How do we reconcile his (peace be upon him) leading the people in prayer on three nights of Ramadan, which are in the last ten days, with his i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) in the last ten days?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner: O Shaykh, did the Messenger (peace be upon him) not perform i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) in the last ten days of Ramadan?
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner: In a hadith: that he used to perform i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) in the last ten days of Ramadan?
The Shaykh : Yes, yes.
The questioner: How three days? Then these.
The Shaykh: Excuse me, excuse me: i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) is one thing, and standing in prayer in Ramadan with the congregation is another thing.
The Shaykh : How?
The questioner: In a hadith: that he used to perform i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) in the last ten days of Ramadan?
The Shaykh : Yes, yes.
The questioner: How three days? Then these.
The Shaykh: Excuse me, excuse me: i'tikaf (spiritual retreat in the mosque) is one thing, and standing in prayer in Ramadan with the congregation is another thing.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.