A person in retreat (i'tikaf) visiting the sick and attending funerals

A question about a person in retreat (i'tikaf) visiting the sick and attending a funeral, in which Ibn Baz answered that there is no harm in it when it takes place in his mosque, but otherwise the Sunna for the person in retreat is not to go out to visit the sick or attend a funeral. ¹

The questioner asked: may a person in retreat visit the sick and attend a funeral, given that some scholars have said this is allowed only if he stipulated it before the retreat? ¹

Ibn Baz answered that if the sick person is in the mosque there is no harm, and likewise if the funeral prayer is held in the mosque, but otherwise he should not go; the Sunna for the person in retreat is not to visit the sick or attend a funeral unless it is in his mosque. ¹

This answer was published on binbaz.org.sa, the official site of Ibn Baz's legacy, as no. 4110 under the heading of i'tikaf and Laylat al-Qadr, with no date on the page. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.