What is the criterion for collective i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
How do we distinguish between collective i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) and people who travel together for cooperation and companionship and then perform i'tikaf?
Answer:
Because travel requires companionship, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade a person from traveling alone; travel requires companionship. As for i'tikaf, it does not require companionship. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform i'tikaf with a group, nor did the Companions perform collective i'tikaf. So we do not introduce anything that was not reported from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) or his Companions. Yes.
How do we distinguish between collective i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) and people who travel together for cooperation and companionship and then perform i'tikaf?
Answer:
Because travel requires companionship, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade a person from traveling alone; travel requires companionship. As for i'tikaf, it does not require companionship. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not perform i'tikaf with a group, nor did the Companions perform collective i'tikaf. So we do not introduce anything that was not reported from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) or his Companions. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما الضابط في الاعتكاف الجماعي؟ #صالح_الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.