Is staying in a specific place in the mosque a pillar of the validity of i'tikaf, or is it a recommended practice?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Is staying in a specific place in the mosque a pillar of the validity of i'tikaf, or is it a recommended practice?
The Shaykh : What does it mean to say it is a pillar? If it means that moving from one place to another within the same mosque is not permissible, then that is not necessary. For example, if someone performs i'tikaf in the eastern corner and then decides to perform it in the western corner of the same mosque, there is nothing to prevent that. As for if it means something other than this, it is not clear.
The questioner : Yes, indeed. His question implies this, but if he means that he moves from one mosque to another, that is the issue.
The Shaykh : If there is no dire necessity, he does not move.
The questioner : Is his attendance at a lesson, like here?
The Shaykh: No.
The Shaykh : What does it mean to say it is a pillar? If it means that moving from one place to another within the same mosque is not permissible, then that is not necessary. For example, if someone performs i'tikaf in the eastern corner and then decides to perform it in the western corner of the same mosque, there is nothing to prevent that. As for if it means something other than this, it is not clear.
The questioner : Yes, indeed. His question implies this, but if he means that he moves from one mosque to another, that is the issue.
The Shaykh : If there is no dire necessity, he does not move.
The questioner : Is his attendance at a lesson, like here?
The Shaykh: No.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.