Answer
Wa`alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
A husband is allowed to have sexual intercourse with his wife at night during the month of Ramadan; but this is not allowed in case one is observing itikaf (spiritual retreat) in the Mosque.
Responding to the question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
There is absolutely nothing wrong for a married couple in engaging in conjugal relations, including sexual intercourse, during the nights of Ramadan so long as they abstain from such activities from arrival of Fajr until sunset.
Allah says in the Quran,
{It is made lawful for you to go unto your wives on the night of the fast. They are raiment for you and you are raiment for them. Allah is aware that you were deceiving yourselves in this respect and He has turned in mercy toward you and relieved you. So hold intercourse with them and seek that which Allah has ordained for you, and eat and drink until the white thread becomes distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn. Then strictly observe the fast till nightfall and touch them not, but be at your devotions in the mosques. These are the limits imposed by Allah, so approach them not. Thus Allah expounds His revelations to mankind that they may ward off (evil).} (Al-Baqarah 2:187)
According to the above Quranic verse, a husband is allowed to have sexual intercourse with his wife at night during the month of Ramadan; but this is not allowed in case one is observing itikaf (spiritual retreat) in the Mosque.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.