The Ruling on Collective I'tikaf
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Question:
Shaykh Salih, meaning some of the young men gather in the mosque under the pretext of i'tikaf, and they spend long periods chatting, eating, and talking. Is this valid, Honorable Shaykh?
Answer:
They call this collective i'tikaf, and it is a recent innovation. As far as we know, the Salaf did not do this, nor did they agree to come for i'tikaf as a group. This also contains what you mentioned, which is that it distracts from the i'tikaf, because when they gather, they occupy themselves with conversations among themselves and a lot of talking, and it may include joking and other things. The one observing i'tikaf secludes himself with his Lord in his i'tikaf to worship Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Yes.
Shaykh Salih, meaning some of the young men gather in the mosque under the pretext of i'tikaf, and they spend long periods chatting, eating, and talking. Is this valid, Honorable Shaykh?
Answer:
They call this collective i'tikaf, and it is a recent innovation. As far as we know, the Salaf did not do this, nor did they agree to come for i'tikaf as a group. This also contains what you mentioned, which is that it distracts from the i'tikaf, because when they gather, they occupy themselves with conversations among themselves and a lot of talking, and it may include joking and other things. The one observing i'tikaf secludes himself with his Lord in his i'tikaf to worship Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 32 من 32|شرح أحاديث الصيام من كتاب المنتقى|اعتكاف في المساجد الثلاثة|صالح الفوزان|الفقه|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (6:15)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.