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What is the authenticity of the two hadiths: "For you to strive to fulfill your brother's need is better than forty years of seclusion (i'tikaf) at the Black Stone," and "For one of you to walk to fulfill his brother's need is better for him than to seclude (perform i'tikaf) in this mosque of mine"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The two aforementioned Hadiths were not found with the exact same wording. A Hadith was narrated on the authority of Ibn Abbas, elevated (marfu‘), "Whoever walks to fulfill his brother's need, it is better for him than observing i'tikaf for ten years." Some scholars deemed it weak. Al-Tabarani narrated it with the wording, "For one of you to walk with his brother to fulfill his need... is better than observing i'tikaf in this mosque of mine for two months." Al-Iraqi, Al-Fitani, and Al-Albani deemed it weak. Sheikh Ibn Baz was asked about the authenticity of the Hadith, "For one of you to walk to fulfill his brother's need is better for him than observing i'tikaf in this mosque of mine." He replied that he did not know its authenticity, and that the authentic Hadiths that suffice are: "Whoever is in the need of his brother, Allah is in his need," and "Allah is with the servant as long as the servant is with the help of his brother."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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