Celebrating Eid is something many of us take for granted, we can get wrapped up in cultural trappings. What was the Prophet’s way of celebrating Eid?
Twice a year Muslims engage in celebrating Eid. We enjoy celebrating Eid ul-Fitr at the end of Ramadan with great feasts. Then we look forward to celebrating Eid ul Adha with the sacrifice and distribution of meat.
Here, Sheikh Bassam explores the concept of celebrating Eid from the Prophet’s guidance:
by Sheikh Bassam Obeid
All praises due to Allah. We ask Allah to shower His blessed peace & prayers on his Prophet Mohammed and upon his companions and family.
Linguistically, Eid is from “repetition” and “return”. Eid was named as such because it comes back and repeats happiness every year (Alfiqh al-Islami 2-362).
The EID prayer was mandated in the first year of the prophet’s migration (1AH). Anas bin Malik said, “The prophet PBUH came to Medina and the people of Medina had two days of celebration. So, he asked them “What are these two days?” They said these are two days that we used to celebrate during the days of pre- Islamic ignorance [Jahiliyah]. So the Prophet said, “Allah has given you something better than that [two pre-Islamic days of celebration]: the day of Adha and day of Fitr.” This hadith is a clear indication that our Ummah cannot celebrate any other holiday other than these two according to all traditional and most modern scholars.
Read moreCelebrating Eid in the Way of the Prophet