Rulings On Eid And the Sunnahs Of Eid: Things That Are
Forbiden And Thing That Are Permissible
Islamic Rulings - Living Shariah
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I would like to know some of the Sunnahs of Eid and
the rulings thereon.
Praise be to Allaah.
Allaah has set out several rulings concerning Eid,
including the following:
1 – It is mustahabb to recite takbeer during the night
of Eid from sunset on the last day of Ramadaan until
the imam comes to lead the prayer. The format of the
takbeer is as follows:
Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, laa ilaaha ill-Allaah,
Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, wa Lillaahi'l-hamd (Allaah
is Most Great, Allaah is Most Great, there is no god
except Allaah, Allaah is Most Great, Allaah is Most
Great, and all praise be to Allaah).
Or you can say Allaahu akbar three times, so you say:
Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, laa
ilaaha ill-Allaah, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar,
Allaahu akbar, wa Lillaahi'l-hamd (Allaah is Most
Great, Allaah is Most Great, Allaah is Most Great,
there is no god except Allaah, Allaah is Most Great,
Allaah is Most Great , Allaah is Most Great, and all
praise be to Allaah).
Both are permissible.
Men should raise their voices reciting this dhikr in
the marketplaces, mosques and homes, but women should
not raise their voices.
2 – You should eat an odd number of dates before
leaving for the Eid prayer, because the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not set out
on the day of Eid until he had eaten an odd number of
dates. He should stick to an odd number as the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did.
3 – You should wear your best clothes – this is for
men. With regard to women, they should not wear
beautiful clothes when they go out to the Eid
prayer-place, because the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: "Let them go out looking
decent" i.e., in regular clothes that are not fancy.
It is haraam for them to go out wearing perfume and
makeup.
4 – Some of the scholars regarded it as mustahabb to
do ghusl for the Eid prayer, because it is narrated
that some of the salaf did this. Doing ghusl for Eid
prayer is mustahabb, just as it is prescribed for
Jumu'ah because one is going to meet people. So if one
does ghusl, that is good.
5 – The Eid prayer. The Muslims are unanimously agreed
that the Eid prayer is prescribed in Islam. Some of
them say that it is Sunnah, some say that it is fard
kafaayah (a communal obligation) and some say that it
is fard ‘ayn (an individual obligation), and that not
doing it is a sin. They quoted as evidence the fact
that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) commanded even the virgins and women in
seclusion, i.e., those who did not ordinarily come
out, to attend the Eid prayer place, except that those
who were menstruating should keep away from the
prayer-place itself, because it is not permissible for
a menstruating woman to stay in the mosque; it is
permissible for her to pass through but not to stay
there.
It seems to me, based on the evidence, that it is fard
‘ayn (an individual obligation) and that every male is
obliged to attend the Eid prayer except for those who
have an excuse. This was the view favoured by Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him).
In the first rak'ah the imam should recite Sabbih isma
rabbika al-A‘ala (Soorat al-A'la 87) and in the second
rak'ah he should recite Hal ataaka hadeeth
ul-ghaashiyah (al-Ghaashiyah 88). Or he may recite
Soorat Qaaf (50) in the first and Soorat al-Qamar (54)
in the second. Both options are narrated in saheeh
reports from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him).
6 – If Jumu'ah and Eid fall on the same day, the Eid
prayer should be held, as should Jumu'ah prayer, as is
indicated by the apparent meaning of the hadeeth of
al-Nu'maan ibn Basheer which was narrated by Muslim in
his Saheeh. But those who attend the Eid prayer with
the imam may attend Jumu'ah if they wish, or they may
pray Zuhr.
7 – One of the rulings on Eid prayer is that according
to many scholars, if a person comes to the Eid
prayer-place before the imam comes, he should sit down
and not pray two rak'ahs, because the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) prayed Eid with
two rak'ahs, and he did not offer any prayer before or
after it.
Some of the scholars are of the view that when a
person comes he should not sit down until he has
prayed two rak'ahs, because the Eid prayer-place is a
mosque, based on the fact that menstruating women are
not allowed there, so it comes under the same rulings
as a mosque, which indicates that it is a mosque.
