Islamic Fiqh > Prayer > The 2 Eids' prayer (Eid al-fitr and al-adha)
The Eid prayer: time, place, form without adhan or iqama, the takbirs, the sermon and what surrounds it (ghusl, perfume, return path).
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Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
The prayer of the 2 Eids is one of the most discussed institutions in fiqh: the 4 schools agree that it is legislated, but differ over its legal status, over the case of one who misses it, over its place, its manner of performance, its takbirs and its sermon. The sheets below, taken from a fiqh encyclopedia devoted to the prayer of the 2 festivals, set out these questions school by school, with the Quranic evidence, hadiths and classical references in support.
The 2 Eid prayers are legislated by the Quran, the Sunna and consensus. As for the Quran, Allah the Most High said:
"So pray to your Lord and sacrifice"
Surat al-Kawthar, 2
The best-known interpretation is that the verse refers to the Eid prayer. As for the Sunna, it is established by mass transmission (mutawatir) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) performed the 2 Eid prayers, as attested by this report of Ibn Abbas:
"I attended the Eid al-Fitr prayer with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), with Abu Bakr and with Omar, and each of them prayed it before the sermon"
Narrated by Muslim (884)
It is also narrated from Ibn Abbas that "the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prayed the Eid without an adhan and without an iqama," an authentic hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad in al-Musnad (1/227). As for consensus, the Muslims agreed that the 2 Eid prayers are legislated (Bada'i' al-Sana'i' 1/275, al-Sharh al-Saghir 1/343, al-Majmu' 6/52, al-Mughni 3/96).
They nevertheless differed: is the Eid prayer obligatory (wajib), an emphasized sunna, or a communal obligation (fard kifaya)?
The Hanafis, according to the sound view on which fatwa is given, along with Ahmad in a version chosen by shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya, and some Malikis, hold that it is obligatory upon each individual (a'yan), like the Friday prayer. Al-Kasani reports that al-Karkhi stated it explicitly: the Eid prayer is obligatory upon the people of the major towns like the Friday prayer; and al-Hasan narrated from
Abu Hanifa that it is due from anyone upon whom the Friday prayer is due.
The book of legal principles (al-Usul) mentions evidence for the obligation: "No supererogatory prayer is performed in congregation except the qiyam of Ramadan and the solar eclipse prayer." Yet the Eid prayer is performed in congregation: were it a mere sunna it would have been excepted, as the tarawih and the eclipse prayer were. Al-Karkhi called it "sunna" in al-Jami' al-Saghir regarding the 2 festivals (the Eid and Friday) falling on one day, the first being sunna and the other an obligation; this is a difference of wording, interpreted as "obligatory by the Sunna" or an emphasized sunna in the sense of the obligatory, since the label of sunna does not negate obligation once evidence for it stands. Abu Musa al-Zarir mentions in his Mukhtasar that it is fard kifaya, but the sound view is that it is obligatory, and this is the view of our Hanafi masters.
This position rests on the word of Allah: "So pray to your Lord and sacrifice" (Surat al-Kawthar, 2): it is said in interpretation, "pray the Eid prayer and slaughter the fattened animals," and the absolute command indicates obligation. As for "and that you magnify Allah for having guided you" (Surat al-Baqara, 185), it is said that the verse intends the Eid prayer. Since it is one of the rites of Islam, were it a mere sunna the people might agree to abandon it, and what belongs to the rites of Islam would be lost; it is therefore obligatory, to protect the rites of Islam from neglect (Bada'i' al-Sana'i' 1/274-275, Durrar al-Hukkam 2/144, al-Ikhtiyar 1/105, Fath al-Qadir 2/71, Bulghat al-Salik 1/343, al-Insaf 2/420).
The Malikis, the Shafi'is (in their school) and Ahmad in another version hold it to be an emphasized sunna, based on what Talha ibn Ubaydillah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated: a man from Najd came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asking about Islam.
"They are 5 prayers in the day and the night. The man said: 'Is anything else upon me?' He said: 'No, unless you volunteer'" (the end of the hadith)
Narrated by Bukhari (46, 2532) and Muslim (11)
Al-Nawawi explains the argument: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) informed him that there is no obligation besides the 5; had the Eid been a communal obligation he would not have spoken so absolutely, for a communal obligation is due from all of them but is discharged by the act of some, and were they all to abandon it they would be disobedient (al-Majmu' 6/52). Moreover it is a prayer restricted in time for which the iqama is not prescribed, so it did not become legally obligatory, like the duha prayer (al-Sharh al-Saghir 1/343, al-Taj wa-l-Iklil 2/189, al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyya 1/59, Kifayat al-Talib 1/489, al-Majmu' 6/52, al-Insaf 2/420).
