What are the consequences of invalidating i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque)?

Question : The questioner says: If a person in i'tikaf commits something that is not permissible, does his act of committing it invalidate the i'tikaf?

Answer : Yes, if the person in i'tikaf commits something that invalidates the i'tikaf, then his i'tikaf is invalidated and its end does not build upon its beginning. Not every forbidden thing invalidates the i'tikaf; rather, there are specific things that invalidate it. For example, if the person in i'tikaf backbites someone, he has committed a forbidden act, and yet his i'tikaf is not invalidated, although his reward is diminished. In summary, if a person in i'tikaf does something that invalidates his i'tikaf, it means that the end of his i'tikaf does not build upon its beginning, and he is not credited with the reward of one who kept i'tikaf for the last ten days of Ramadan, because he invalidated what came before.