We request elaboration and clarification regarding the hadith: "There is no i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) except in the three mosques"?

The questioner : This is the third question. We request elaboration and clarification regarding the hadith: ?

The Shaykh : No, there is no elaboration or expansion beyond what was mentioned in the treatise on night prayer, but I will say a brief word: this hadith is like his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) and he mentioned the mosques in which he said meaning that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) preferred these mosques over all the mosques of the world and distinguished them with certain legal rulings that do not apply to the others. Among these rulings is that it is not permissible for a Muslim to travel to any of these mosques except these three. Likewise, these three mosques were distinguished by the prescription of i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) in them, unlike the other mosques, for i'tikaf is not prescribed in them.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, I once heard you elaborate on this. You said that mosques are divided into the mosque of the house, the neighborhood mosque, the congregational mosque, the public mosque, and the three mosques. You said that there is a disagreement among the schools of jurisprudence... Some scholars said that there is no i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) except in the three mosques, or that this is taken only from the hadith. Many young people say that no jurist has said this. What is your response to them?

The Shaykh : ... They contradict the hadith, and there are many of them. They argue with the saying of Allah the Exalted: . They say that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) used the general term "mosques" here and did not restrict it to the three mosques. We say that this objection would not be raised by one who is a jurist in the Book and the Sunnah. Because we say: . Either the "al" here is for comprehensiveness and inclusion, meaning that "mosques" means all mosques, or the "al" here is for the known (definite) and not for comprehensiveness and inclusion. With this second meaning of the known (definite), the hadith comes here to clarify that "mosques" means the mosques in which i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) is recognized by the Shari'ah, such as this hadith. If we return to the first meaning, or the assumption of the first meaning, which is that the "al" in "mosques" is for comprehensiveness and inclusion, here is the detail you pointed out. A person has a mosque in his house where he prays. Is it included in the verse? Of course, the majority of those who say the verse includes other than the three mosques do not say this. What do they answer regarding the mosque in the house? They have no answer except arbitrariness, because they contradict themselves at that time. If they interpret "mosques" as comprehensiveness and inclusion, the mosque in the house is included, and they do not include it. Thus, they fall into contradiction. Some of them said it must be a congregational mosque, meaning it cannot be a neighborhood mosque, like the mosque the questioner asked about earlier, where Friday prayer is not performed. Many of them say that i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) is not performed in this mosque. Why? Because if he performs i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) there, he must either miss Friday prayer or leave the i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) for Friday prayer. This is their view, and so on. After this detail, we say that the Qur'an and the Sunnah are twins. It is not permissible to understand the Qur'an separated from the Sunnah. As we say in the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal: , and the rest of the hadith. We say this hadith is invalid because it separates the Book and the Sunnah, in that it looks at the Qur'an first and then looks at the Sunnah, whereas one must look at them together so as not to fall into the errors that many of those who belong to the group of Quranists make, or rather, they make their error. For example, if we look at the saying of Allah the Exalted: , we would understand that dead fish is forbidden. But we do not say this, and the majority of Muslims do not say it. Why? Because hadiths came in the Sunnah that clarify this. So "dead things" here is interpreted in light of the hadiths. Likewise, what? Blood is also interpreted in light of the hadith about the liver and spleen. Thus, we say: . It is not permissible to understand this verse independently without combining the verse with the hadith and the hadith with the verse. At that time, we arrive at a certain result: the mosques are the three mosques.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And you as well.

The questioner : And may Allah bless you.