The Hanbalis (in their school), some Malikis, and Abu Sa'id al-Astakhri among the Shafi'is hold that the Eid prayer is a communal obligation: if a group performs it, it falls from the rest, like jihad and the funeral prayer. Al-Buhuti writes that it is "a communal obligation," by the word of Allah: "So pray to your Lord and sacrifice" (Surat al-Kawthar, 2).
The imams agree on this, as al-Shafi'i reports: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wrote to Amr ibn Hazm, who was in Najran:
"Hasten the morning departure to the sacrifice prayer, delay the breaking-of-the-fast one, and remind the people of the remembrance of Allah"
Narrated by al-Shafi'i in his Musnad (1/74) and in al-Umm (1/232)
Al-Bayhaqi reports it through his channel (3/282), but al-Hafiz weakened it in Talkhis al-Habir (2/83); see: Bada'i' al-Sana'i' (1/240), al-Bahr al-Ra'iq (2/173), Hashiyat al-Tahtawi (1/346), al-Sharh al-Saghir (1/344), al-Hawi al-Kabir (2/488), al-Majmu' (6/54), al-Mubdi' (2/178), Kashshaf al-Qina' (2/50), Sharh Muntaha al-Iradat (1/324), and al-Ramli's Nihayat al-Muhtaj (2/276).
The Hanafis and Malikis hold that whoever misses the Eid prayer in its time with the imam owes no making-up of it: this prayer, indeed, is only known as an act of worship through the deed of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), like the Friday prayer; and the Messenger of Allah only performed it in congregation, like the Friday prayer, so it cannot be validly performed except in that manner. And because it is bound to conditions that cannot be fulfilled in a making-up, it is not made up like the Friday prayer in terms of obligation; yet if he wishes to pray, he performs, according to the Hanafis, 4 rak'ahs or 2, like the duha prayer, without takbir.
It is authentic that Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Whoever misses the Eid prayer, let him pray 4 rak'ahs." It is also established that Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered a man to lead the weaker people in the mosque on the day of Fitr or the day of Adha, and ordered him to pray 4.
As for the Malikis, Ibn Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) sets out Malik's view concerning one who finds the people, on the day of the Eid, already gone from the prayer: Malik holds no prayer due from him, neither at the prayer place (musalla) nor in his house; if he prays it is well, magnifying 7 times then 5 times before the recitations. Malik said this because the sunna of the Eid is that it be in congregation, and whoever misses it does not make it up, since a making-up is required only for prescribed prayers. In works other than the Muwatta, from Ashhab and Ibn Wahb: if he catches them at the tashahhud of the Eid prayer he enters the state of consecration and sits, then stands when the imam gives the salam and makes up the Eid prayer as the imam prayed it; if he catches one of the 2 rak'ahs he makes up the other with 7 takbirs, like the one he missed; and if they prayed before he could, and he attends the sermon, he listens to it.
He also said: the making-up of the Eid prayer is not required of one who missed it, unless he wishes (al-Istidhkar 2/397-398, Mawahib al-Jalil 106, al-Awsat 4/291-293, Sharh Ibn Battal 2/573, al-Mabsut 2/40, Fath al-Qadir 2/82, Mukhtasar Ikhtilaf al-Ulama' 1/371, Ma'ani al-Athar 2/247, Bidayat al-Mujtahid 1/302).
Al-Kharashi (may Allah have mercy on him) reports from Khalil (may Allah have mercy on him): "the prayer of one who was not commanded with Friday, or missed it, is recommended": it is recommended for one who was not commanded with Friday as an obligation, or who missed the Eid prayer with the imam, to pray it, in congregation or alone: 2 views. Whoever was commanded with Friday as an obligation is commanded with the Eid as a sunna; whoever was not so commanded is commanded with the Eid as a recommendation. The pilgrims are excepted from the recommendation: they are not commanded to perform it, neither as a recommendation nor as a sunna (Sharh Mukhtasar Khalil 2/104).
