Tuesday 7 July 2015

[www.keralites.net] What Is I'tikaf?

 

What Is I'tikaf? How Do Women Perform It?

Question:What isi'tikaf? How do women performi'tikaf?

ANSWER
I'tikafis to retire to a mosque during the last ten days of Ramadan and to devote oneself exclusively to acts of worship day and night.

Doingi'tikafin the holy month of Ramadan issunnat-i muakkada. However, becausei'tikafissunnat-i kifaya, if a few Muslims in a quarter perform it, then thissunnatwill lapse from other Muslims. Therefore, those who are able to do so should performi'tikaf. A person who observesi'tikafeats, drinks, and sleeps in a mosque. He is allowed to go out in order to make ablution (wudu'). The purport of severalhadith-i sharifsis as follows:

 (He who performsi'tikafstays away from sins and attains rewards as if he did all good deeds.)[Ibn Maja]

(Whoever doesi'tikafin a mosque as long as the time that elapses between the two milkings of a camel, he receives rewards as if he freed a slave.)[Tanwir]

(He who performsi'tikaffor two days in Ramadan receives rewards as if he performed two[voluntary]pilgrimages.)[Bayhaqi]

(Performingi'tikaffor a day for the sake of Allah keeps a person much farther away from Hell.)[Tabarani, Hakim]

 Sunnatis divided into two categories:sunnat-i hudaandsunnat-i zawaid. Observingi'tikafin a mosque, callingadhanandiqamat, performingnamazin congregation aresunnat-i huda. They are the symptoms of Islamic religion; they are peculiar to thisUmmah.(Hadiqat-un-nadiyya)

 Our master the Messenger of Allah stated:
(When I arrived at the fifth heavens on the Night of Mi'raj, I saw the figure of Uthman. I asked him, "By what means have you reached this grade?" He said, "By means of performingi'tikafin the mosque.")[Menakıb-ı Cihar Yari Güzin]

I'tikafcan be vowed like fasting andnamaz, for it is an act of worship by itself. It cannot be said, "If my such and such relative recovers, I will observei'tikaf." To say, "If my such and such relative recovers, I will observei'tikaffor so and so many days for the sake of Allah," is considered a vow (nazr).(Endless Bliss)

A person who has vowed a thing that is an act of worship by itself, such asi'tikaf, has to fulfill it.(Durar)

 A woman does not performi'tikafin a mosque. If she performs it in her home, there are certain conditions for her to meet. If there is a room that she uses as a prayer room, she can observe it in that room. During the practice ofi'tikaf, she is not allowed to do any of the chores like cooking and cleaning. She must engage only in acts of worship. However, there is no religious obstacle to doing indispensably necessary duties, such as making ablution.

Thei'tikafthat is done during the last ten days of Ramadan issunnat-i kifaya. One can perform it less than this, for a day or for a few hours. It is a condition that a person who is observingi'tikafshould be fasting. Only Shafi'i Madhhab does not lay down fasting as a condition, but it is a requirement in the other three madhhabs. It is very good for women who are able to do so to performi'tikafin their homes, thus to revive an act ofsunnatthat has been forgotten, and to receive the reward of reviving a forgottensunnat.


 Engr Sulthan
www.keralites.net

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Posted by: "Engr.Sulthan" <er_sulthan@yahoo.com>
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