#633: Ruling of Khalwah
QUESTION
“Asalaam Alaikum my dear brothers and sisters in did group i must say that I am highly honoured to be part of dis group. May Allah bless d ppl that came up at this great idea and grant them at janat Fridaus ameen and 4give their mistake ,pls I need and to these questions what is the stand of Islam on Haluwa that is speculation of somebody in a room for 3,5 or 7 days for ibadah?…”
ANSWER
Wa Alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh.
May Allāh accept your Du’ā, and may He make your being here a bounty for us and to you. Amīn.
Alhamdulillāh.
What you have described is very similar to what is known as I’itikāf in the Sharī’ah, and it is permissible by the consensus of the Ulamā in and outside Ramadān due to the generality of the Statement of Allāh – Ta’ālā:
وَلا تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنْتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ
“And do not have relations with them (your wives) while you are making I’itikāf in the Masjid”
And His Statement:
أَنْ طَهِّرَا بَيْتِيَ لِلطَّائِفِينَ وَالْعَاكِفِينَ وَالرُّكَّعِ السُّجُودِ
“That you should both purify My House for the People of Tawāf, those on I’itikāf and those Worshipping (Allāh) in Rukū’ and Sujūd”
And it is recorded in Sahih Al-Bukhārī that the Rasūl -salallāhu alayhi wasallam – observed the I’itikāf in the month of Shawwāl.
As for the place of I’itikāf, then the Ulamā are at a consensus, as mentioned by Imām Ibn Qudāmah Al-Maqdisī – rahimahullāh – in Al-Mughnī that it is not permissible for a man to do it in other than the Masjid.
This is because in the Verse mentioned above, Allāh restricted it’s observance to the Masjid when He said:
“And do not have relations with them (your wives) while you are making I’itikāf in the Masjid”
As for a woman performing the I’itikāf in other than the Masjid, for instance in her house, then the majority hold that, hers is like that of the man too, not permissible for her to observe it in other than the Masjid, and for the same purpose.
Though, there exist a minority position among the Ulamā that allowed the I’itikāf of women in their homes.
Imām An-Nawawī – rahimahullāh – said:
“It is not Permissible for a man or a woman to observe the I’itikāf in other than the Masjid, and it is not Permissible to observe it in the Place marked out for Salāt at the house of a man or a woman..”
Reference: Al-Majmū’ Shar’hu Al-Muhadhdhab
The Hanafis premised the Masjid in which the I’itikāf must be performed to a Masjid where the five compulsory Salāt are offered in congregation, that the one doing the I’itikāf does not miss out on it. This was mentioned by Ibn Al-Humām in Fat’hu Al-Qadīr
The Malikis insisted that if there is a Jumu’a in one of the Days he will be in the I’itikāf, then he must observe it in a Masjid where Jumu’a is observed.
Ad-Dasūqī – rahimahullāh – mentioned this in his Hāshiyah on Ash-Sharhu Al-Kabīr
But the Shāfi’īs allow the permissibility of the I’itikāf in any Masjid. This was alluded to by An-Nawawī in Al-Majmū’.
What is strongest of these positions is that held by the Mālikiyyah, that if the days of the I’itikāf would consist a Jumu’a, then it must be observed in one where Jumu’a is observed.
Before we depart this matter, we need to emphasize that what is known to Sufi Sects as KHALWAH is completely impermissible and an innovation in the Dīn.
It is known that some of the Sufis do this by going into the wilderness for days and months. Most especially forty days.
This is an innovation that holds no proof in the Dīn and must be avoided.
The only form of KHALWAH (Seclusion) licensed by the Rasūl -salallāhu alayhi wasallam – is the observation of I’itikāf in the Masjid and in the doing of the Ibādāt that have been sanctioned by Allāh Ta’ālā.
Therefore, if what you’re describing is an observance in the Masjid, and it is free of any innovations, and what is done in it is nothing other than Salāt, Adhkār, Fasting, recitation of the Qur’ān and other forms of Ibādah that have been sanctioned, then it will be deemed permissible.
Our advice: Do not fall a victim of such Sufi calls and tendencies that ask people to do things that were not sanctioned by Allāh or His Messenger.
Do only things that have prove in the Qur’ān and the Sunnah, and which have been understood by the Predecessors to be right.
We ask Allāh for Guidance and Tawfīq.
Bārakallāhu Fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran.
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