The evidence for this is what Bukhari reports in suspended form (mu'allaq) in his Sahih: "When the Eid prayer is missed, one prays 2 rak'ahs; and likewise the women, and those in the houses and the villages, according to the word of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): 'This is our festival, people of Islam.'" Anas ibn Malik ordered his client Ibn Abi Uthba, at al-Zawiya (a village about 2 farsakhs, some 12 kilometers, from Basra, where Anas had a palace and land and often resided; Fath al-Bari 2/475), to gather his family and children: he prayed as the people of the town prayed, with their takbirs.
Al-Hattab writes in Mawahib al-Jalil: "Gathering (for the prayer) is permitted to one who missed it among the people of the town, without a sermon, without disagreement; likewise one who missed it for an excuse; likewise the slaves and travelers. As for the people of the small villages, there are 2 views, and Allah knows best" (Mawahib al-Jalil 2/198).
As for the Shafi'is, al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) says: the sound view of our school is that making it up is recommended at all times; whoever misses it with the imam, during its time or after, prays 2 rak'ahs like the imam's prayer (al-Majmu' 5/34), based on what al-Bayhaqi reports with his chain: "When the Eid prayer with the imam was missed, Anas would gather his family and pray with them like the imam's Eid prayer."
Al-Nawawi adds: "As for the rulings: is the Eid prayer prescribed for the slave, the traveler, the woman, and the solitary worshipper in his house or elsewhere? There are 2 approaches, the sounder and more famous of which is the definite affirmation that it is prescribed for them. And they answered the objection about the Prophet's (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) leaving the Eid prayer at Mina by saying he left it because he was occupied with the rites and teaching the people their rulings, which was more important than the Eid" (al-Majmu' 5/31). The sermon is sunna, for them, for those of these categories who pray it in congregation, but not for the solitary worshipper.
It is written in Mughni al-Muhtaj: "After the 2 rak'ahs, 2 sermons are sunna for the congregation, in imitation of him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the rightly guided caliphs, with no difference in the congregation between travelers and others. And in Tuhfat al-Muhtaj: "It is sunna for the solitary worshipper, with no sermon for him, and for the slave and the woman; as for the traveler, it is like other supererogatory prayers, and it is sunna for the imam of travelers to deliver the sermon to them. Then: "It was mentioned that the sermon is not sunna for a solitary worshipper."
The Hanbalis hold, in their school, that one who missed the prayer is recommended to make it up whenever he wishes, before or after midday. It is written in al-Insaf: this is the madhhab and the view of most of the companions (of Ahmad). Ibn Aqil says: he makes it up before midday, otherwise from the next day.
According to the Hanbali madhhab he makes it up in its own manner; from Imam Ahmad, he makes it up as 4 rak'ahs without takbir, with one salam like the zuhr prayer; another version from him: with one or 2 salams; and another: he chooses between 2 and 4 rak'ahs (al-Insaf 2/433, al-Mubdi' 2/190, al-Mughni 3/127, al-Ifsah 1/260). Imam Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) states the issue thus: "Whoever misses the Eid prayer prays 4 rak'ahs like a supererogatory prayer, and if he wishes he prays with a salam between every 2 rak'ahs."
The sum of it is that one who misses the Eid prayer owes no making-up, for it is a communal obligation discharged by those who fulfilled it. If he wishes to make it up he is free: either 4 rak'ahs, with one salam or 2, based on what Abdallah ibn Mas'ud reported: "Whoever misses the Eid, let him pray 4 rak'ahs; and whoever misses the Friday, let him pray 4 rak'ahs"; and it is reported from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): "If I ordered a man to lead the weaker people, I ordered him to pray 4"; both reports are narrated by Sa'id, and this is the view of al-Thawri. Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Ali's report, that he ordered a man leading the weaker people to pray 4 rak'ahs without a sermon, supports this.
Or 2 rak'ahs, like a supererogatory prayer, the view of al-Awza'i; or in the manner of the Eid prayer, with the takbirs: this is transmitted from Ahmad and Isma'il ibn Sa'd, chosen by al-Jawzajani, and it is the view of al-Nakha'i, Malik, al-Shafi'i, Abu Thawr and Ibn al-Mundhir, based on what is reported from Anas: when he missed the Eid with the imam in Basra, he would gather his family and clients, and Ibn Abi Uthba, his client, would stand and pray with them 2 rak'ahs with the takbirs. Since it is the making-up of a prayer, it keeps its manner like all prayers, and he is free: alone if he wishes, or in congregation if he wishes. Abu Abdillah (Ahmad) was asked: where does he pray? He answered: if he wishes he goes to the prayer place; if he wishes, wherever he wishes (al-Mughni 2/124-125).
