Reconciling the hadith (There is no i'tikaf except in the three mosques) with the fatwas of those who say i'tikaf is permissible in other mosques
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: There is a hadith that says, "There is no i'tikaf except in the three mosques." How do we reconcile this hadith with the fatwas of those who say it is permissible to perform i'tikaf in other than these three mosques?
Answer:
First, the hadith’s chain of narration must be examined. Second, if it is authentic, it does not mean restriction. This is not a case of restriction; rather, it is understood to mean that i'tikaf in the three mosques is better than i'tikaf in other places. This is a matter of preference, not restriction. The one who understood it as restriction is mistaken. Allah the Exalted and Majestic said:[Al-Baqarah 2:187] and He did not say "the three mosques." Mosques in general. This is the generality of the Qur'an. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: There is a hadith that says, "There is no i'tikaf except in the three mosques." How do we reconcile this hadith with the fatwas of those who say it is permissible to perform i'tikaf in other than these three mosques?
Answer:
First, the hadith’s chain of narration must be examined. Second, if it is authentic, it does not mean restriction. This is not a case of restriction; rather, it is understood to mean that i'tikaf in the three mosques is better than i'tikaf in other places. This is a matter of preference, not restriction. The one who understood it as restriction is mistaken. Allah the Exalted and Majestic said:
as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques
وَأَنتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 55 - الجمع بين حديث(لا اعتكاف إلا في المساجد الثلاثة) وفتاوى من يقول بجواز الاعتكاف بغير هذه المساجد — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.