Al-Kāfi - The Book of Fasting

Chapter: A Person During I’tikaf Cannot Exit the Masjid Unless it is Urgent ِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ عَنْ أَحْ٠َّدٍ عَنْ دَاوُدَ بْنِ سِرْحَانَ قَالَ كُنْتُ بِالْ٠َدِينَةِ فِي شَهْرِ رَ٠َضَانَ فَقُلْتُ لأَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَ٠) إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَعْتَكِفَ فَ٠َا ذَا أَقُولُ وَ٠َا ذَا أَفْرِضُ عَلَى نَفْسِي فَقَالَ لا تَخْرُجْ ٠َسْجِدِ إِلاَّ لِحَاجَةٍ لا بُدَّ ٠ِنْهَا وَلا تَقْعُدْ تَحْتَ ظِلالٍ حَتَّى تَعُودَ إِلَى ٠2.

A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Dawud ibn Sarhan who has said the following: “I was in al-Madinah in the month of Ramadan and I said to abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.), that I wanted to remain in ’ Ttikaf.

What should I say and what should I place upon myself?’ He (the Imam) said, ‘You must not leave the Masjid except for something without which you cannot do; and you must not sit in the shadow until you return to your place.” شهور - Allamah Baqir al-Majlisi (Mirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (6/434))