The jurists hold that any pure place is valid for performing the Eid prayer, whether a mosque, an open ground in the middle of the town, or a desert outside it. Most jurists (the Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis), however, say it is sunna to go out for it to the prayer place (musalla), outside the town or in the desert, in imitation of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): he used to pray it at the musalla and persist in that, except for an excuse.
"The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would go out on the day of Fitr and the day of Adha to the prayer place"
Narrated by Bukhari (913), from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him)
He would leave his mosque, in which prayer is worth a 1000 prayers elsewhere, as did the caliphs after him. The Prophet would not abandon the superior, namely his mosque, despite its nearness, to take on the inferior despite its distance, nor legislate for his community the abandonment of virtues. We have indeed been commanded to follow the Prophet and take him as a model: it cannot be that what is commanded is the lesser and what is shunned the perfect. The aim of the Eid is to display adornment and pride, and to proclaim the beauty of Islam, its ornaments and its ranks, and that only becomes apparent in the desert, the open spaces and the vast places.
Nor is it transmitted that the Prophet prayed the Eid in his mosque except for an excuse:
"Rain befell them on the day of a festival, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) prayed the Eid prayer with them in the mosque"
A weak hadith, narrated by Abu Dawud (1160) and Ibn Majah (1313), from Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him)
Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) adds the argument of consensus: the people of every age and every town go out to the prayer place and pray the Eid there, no matter how spacious or cramped the mosque; and the Prophet prayed at the musalla despite the nobility of his mosque (al-Mughni 3/105). There is no harm, moreover, in the imam appointing a deputy in the town to pray in the mosque with the weaker people and those unable to go out to the desert:
"Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered a man to lead the weaker people in 4 rak'ahs in the mosque on the day of the Eid"
Narrated by al-Shafi'i in al-Umm (7/167), Ibn Abi Shayba in al-Musannaf (2/5), al-Bayhaqi in al-Kubra (3/310) and Ibn al-Mundhir in al-Awsat (4/257); al-Nawawi says in al-Majmu' (6/55): its chain is authentic
The Shafi'is say: the sunna is to pray the Eid prayer at the prayer place if the town's mosque is cramped, for people are many at the Eid prayer and would be troubled; if the mosque is spacious, the mosque is better than the musalla, for the imams never ceased praying the Eid prayer in the mosque in Mecca, and the mosque is nobler and purer.
Al-Shirazi transmits from al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him): if the mosque is spacious, praying in the desert is unobjectionable; if it is cramped, praying in it and not going out to the desert is disliked, for if he leaves the mosque and prays in the desert no harm befalls them, whereas if he abandons the desert and prays in the cramped mosque they suffer the crush and some may even miss the prayer; as it is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) "would go out to the prayer place" (al-Muhadhdhab 1/118, al-Umm 7/167, al-Hawi al-Kabir 2/486-497, al-Rawda 2/75, Ma'ani al-Athar 2/249, Fath al-Qadir 2/72, Mawahib al-Jalil 2/196, al-Ishraf 1/142, al-Mughni 3/104-105, Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/53, al-Mubdi' 2/190, al-Ifsah 1/261).
Ibn Hubayra (may Allah have mercy on him) sets out their disagreement over the permissibility of voluntary prayers before and after the Eid prayer for one who attended it at the prayer place or in the mosque:
Al-Nawawi says in al-Majmu' (6/68): they agreed that this prayer has no sunna before or after it, but differed over the disliked nature of voluntary prayer before and after it.
