question: Is it permissible for the individual performing i'tikāf to leave the masjid to perform the Night Prayer at another masjid or place?

Firstly, it must be known that the individual performing i'tikāf exiting for something that is not necessary invalidates the i'tikāf:

'Āisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated:

"The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would not enter the house except for a need whilst performing i'tikaf" [Agreed upon].

In a narration reported by Muslim:

"except for a human need".

Al-Zuhri explained it as urination and defecation.

Al-Tirmidhi stated under hadith number (805):

"The actualization of this according to the people of knowledge: if a person performs i'tikāf, he should not exit his i'tikāf except for a human need. They unanimously agree upon this, that he can leave to relieve himself (for urination and defecation). However, the people of knowledge differed regarding visiting the sick, attending the Friday prayer and attending funerals for the person performing i'tikāf: some of the people of knowledge among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ and others held that he is permitted to visit the sick, attend funerals, and attend the Friday prayer if he had stipulated this condition beforehand. This is the opinion of Sufyan al-Thawri and Ibn al-Mubārak.

And some of them have stated that he is not allowed to do any of this, and held that if a person is in a city where Friday prayers are established, he should only perform i'tikāf in the Masjid al-Jāmi' (the masjid that the Jum'āh prayer is established within), as they disliked for him to leave his i'tikāf for the Friday prayer, and they did not deem it permissible for him to miss the Friday prayer.

Thus they said: he should only perform i'tikāf in the Masjid al-Jāmi' so that he is not required to leave his i'tikāf for anything other than relieving oneself, as leaving for anything other than a human need, according to them, terminates the i'tikāf.

This is the opinion of Mālik and ash-Shāfi'i.

Ahmad said: he should not visit the sick, nor attend funerals based on the hadith of 'Āisha.

Ishāq said: If he stipulates that condition, then he is allowed to attend funerals and visit the sick."

Ibn Qudamāh (may Allāh have mercy on him) said in al-Mughnī (4/466):

"What is meant by 'a human need' is urination and defecation; he used this expression for both as every person needs to perform them. It also bears the meaning of the need for food and drink if he has no one to bring them to him, therefore he is permitted to leave for it if he needs to. And if vomiting suddenly overcomes him, then it is permissible for him to leave in order to vomit outside the masjid; he is permitted to leave for everything else that he requires and cannot be fulfilled in the masjid and his i'tikāf is not invalidated in that state, as long as he does not prolong it."

The author of 'Awn al-Ma'būd cited the scholars' disagreement on this matter under the hadith number (2467), stating:

"'He would not enter the house except for a human need': Al-Khattābī said: this is a clarification that the person performing i'tikāf should not enter his house except for urination or defecation. Thus, if he enters it for other than these two matters, such as food or drink, his i'tikāf is invalidated.

The people have differed regarding this. Abu Thawr said: he should not leave except to perform wudū (ablution) that is essential.

Ishāq bin Rāhawayh stated: he should not leave except for urination or defecation, except that he differentiated between the  obligatory and voluntary i'tikāf, stating that he should not visit the sick nor attend a funeral in the obligatory i'tikāf, and he should stipulate this condition from the beginning in the voluntary i'tikāf.

Al-Awza'i said: there should be no conditions in I'tikāf.

Abū Hanīfa and his companions said: it is inappropriate for the person performing I'tikāf to leave the masjid for any need except for the Friday prayer, defecation and urination. As for other matters such as visiting the sick and attending a funeral, he should not leave for those purposes.

Mālik and al-Shāfi'i stated: the individual performing I'tikāf should not leave the masjid to visit the sick, nor to attend a funeral; this is the view 'Aṭā and Mujāhid.

Another group (of scholars) held that the individual performing i'tikāf is permitted to attend the Friday prayer, visit the sick and attend the funeral; this was reported from 'Ali bin Abī Tālib (may Allāh be pleased with him), and it is the opinion of Sa'īd bin Jubayr, al-Hasan al-Basri and an-Nakha'i. Al-Mundhiri said: it was narrated by al-Bukhari, Muslim, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah." End quote.

From this, it is understood that leaving for tarawīh prayers is not a legitimate excuse nor a legislative reason for leaving the place of i'tikāf, and doing so invalidates it.

A questioner may ask: what are the legitimate solutions for the one who desires to leave the masjid for something not essential? Here are some of them:

• He intends to perform the i'tikāf until after tarawīh or the time of tahajjud, then he leaves, as there is no fixed minimum time for i'tikāf.

An-Nawawi (may Allāh have mercy on him) said in al-Majmu' (6/514): "As for the minimum duration of i'tikāf: the correct view, which the majority have definitively stated, is that remaining in the masjid is a condition, and that a lot of it and a little of it are permissible, even an hour, or a moment."

• He stipulates leaving for tahajjud in a masjid other than the masjid where he is performing i'tikāf, or for another interest, before beginning his i'tikāf.

Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymīn (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his explanation (6/523): "And it is known from his statement: 'Unless he stipulates it' that it is permissible to stipulate a condition at the beginning of the i'tikāf, thus if he intends to enter the i'tikāf, he says: 'I make the exception, O Lord, visiting the sick or attending a funeral', but this is inappropriate, and preserving the i'tikāf is more suitable, unless the sick person or the one who is expected to die has a right upon him, then stipulating a condition is better here, such as if the sick person is from his relatives, whose lack of visitation is considered severing ties of kinship, then in these circumstances he should stipulate an exception. Likewise attending the funeral, there is no problem in stipulating leaving for an act of worship, or for a permissible matter that he requires."

These are some legislative solutions;  whosoever peforms them or desires to undertake them must know that, although he may be considered among those performing i'tikāf with the mentioned solutions, he will not attain the prescribed i'tikāf that was narrated from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in the last ten days of Ramadān.

And Allāh is the Most High and the Most Knowing.

Abū 'Aṭiyah

21st Ramadan 1446