The word as it is recited in the Quran: Mahmoud Khalil Al-Hussary, Al-Baqarah 2:187.
Akif in Islam
The word occurs seven times in the Quran: Ibrahim and Ismaʿil were commanded to purify the House “for those who circle it and those who stay in retreat (al-ʿakifin)” (2:125), and the verse of fasting speaks of those “in retreat in the mosques” (2:187). It also describes those who clung to their idols (21:52): it is the sense of devotion that makes the name.
Meaning of the name Akif
ʿAkif is the active participle of ʿakafa, “to cling to a place, to stay there assiduously” (root ʿ-k-f): one who remains attached to something, and in religion one who makes a retreat in the mosque, iʿtikaf, especially during the last ten nights of Ramadan. In Turkey the name is inseparable from Mehmet Âkif Ersoy, the poet of the national anthem.
It has been made permissible for you the night preceding fasting to go to your wives [for sexual relations]. They are a clothing for you and you are a clothing for them. Allāh knows that you used to deceive yourselves, so He accepted your repentance and forgave you. So now, have relations with them and seek that which Allāh has decreed for you [i.e., offspring]. And eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct to you from the black thread [of night]. Then complete the fast until the night [i.e., sunset]. And do not have relations with them as long as you are staying for worship in the mosques. These are the limits [set by] Allāh, so do not approach them. Thus does Allāh make clear His verses [i.e., ordinances] to the people that they may become righteous.
And [mention] when We made the House [i.e., the Kaʿbah] a place of return for the people and [a place of] security. And take, [O believers], from the standing place of Abraham a place of prayer. And We charged Abraham and Ishmael, [saying], "Purify My House for those who perform ṭawāf and those who are staying [there] for worship and those who bow and prostrate [in prayer]."
Indeed, those who have disbelieved and avert [people] from the way of Allāh and [from] al-Masjid al-Ḥarām, which We made for the people - equal are the resident therein and one from outside - and [also] whoever intends [a deed] therein of deviation [in religion] by wrongdoing - We will make him taste of a painful punishment.