The Eid prayer is 2 rak'ahs, by the hadith of Omar (may Allah be pleased with him):
"The Friday prayer is 2 rak'ahs, the prayer of Fitr 2 rak'ahs, the prayer of Adha 2 rak'ahs, the prayer of travel 2 rak'ahs: complete, without shortening, upon the word of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)"
An authentic hadith, narrated by al-Nasai (1420) and Ibn Khuzayma in his Sahih (1425)
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) says: this is by consensus; its sufficient description is that of the other prayers, with their sunnas and forms, like any prayer; one intends by it the Eid prayer: that is its minimum (al-Majmu' 6/75). The schools then differ over its most complete description, regarding the takbirs:
Ibn Rushd the Maliki (may Allah have mercy on him) explains the cause of their disagreement: the differing reports transmitted from the Companions on this. Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) and Ahmad followed what Nafi', the client of Abdallah ibn Omar, reported:
"I attended the Adha and the Fitr with Abu Hurayra: he magnified 7 times in the first before the recitation, and 5 in the last before the recitation"
Its chain is authentic; narrated by Malik in al-Muwatta (136)
The practice of Medina was upon this, and al-Shafi'i took this very report, except that he interpreted the 7 as not including the opening takbir, just as the 5 do not include the takbir of standing. It may be that Malik only meant that the opening takbir should be repeated within the 7, and the takbir of standing added to the 5 narrated, because the practice he found was thus: he would thereby have combined the report and the practice. Abu Dawud related the meaning of Abu Hurayra's report in raised form from Aisha and from Amr ibn al-As. It is also reported that Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman were asked how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to magnify in the Adha and the Fitr.
Abu Musa said: he magnified 4 times, like his magnification at funerals. Hudhayfa said: true. Abu Musa said: "That is how I used to magnify in Basra when I had authority over them" (an authentic hadith: Abu Dawud 1153), and some people said likewise (4 takbirs).
Abu Hanifa and the other Kufans relied on Ibn Mas'ud, for it is established from him that he used to teach the people the 2 Eid prayers according to the description above (narrated by Abd al-Razzaq 5686, from al-Thawri, from Abu Ishaq, from al-Alqama and al-Aswad ibn Yazid: Ibn Mas'ud used to magnify 9 times in the 2 Eids: 4 before the recitation, then he magnified and bowed; in the second he recited, and when he finished he magnified 4, then bowed).
The jurists differed over the invocation between the additional takbirs of the Eid prayer.
The Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold that one praises Allah, extols Him and invokes blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Al-Nawawi reports from al-Shafi'i and his companions: it is recommended to pause between each 2 additional takbirs for the length of reciting a verse, neither long nor short, declaring Allah's greatness and oneness, praising Him and glorifying Him; this is the wording of al-Shafi'i in al-Umm and in al-Muzani's Mukhtasar, though the glorification is not in al-Umm. Most of the companions say: "Subhana Allah, wa-l-hamdu lillah, wa-la ilaha illa Allah, wa-Allahu akbar" (Glory to Allah, praise to Allah, there is no deity but Allah, Allah is greatest), and any addition is permitted.
Al-Saydalani reports from some of the companions: "La ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la sharika lah, lahu l-mulku wa lahu l-hamd, wa huwa ala kulli shay'in qadir" (There is no deity but Allah alone, without partner; His is the dominion and His the praise; and He is powerful over all things). Ibn al-Sabbagh says: if he says what the people are accustomed to, "Allahu akbar kabiran, wa-l-hamdu lillahi kathiran, wa subhana Allahi bukratan wa asilan, wa salla Allahu ala Muhammadin wa alihi wa sallama tasliman kathiran" (Allah is greatest, greatly; abundant praise to Allah; glory to Allah morning and evening; may Allah bestow much prayer and peace upon Muhammad and his family), it is good.
Imam Abu Abdillah Muhammad Abdallah ibn Mas'ud al-Mas'udi, of the companions of al-Qaffal, says: one says "Subhanaka Allahumma wa bi-hamdika, tabaraka ismuka, wa ta'ala jadduka, wa jalla thana'uka, wa la ilaha ghayruka" (Glory to You, O Allah, and praise; blessed is Your name; exalted is Your majesty; noble is Your praise; there is no deity besides You), but this invocation is not said after the seventh nor after the fifth takbir; rather one seeks refuge with Allah after the seventh and likewise after the fifth, if we hold that one does so in every rak'ah, which is the sounder view; nor is it said after the opening takbir, nor in the second rak'ah before the first of the 5. This is the madhhab (al-Majmu' 6/75, al-Umm 1/236, Mukhtasar Ikhtilafat al-Bayhaqi 2/372).
Al-Kharqi writes: one begins with the opening supplication, praises Allah, extols Him and invokes blessings upon the Prophet between each 2 takbirs; if he wishes he says: "Allahu akbar kabiran, wa-l-hamdu lillahi kathiran, wa subhana Allahi bukratan wa asilan, wa salla Allahu ala Muhammad an-nabiyy al-ummiyy wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam"; and if he wishes he says something else. Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) states that saying something other is permitted, such as "Subhana Allah, wa-l-hamdu lillah, wa-la ilaha illa Allah, wa-Allahu akbar," or any remembrance one wishes, and that this is al-Shafi'i's view.
