Maulana Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani
The Rules of I’tikaf is a compact and authoritative manual of classical Hanafi jurisprudence, addressing one of the most cherished yet frequently misunderstood forms of devotional retreat in Islamic practice: i’tikaf, seclusion within the mosque for the sake of Allah.Composed originally in Urdu by the eminent jurist Justice Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani - Judge of the Shariat Appellate Bench, Supreme Court of Pakistan, and one of the foremost living authorities on Islamic law - this booklet was written, as the author notes, during the course of i’tikaf itself. It was translated into English by Mahomed Shoaib Omar with the author’s own review and endorsement.Historical and Juristic FramingThe work opens with the fadā’il (merits) of i’tikaf, drawing on eleven carefully annotated ahadith concerning the practice of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his household, before proceeding into the technical apparatus of Hanafi law: the meaning and reality of i’tikaf, who may lawfully perform it, its required place, and its three juristic categories - Masnūn (established Sunnah), Wājib (obligatory by vow), and Nafl (supererogatory).Key Themes ExaminedThe precise legal boundaries (hudūd) of the mosque and their bearing on the validity of i’tikafThe seven categories of shar’ī necessity permitting departure from the mosque - call of nature, ghusl, food, adhān, Friday prayer, transfer of mosque, and funeral/sick-visiting exceptionsFactors rendering i’tikaf void, and the consequent rules of qadā’ (compensatory performance)The etiquette (ādāb) and permissible/disliked (mubāhāt/makrūhāt) acts during retreatI’tikaf Mandhūr (vowed i’tikaf) and the associated law of nadhrNafl i’tikaf as an accessible, low-threshold form of continuous rewardThe distinct rulings governing i’tikaf for women, performed within the home rather than the mosqueScholarly ImportanceWritten with the discipline of classical fiqh methodology and supported throughout by citations to Badā’i, Shāmī, Fatḥ al-Qadīr, al-Baḥr al-Rā’iq, and the Fatāwā Dārul-’Ulūm, the work exemplifies the practical application of Hanafi legal reasoning to a devotional act whose correct performance the author identifies as widely neglected among practitioners.ClosingThe Rules of I’tikaf stands as a disciplined, classically grounded study of a specific devotional-legal institution - offered not as commentary or polemic, but as a faithful exposition of established Hanafi ruling, intended to be, in the translator’s words, 'taken along and constantly referred to for the duration of I’tikaf.'
