Prioritizing one's job over i'tikaf (spiritual retreat) in the Sacred Mosque

Question : May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: I have a mosque where I lead the people in the night prayer (qiyam al-layl) only. I now want to perform i'tikaf in the Sacred Mosque. Is it permissible for me to condition my i'tikaf in the Sacred Mosque on leaving only for the tarawih prayer?

Answer : I do not see this as correct. I think that if you are an imam in a mosque and the people need you, then being their imam is better, and you should perform i'tikaf in your mosque. Praise be to Allah, all mosques are places for i'tikaf, as Allah the Exalted said: So perform i'tikaf in your mosque; perhaps your i'tikaf in your mosque is better than your i'tikaf here. Because the one performing i'tikaf in his mosque is far from noise, far from fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), and far from being occupied by people. You find him in a corner of his mosque, humble before Allah the Mighty and Majestic, his heart at peace, reading and weeping, prostrating and weeping, and you find his heart at rest. The Sacred Mosque is undoubtedly the best place, but if the matter comes down to whether the virtue lies in the act of worship itself or in its location, which is more deserving of consideration?
The first one, the act of worship itself, is more deserving of consideration. So we tell this brother, the questioner: Perform i'tikaf in your mosque. Perhaps it is better for you in your i'tikaf in terms of the presence of the heart, tranquility, abundance of worship, being far from noise, and being far from being occupied by people, while you are also leading the Muslims in prayer.
Perhaps you will have a share of what Allah the Exalted said: On this occasion, I would like to blame others who have government jobs, leave them, and perform i'tikaf in mosques, whether here or in other places. This is undoubtedly ignorance, clear ignorance, and misguidance. Because Allah is worshipped by what He has prescribed, not by desire.
I say to these people: remaining in your jobs and fulfilling your work obligations is better than your i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque), because your i'tikaf is a recommended practice (sunnah) for which you are not accountable; if you do it, you are rewarded, and if you leave it, you do not sin. However, your job is a covenant and a contract, and Allah the Exalted said: and He said: and He said, "And fulfill the covenant of Allah when you have made it." You are in a covenant with your government to perform your job, so if you perform it, you are fulfilling an obligation for which you receive more reward than for i'tikaf. The evidence that the obligatory is better than the voluntary is His saying in the Qudsi Hadith: So be careful, my brothers, about this, and do not make your worship merely an emotion; rather, make it an emotion and a Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) in which you follow the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).