Sisters + I'tikaaf

Assalamualaykum wa Rahmatullah all!

I pray your last 10 days of Ramadan are off to a great start! Remember in these last 10 days we should be increasing all of our direct acts of worship and begging Allah swt to save us from the fire of Hell.

The Holy Prophet (saw) said: "And this [Ramadan] is a month the first part of which is mercy from Allah, the middle of which is the forgiveness from Allah, and the last part of which is liberation from Hell"

Keep racing towards Allah swt through dhikr, reflection, QUR'AN!!, and du'aa in these remaining days. Please do not forget all of your brothers and sisters in your prayers.

Since I don't have time to edit or re-pose the question and quick response to a sister's question about optional/nafl 'itikaaf (seclusion) for sisters, I am just going to paste it as is. Hope it makes sense, and I pray it is of benefit.

Was'salaam
Shamira

The sister asked: can u pls explain to me how i can make [nafl] 'itikaaf... but not for 10 days.. like can i make a niyah for a day ??

A quick reply:

You can make nafl i'tikaaf if you can't/dont want to do the full 10 days. So choose a room and when you enter the room make the intention that you will be in nafl itikaaf until you exit the room. During this time you can only read, speak and listen to things that relate to Allah swt, the Deen etc etc...nothing worldly at all. Once you leave that room your itikaaf automatically breaks. So I would recommend that you put the phone away, take away distractions, but you can listen to Quran CDs and even CDs on Islamic topics etc etc which are very interesting! Just think of the Prophet (saw) and how he would go to a cave away from the city just to reflect and to have this type of connection with Allah swt because the dunya was the last thing on his mind...so we should be like that. Whenever you go to a dars or the masjid, enter with the intention of i'tikaaf and you will get a LOT more reward, inshaAllah..here's some more info about itikaaf for women:

I'ITIKAAF – SECLUSION

Before the end of the 20th day of Ramadhaan until the moon of Eid ul-fitr is sighted, the act of sitting at the place where one offers one's Salaah at home and engaging in Ibaadah is known as I'tikaaf. There is great reward in this I'tikaaf. Once a woman commences with I'tikaaf, she can only leave that place for the purpose of relieving herself or for the purpose of food and drink. If there is someone who could bring the food and drink, she cannot leave that place even for the purpose of food and drink. She should remain in that place all the time and sleep there as well. It is preferable not to remain idle. Instead, she should occupy herself in the recitation of the Quran, offering Nafl Salaahs, engaging in the remembrance of Allah Ta'âla, etc. If a woman experiences Haydh or Nifaas, she should abandon her I'tikaaf. I'tikaaf in such a state is not permissible.


The meaning of 'I'tikaaf' is to seclude oneself at the place of Worship,
with the express intention (Niyyah) of 'I'tikaaf'.

There are three types of Itikaaf:

a) Waajib I'tikaaf (Obligatory I'tikaaf)
I'tikaaf becomes compulsory when a person makes it obligatory upon himself.
For example, when a person makes a vow to Allah that if Allah fulfils a
certain wish of his, he shall perform so many days 'I'tikaaf', in this
case, the moment his wish is fulfilled, the I'tikaaf becomes compulsory. Or a
person may just make an unconditional vow, whereby he makes I'tikaaf Waajib
upon himself for a certain number of days; this becomes obligatory for him
from that moment onwards.

b) Sunnah I'tikaaf
This was the general practice of the Holy Prophet (SAW). It means to
seclude oneself in the Masjid for the last ten days of Ramadhaan.

c) Nafl I'tikaaf
For the third category i.e. Nafl I'tikaaf, no special time and no specific
number of days are fixed. A person may make a Niyyah (intention) for any
number of days at any time, even for his whole life.

There is no limit as to the minimum period of time. Therefore, it is
desirable for anyone entering the place of Worship to make the 'Niyyah'
(intention) of I'tikaaf for the period that one remains there; so that,
while he is in Ibaadah, he also earns the reward of I'tikaaf.

And Allah Ta'ala knows best.

Tawfiq, insha'Allah!