This is supported by what al-Alqama reported: al-Walid ibn Uqba called upon Abdallah ibn Mas'ud, Abu Musa and Hudhayfa one day, before the Eid, and asked them: "This Eid is near: how is the magnification done in it? Abdallah said: "You begin by magnifying once, with which you open the prayer; you praise your Lord and invoke blessings upon the Prophet; then you supplicate and magnify, and do the like; then you supplicate and magnify, and do the like; then you supplicate and magnify, and do the like; then you supplicate and magnify, and do the like; then you supplicate and magnify, and do the like; then you supplicate and magnify, and do the like; then you recite; then you magnify and bow. Then you stand, recite, praise your Lord and invoke blessings upon the Prophet; then you supplicate and magnify, and do the like; then you magnify and do the like; then you magnify and do the like; then you bow.
Hudhayfa and Abu Musa said: "Abu Abd al-Rahman has spoken the truth" (narrated by al-Bayhaqi 3/291; al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir 3/514 judges its chain authentic; see al-Silsila al-Sahihah 6/496).
Since these takbirs occur while standing, it is recommended to interleave them with remembrance, like the takbirs of the funeral prayer; the judge says: one pauses between each 2 takbirs for the length of a verse, neither long nor short, and this is al-Shafi'i's view (al-Mughni 3/115-116, Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/54, Majmu' al-Fatawa 24/221).
Abu Hanifa and Malik, on the other hand, hold that the takbirs are made in succession without remembrance between them: were a remembrance prescribed between them it would have been transmitted, as the takbir was; and the takbir being a remembrance of a prescribed kind, it is consecutive, like the tasbih in bowing and prostration (Fath al-Qadir 2/77, Ibn Abidin 2/175, al-Qawanin al-Fiqhiyya 59, Mawahib al-Jalil 2/191, al-Awsat 4/280, Nil al-Awtar 3/370, al-Ifsah 1/254).
The jurists of the 4 schools hold that the Eid sermon comes after the prayer. Abu Omar Ibn Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) says: what is sound and established from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the rightly guided caliphs after him is that they prayed before the sermon on the 2 Eids, without an adhan and without an iqama; on this the jurists of the Hijaz and Iraq ruled, and it is the madhhab of Malik, al-Shafi'i,
Abu Hanifa, their companions and Ahmad: all of them see no adhan and no iqama for the prayer of the 2 Eids and pray before the sermon; "whoever wishes to sit for the sermon sits, and whoever wishes to go, goes" (an authentic hadith: Abu Dawud 1155, Ibn Majah 1290).
Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) explains that it was delayed until after the prayer, and Allah knows best, because the prayer is not an obligation: the sermon was set at a time in which whoever wants to leave it may leave it, unlike the Friday sermon; listening to it is better (al-Mughni 3/121; see Kashshaf al-Qina' 2/56).
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) says: it is recommended for the people to listen to the sermon, but neither the sermon nor listening to it is a condition for the validity of the Eid prayer. Al-Shafi'i says: if one leaves listening to the sermon of the Eid, the eclipse, the prayer for rain or the sermons of the Hajj, or speaks during them, or departs and abandons them, I dislike that for him, but there is no repetition upon him (al-Majmu' 6/84). Ibn al-Hajj the Maliki says: the sunna is not to leave after the prayer until the imam has finished his sermon, even if one does not hear it (al-Madkhal 2/284, Mawahib al-Jalil 2/196, Nil al-Awtar 3/376).
Ibn Hubayra (may Allah have mercy on him) reports the agreement of the 4 imams: the takbir is prescribed at Eid al-Nahr (the festival of the sacrifice). They then differed over the takbir of Eid al-Fitr: all of them said it is prescribed therein, except
Abu Hanifa, who said it is not (the disagreement between
Abu Hanifa and his 2 companions, per the commentary on Fath al-Qadir 2/72, concerns pronouncing it aloud at the Fitr, not its principle: it falls under the generality of the remembrance of Allah; his 2 companions pronounce it aloud as at the Adha, while
Abu Hanifa does not; he held that raising the voice in remembrance is an innovation contrary to the command of Allah: "And remember your Lord within yourself, in humility and fear, without loudness in speech" (Surat al-A'raf, 205), so it is restricted to the occasion prescribed by the Law).