Based on this, it comes under the general meaning of
the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him): "When any one of you enters the
mosque, let him not sit down until he has prayed two
rak'ahs." With regard to the fact that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not
offer any prayer before or after the Eid prayer, that
is because when he arrived the prayer started.
Thus it is proven that we should pray Tahiyyat al-Masjid
(two rak'ahs to "greet the mosque") when arriving at
the Eid prayer-place, as in the case of all mosques,
because if we assume from the hadeeth that there is no
Tahiyyat al-Masjid for the Eid mosque, then we should
say that there is no Tahiyyat al-Masjid for the
Jumu'ah mosque either, because when the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
arrived at the Jumu'ah mosque he would deliver the
khutbah, then pray two rak'ahs then leave and pray the
regular Sunnahs of Jumu'ah in his house, so he did not
offer any prayer before it or after it (in the
mosque).
What seems more likely to be correct in my view is
that we should pray two rak'ahs in the Eid
prayer-place to greet the mosque, but we should not
denounce one another with regard to this issue,
because it is a matter concerning which the scholars
differ. We should not denounce others with regard to
matters where the scholars differ, unless there is a
clear text. So we should not denounce the one who
prays (Tahiyyat al-Masjid) or the one who sits down
without praying.
8 – One of the rulings on the day of Eid – Eid al-Fitr
– is that Zakaat al-Fitr is due on this day. The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
enjoined that it should be paid before the Eid prayer.
It is permissible to pay it one or two days before
that, because of the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah
be pleased with him) which was narrated by al-Bukhaari:
"They used to give it one or two days before (Eid) al-Fitr."
If it is paid after the Eid prayer, it does not count
as Sadaqat al-Fitr, because of the hadeeth of Ibn
‘Abbaas: "Whoever pays it before the prayer, it is
Zakaat al-Fitr, and whoever pays it after the prayer,
it is ordinary charity." It is haraam to delay Zakaat
al-Fitr until after the Eid prayer. If one delays it
with no excuse then it is not acceptable zakaah, but
if there is an excuse – such as if a person is
traveling and does not have anything to give or anyone
to give it to, or he is expecting his family to pay it
and they are expecting him to pay it, then in this
case he should pay it when it is easy for him to do
so, even if that is after the prayer, and there is no
sin on him because he has an excuse.
9 – People should greet one another, but that results
in haraam actions on the part of many people, such as
men entering houses and shaking hands with unveiled
women without any mahram being present. Some of these
evils are worse than others.
We see some people denouncing those who refuse to
shake hands with those who are not their mahrams, but
it is they who are the wrongdoers, not he. But he
should explain to them and tell them to ask
trustworthy scholars to verify his actions and he
should tell them not to get angry and insist on
following the customs of his forefathers, because they
do not make a permissible thing forbidden or a
forbidden thing permissible. He should explain to them
that if they do that, they will be like those of whom
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"And similarly, We sent not a warner before you (O
Muhammad) to any town (people) but the luxurious ones
among them said: "We found our fathers following a
certain way and religion, and we will indeed follow
their footsteps"
[al-Zukhruf 43:23]
Some people have the custom of going out to the
graveyard on the day of Eid to greet the occupants of
the graves, but the occupants of the graves have no
need of any greeting or congratulations, because they
do not fast or pray qiyaam.
Visiting the graves is not something to be done
especially on the day of Eid or Friday or any
particular day. It was proven that the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) visited the
graves at night, as mentioned in the hadeeth of
‘Aa'ishah narrated by Muslim. And the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Visit the
graves for they will remind you of the Hereafter."
Visiting graves is an act of worship, and acts of
worship are not acceptable unless they are in
accordance with sharee'ah. The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not single out
the day of Eid for visiting the graves, so we should
not do so either.
10 – There is nothing wrong with what men do on the
day of Eid of embracing one another.
11 – It is prescribed for the one who goes out to the
Eid prayer to go by one route and return by another,
following the example of the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). This
Sunnah does not apply to other prayers, Jumu'ah or
anything else, it only applies to Eid.
Majmoo' Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 16/216-223.
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