What is the ruling on staying overnight in the mosque and in i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque)?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The questioner asks: What is the ruling on staying overnight in the mosque in general, and specifically in i'tikaf?
The Shaykh : Staying overnight in the mosque during i'tikaf is necessary, because the person in i'tikaf, as Allah the Exalted said, his place is the mosque[Al-Baqarah 2:187] As for the one who is not in i'tikaf, it is permissible for a person to sleep in the mosque occasionally when there is a need. However, making it a permanent place for resting and sleeping is not what the mosques were built for. Mosques were built for establishing the prayer, reciting the Qur'an, and for the jinn. But occasionally, there is nothing wrong with a person making a place to sleep.
The Shaykh : Staying overnight in the mosque during i'tikaf is necessary, because the person in i'tikaf, as Allah the Exalted said, his place is the mosque
And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques
وَلَا تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ
Source
دروس وفتاوى المسجد الحرام لعام 1402هـ - 3 — binothaimeen.net (28:22)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.