offer eid prayer at home. Why ?

Eid is so important for Muslims religiously and culturally that more people come out to pray than at any time else in the year. But alas this Eid we will not be able to pray together and meet people who we have not met in a long time, we will offer Eid prayer at home. We will not be able to hug each other “Eid Mubarak!”. 

However, this does not mean that we shouldn’t offer our gratitude to God Almighty and enjoy ourselves and the eid ideas we may have.  Even though we will offer Eid prayer at home but, here are many Sunnahs of Eid day which we can still do:

• Shower, dress up, wear perfume, and eat some sweets

• Five to 10 minutes before 9 AM, we can sit together on prayer mats together and loudly say our Eid day Takbirat: “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illallahu, wallahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lillahil Hamd.” Translation: God is the greatest, He is the greatest. There is no God but One God. He is the greatest. Indeed He is the greatest. All praises belong to Him. Repeat the Takbirat as many times as you like. Be in sync with the rest of the family. Try to connect on Zoom with the rest of your relatives and friends as you do this. 

• At 9 AM, offer the two-Rakat (unit) Eid prayer together at home, just as you would if attending congregational Eid prayers. Here is the Hanafi method. We need to remember God Almighty more now than before. It is okay to say “Allahu akbar” as many times in the prayers as you like. This is similar to how the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, used to do this, as seen in other versions of the Eid prayer in different schools of thought (Madhabs)

• At 9:15 listen to a virtual khutba at home organized by your local Masjid. Sound Vision will have four live virtual Khutbas. Please choose which time suits you. It will also be live on Satellite Galaxy 19 and on MuslimNetwork.tv 

• At 10 AM our Eid entertainment, Eid songs, comedy and special children’s Adam’s World programing will begin for several hours at the only Muslim TV in America, which also broadcasts to Canada and Mexico at MuslimNetwork.tv and at Satellite. 

• Here are 16 great ideas on how to enjoy Eid in quarantine.  

An Islamic rationale for not organizing Eid prayers in congregation

Please ensure that your masjid does not organize congregational Eid prayers for the following reasons, which are based on the Quran and teachings of the Prophet, as well as the advice of medical and scientific experts:

• Whereas Allah says that saving one life is like saving all of humanity (Quran 5:32);

• Whereas Allah tells us not to put ourselves at risk of death (Quran 2:195);

• Whereas protecting and saving human life is the first and foremost objective of Shari’ah (Islamic law). It takes precedence over all other objectives of Islamic faith, as life is the basis of everything else;

• Whereas early Islamic scholars have cancelled congregational prayers when there was a storm or health risk for people, based on the practice of the Prophet himself;

• Whereas medical experts state that a person does not have to have symptoms to transmit COVID-19 to others who can get severely ill or die from it;

• Whereas research has established that this virus remains up to three hours in the air and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel;

• Whereas containment of a pandemic through limiting human contact is critical to dealing with the global problem;

• Whereas medical experts are asking people to avoid crowded spaces and create human-to-human physical distance;

• Whereas statistical models by scientists warn that if we cancel social distancing rules prematurely, it will be catastrophic for human life;

• Whereas there is no vaccine or a quick cure for this virus;

• Whereas most of our government leaders are appealing to congregations to shut down and in some cases banning them;

We, therefore, appeal to all Masjids to continue to cancel all congregational prayers, including Eid prayers  and offer Eid prayer at home, until the situation improves.

Instead, we advise Muslims to offer Eid prayers in their homes. It is easy to listen to an Eid Khutba on livestream (many Islamic organizations will be doing this). The Khutba is a part of Eid prayer, and Muslims are highly encouraged to listen to it after the two-unit prayer. 

God, the Rahman and the Raheem, the Compassionate and Merciful, please forgive me if what I am saying is inaccurate.

May He protect us all, ya Hafeez, ya Lateef.

Allah knows the best.

(Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid is a graduate of a Darul Uloom in Darse Nizami, Pakistan, where Mufti Wali Hasan Tonki, Grand Mufti of Pakistan, was also a teacher. He also holds the degrees of Maulavi, Maulavi Alim and Maulavi Fazil.)