Representation (on Behalf of, Niyabah) in Iʿtikāf (Arabic: اعتکاف Also E'tikaaf or E'tikaaf) for a Living Person from the View of Islamic Jurisprudence of Islamic Denominations

The legitimacy of non-representation in acts of worship is one of the controversial issues in the jurisprudence of religions. Among the acts of worship, i'tikaaf (Arabic: اعتکاف also i'tikaaf or e'tikaaf), which is a collection of several acts of worship, that is, i'tikaaf also includes fasting as a condition for its validity, has been discussed on behalf (representation, niyabah) of others. The obligation (necessity) of i'tikaaf worship in the case of vow (nazr or nadhr) has caused most jurists to have a skeptical view in the issue of representation (on behalf) from the living. Therefore, it is necessary to examine this issue, because the dominant of jurists have resorted to the illegitimacy of representing for the living person in such acts as i'tikaaf. The fundamental question of this research is what evidence can be found to legitimize such representation (on behalf of, to hire somebody to do a worship). It seems that due to the mustaḥabb (Arabic: مستحب‎, lit. recommended) of i'tikaaf itself, and that the vow does not cause i'tikaaf itself to become obligatory, but it is due to make the vow that this i'tikaaf has become obligatory and not that i'tikaaf itself has changed from istīḥab to obligation and also, the ancillary duty (obligation), even if the vow has been made, from the point of view of Imami jurisprudence, the legitimacy of this act by living person can be considered, although the four religions agree on the impermissibility.