Al-Wazir (Ibn Hubayra, may Allah have mercy on him) says: the sound view is that the takbir of the Fitr is even more firmly established than that of the Adha, by the word of Allah:
"... and that you complete the number, and magnify Allah for having guided you, and that you may be grateful"
Surat al-Baqara, 185
They then differed over its beginning and its end. Malik says: one magnifies on the day of Fitr, not its night; its beginning, for him, is from the start of the day until the imam comes out. Three views are narrated from al-Shafi'i on its end: until the imam goes out to the prayer place; until he consecrates himself for the prayer; until he finishes the sermon; as for its beginning, it is from the sighting of the crescent. Two versions are narrated from Ahmad on its end: when the imam goes out; when the imam finishes the 2 sermons; its beginning follows al-Shafi'i's madhhab.
They then differed over its formula.
Abu Hanifa and Ahmad say one says: "Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, la ilaha illa Allah, wa-Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar wa li-Llahi l-hamd" (Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest; there is no deity but Allah; Allah is greatest, Allah is greatest, and to Allah belongs the praise), pairing the takbir at its beginning and its end. Malik says the formula is "Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar" in succession; it is reported from him that the sunna is: "Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, la ilaha illa Allah, Allahu akbar wa li-Llahi l-hamd. Abd al-Wahhab says: pairing the takbir at its beginning and its end is dearer to me.
Al-Shafi'i says: one magnifies 3 times in succession at its beginning, and 3 times in succession at its end. Al-Nawawi states in al-Majmu' (6/105) that the recommended formula is "Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar," the famous wording of al-Shafi'i's texts in al-Umm and al-Mukhtasar; al-Shafi'i adds in al-Mukhtasar that any addition of the remembrance of Allah is good; and in al-Umm he likes the addition: "Allahu akbar kabiran, wa-l-hamdu lillahi kathiran, wa subhana Allahi bukratan wa asilan, la ilaha illa Allah, wa la na'budu illa iyyah, mukhlisina lahu l-dina wa law kariha l-kafirun, la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu, sadaqa wa'dahu, wa nasara abdahu, wa hazama l-ahzaba wahdah, la ilaha illa Allah, wa-Allahu akbar. Al-Wazir concludes that each view has its ground, but the best is al-Shafi'i's, for 3 is the least of the complete counts.
As for Eid al-Nahr and the days of tashriq, they differed, still according to Ibn Hubayra, over the beginning and end of the takbir, for the pilgrim who has ended his consecration as for the one still consecrated (muhrim).
Abu Hanifa says: the takbir begins at the dawn prayer of the day of Arafat, whether one has ended consecration or is still in it, and lasts until the takbir of the afternoon prayer on the day of the sacrifice, after which it stops; no difference between the 2 categories in its beginning and end.
Bada'i al-Sana'i by al-Kasani · Hanafi school
The prayer of the two Eids is obligatory upon the inhabitants of the towns, like the Friday prayer. Al-Hasan reported from Abu Hanifa that he said: the prayer of the Eid is obligatory upon whoever owes the Friday prayer, and he mentioned in the foundational work what indicates obligation. He said indeed: no voluntary prayer is performed in congregation except the standing of Ramadan (qiyam) and the solar eclipse; yet the Eid prayer is performed in congregation: were it a sunnah and not a duty, he would have excepted it as he excepted the tarawih and the eclipse prayer; and he called it a sunnah in al-Jami al-Saghir when he said, regarding the two Eids falling on one day, that the first is a sunnah. That is a divergence of wording: the meaning of what he mentioned in al-Jami al-Saghir is whether it is obligatory by the Sunnah, or an emphasized sunnah close in meaning to an obligation.
No: neither adhan nor iqama (Muslim 887); it starts directly with the takbir.
The Medinan sunna is the open-air congregational prayer; praying alone at home is admitted by a part of scholars, the complete form remaining the gathering.
Yes: the Prophet ordered women, even menstruating (without praying), to attend the good and the invocation (al-Bukhari 964).
For Eid al-fitr: eat a few dates before and pay zakat al-fitr before the prayer; for Eid al-adha: not eating before the prayer per the majority, eating of the sacrifice after.