How To Make Up a Sunna I’tikaf?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam
Question: Assalam alaykum,

I had to break my spiritual retreat (sunna i`tikaf) during the night of the 8th day due to menstruation.
1) I didn’t leave my room and kept on doing my worship until the end of Ramadan. Was I wrong?
2) How can I make it up?
3) I lied about it to my family and told them I have completed it. Was I wrong?
Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
I pray that you are in the best of health and faith, insha’Allah.
You should fast one day and make up one night of the i`tikaf. [Ibn `Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar `ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar]
And you will get the reward of the sunna i`tikaf, insha’Allah, as there is no necessary correlation between validity and reward, and the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) informed us that the intention of a believer is better than his action.
You did not need to tell your family that the i`tikaf was vitiated by menstruation, however, lying would not have been permitted in such a situation.
See also: A Reader on Tawba (Repentance)
And Allah alone gives success.
wassalam,
Tabraze Azam

Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.

في رد المحتار: وعلى كل فيظهر من بحث ابن الهمام لزوم الاعتكاف المسنون بالشروع وإن لزوم قضاء جميعه أو باقيه مخرج على قول أبي يوسف أما على قول غيره فيقضي اليوم الذي أفسده لاستقلال كل يوم بنفسه وإنما قلنا أي باقيه بناء على أن الشروع ملزم كالنذر وهو لو نذر العشر يلزمه كله متتابعا ، ولو أفسد بعضه قضى باقيه على ما مر في نذر صوم شهر معين والحاصل أن الوجه يقتضي لزوم كل يوم شرع فيه عند هما بناء على لزوم صومه بخلاف الباقي لأن كل يوم بمنزلة شفع من النافلة الرباعية وإن كان المسنون هو اعتكاف العشر بتمامه تأمل