Using Mobile Phones During I'tikaf (Religious Retreat in Mosque): A Comparative Jurisprudential Study

Abstract

This study aims to compile and investigate jurisprudential issues pertinent to the use of mobile phones during I'tikaf (Religious Retreat in Mosque), highlighting what a person in such religious retreat should avoid, and elucidating the permissibility of buying and selling via mobile phones in mosques and its implications. For study purposes, the inductive descriptive comparative approach was employed. The study is divided into an introduction and six sections, covering topics such as using mobile phones for buying, selling during retreat, reading from Quran applications on mobile phones, charging mobile phones in mosque’s electricity, finding a lost mobile phone among those in retreat, utilizing mobile phones for communication and for spreading knowledge. The study results showed that buying and selling in the mosque was prohibited. If it occurred, the transaction was not rendered invalid as there was no consensus on its annulment once completed. It was als revealed that touching a Quran mobile phone applications was permissible. However, finding a lost mobile phone and engaging with cellphones during I’tikaf in the mosque were not recommended so that a person in retreat could focus on pure acts of worship.