Question:

What do the scholars and experts of shari’ah say in regards to referring to the days of al-Fitr and al-Adha as Eid? Did the Prophet ﷺ refer to these days as Eid?

Answer:

All perfect praise is for Allah ﷻ, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah ﷻ, and that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is His Messenger.

To refer to the days of al-Fitr and al-Adha as days of Eid is a known and accepted fact which has been established by numerous sound ahadith. They have been called days of Eid during the Prophet’s life as well as throughout our history, till today, without any objections.

Imam al-Bukhari in his book ‘al-Sahih’ has mentioned a chapter under the name of ‘Abwab al-‘Idayn’. He has narrated a hadith on the authority of Ibn Umar that the beautiful Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr and Sayyiduna ‘Umar would perform the Eid Salaah before the khutba.

In another narration, ‘Uqba bin Aamir narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Rhe Day of ‘Arafa, the Day of Nahr, and the Days of Tashriq are Eid for the people of Islam. These are Days of eating and drinking.”

Imam Hakim after narrating this in his ‘al-Mustadrik’ said: This hadith meets the conditions of sahih according to Imam Muslim, but he did not narrate it.

The Mother of the believers, Sayyida A’isha Siddiqa reported that once Sayyiduna Abu Bakr came to visit us and he saw that there were two young girls from the Ansar with me, on the Day of Buaath (the day when the war had begun between the tribe of Aws and Khazraj and had continued for over hundred and twenty years), these two girls were reading poetry full of pride. She also mentioned that they were not singing girls. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr seeing this said, “Are you playing evil instruments in the house of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and that on the Day of Eid?” Upon hearing this the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “O Abu Bakr, every nation has their Eid and this Day is our Eid.” (Bukhari & Muslim)

In conclusion there are many ahadith and athar that support naming of the days of al-Adha and al-Fitr as Eid. So, there is nothing wrong in doing so.

And Allah ﷻ knows best.

This Fatwa is written by Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Munir Al-Azhari