Salah al-‘Eid (Ritual Prayer of Eid)

Muslims have two Eids (religious festivals), ‘Eid al-adha and the ‘Eid al-fitr. Those for whom the Friday ritual prayers is obligatory are also obliged to perform the ‘Eid ritual prayers. Even though it is not obligatory for women and children to attend the mosque, the Prophet Muhammad (saw) wanted to share the joy of this day with them and warned men not to prevent them from attending the mosque. (Sahih Muslim, Salah, 134) The time of the Salah al-‘Eid begins after the time of karahah at sunrise, that is, the period of approximately 50 minutes in which it is forbidden to perform salah.

For this worship, when one is on his way to attend the mosque, takbirs are said silently during ‘Eid al-fitr and aloud during ‘Eid al-adha. The Salah al-‘Eid consists of two rak’ah salah performed with congregation and a khutbah (sermon) after the salah.  (Sahih Bukhari, Eidayn, 7) The extra takbirs done in prayer, also called “zaid takbir”, distinguish the ‘Eid ritual prayer from other ritual prayers. One says three takbirs before reciting surah al-Fatiha in the first rak’ah and three takbirs after the extra surah in the second rak’ah. Starting from the day of Arafat of the ‘Eid al-adha until the afternoon prayer of the fourth day, tashriq takbirs are necessary after every fardh salah.  The tashriq takbir is recited as follows: “Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, la ilahe illAllahu wAllahu akbar, Allahu akbar wa lillahi’l-hamd”