Definition of I'tikaf and Explanation of Its Purpose

Question: From 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Baz to the honorable brother / May Allah guide him to good, amen.
Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings, and after that:
Your noble letter has reached me, containing your desire to ask about the following:
What is the ruling on i'tikaf in the mosques? What is its meaning in the Shari'ah? And does it include sleeping and eating in the mosques, and is that permissible or not?

Answer: There is no doubt that i'tikaf in the mosque is an act of drawing near to Allah, and in Ramadan it is better than in other times; because of the saying of Allah the Exalted: [al-Baqarah:187], and because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to perform i'tikaf in the last ten days of Ramadan, and once he left it off and then performed i'tikaf in Shawwal. The purpose of that is to devote oneself to worship and seclusion with Allah, and this is the lawful seclusion.
Some of them said in defining i'tikaf: It is cutting off the ties that distract from the obedience and worship of Allah. It is prescribed in Ramadan and other times, as mentioned above, and it is better with fasting. If one performs i'tikaf without fasting, there is no harm according to the correct of the scholars' opinions; because of what is established in the two Sahihs from 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: O Messenger of Allah, I vowed to perform i'tikaf for one night in the Sacred Mosque, and that was before he embraced Islam. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: .
It is known that the night is not a place for fasting, but rather its place is the day. There is no harm in sleeping and eating in the mosque for the one performing i'tikaf and others; because of hadiths and reports that came regarding that, and because of what is established regarding the condition of the people of the Suffah, while being careful to maintain the cleanliness of the mosque and guarding against the causes of dirtying it, such as food leftovers or others; because of what came in the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: Narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Khuzaymah graded it as authentic. And for the hadith of 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her): "That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that mosques be built in the houses and that they be cleaned and perfumed." Narrated by the five except al-Nasa'i, and its chain is good.
And "al-dawar" (houses) are the neighborhoods and tribes residing in the cities.
And I ask Allah to make us and you successful in beneficial knowledge and acting upon it, and to rectify our hearts and our deeds, all of them. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the Near. And may peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.