Fatwa from the Standing Committee regarding the case when the day of Eid happens to be a Friday

Q. Praise be to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon the one after whom there is no Prophet and upon his family and companions. To proceed: there have been many questions regarding the case when the day of Eid happens to be a Friday and the two Eids come together: Eid al-Fitr or al-Adha and the “eid” of Friday (Jumu‘ah), which is the weekly “eid”. Is Jumu‘ah prayer obligatory for the one who attended Eid prayer, or is it the case that the Eid prayer is sufficient and he can pray Zuhr instead of Jumu‘ah? Should the adhaan for Zuhr prayer be given in the mosques or not? And there are other questions. So the Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas has decided to issue the following fatwa:

Praise be to Allah.

Concerning this issue, there are a number of marfoo‘ hadiths and mawqoof reports, including the following: 

1.

The hadith of Zayd ibn Arqam (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which Mu‘aawiyah ibn Abi Sufyaan (may Allah have mercy on him) asked him: Did you ever witness with the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)  two Eids that happened on the same day? He said: Yes. He said: What did he do? He said: He offered the Eid prayer, then he granted a concession allowing people to miss Jumu‘ah prayer, and he said: “Whoever wishes to pray (Jumu‘ah), let him do so.”

Narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawood, an-Nasaa’i, Ibn Maajah, ad-Daarimi, and by al-Haakim in al-Mustadrak, where he said: This hadith has saheeh isnaads, even though they [al-Bukhaari and Muslim] did not narrate it, and it has a corroborating report according to the conditions of Muslim. And adh-Dhahabi agreed with him. An-Nawawi said in al-Majmoo‘: Its isnaad is jayyid. 

2.

The corroborating evidence mentioned above is the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Two Eids have come together on this day of yours, so whoever wishes, it [the Eid prayer] will suffice for Jumu‘ah, but we will pray Jumu‘ah.”

Narrated by al-Haakim as stated above; also narrated by Abu Dawood, Ibn Maajah, Ibn al-Jaarood, al-Bayhaqi and others. 

3.

The hadith of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: Two Eids came together at the time of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). He led the people in (the Eid) prayer, then he said: “Whoever wishes to come to Jumu‘ah may come and whoever wishes not to do so may stay away.” Narrated by Ibn Maajah. It was also narrated by at-Tabaraani in al-Mu‘jam al-Kabeeras follows: Two Eids came together at the time of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): Eid al-Fitr and Jumu‘ah. The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) led them in the Eid prayer, then he turned to face them and said: O people, you have attained goodness and reward, but we are going to pray Jumu‘ah; whoever wishes to pray Jumu‘ah may do so, and whoever wishes to go back, may go back.” 

4.

The hadith of Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Two Eids have come together on this day of yours, so whoever wishes, it [the Eid prayer] will suffice for Jumu‘ah, but we will pray Jumu‘ah in sha Allah.”

Narrated by Ibn Maajah. Al-Buwaysiri said: Its isnaad is saheeh and its men are thiqaat (trustworthy) 

5.

The mursal report of Dhakwaan ibn Saalih says: Two Eids came together at the time of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): Jumu‘ah and Eid. He led them in (the Eid prayer), then he stood up to address the people and said: “You have remembered Allah and attained goodness. But we will pray Jumu‘ah, so whoever wants to stay – in his house – may do so, and whoever wants to pray Jumu‘ah may do so.”

Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in as-Sunan al-Kubra. 

6.

It was narrated that ‘Ata’ ibn Abi Rabaah said: Ibn az-Zubayr led us in prayer on the day of Eid, on a Friday, at the beginning of the day, then we went to pray Jumu‘ah and he did not come out to us, so we prayed by ourselves. Ibn ‘Abbaas was in at-Taa’if and when we came we told him about that, and he said: He acted in accordance with the Sunnah.

Narrated by Abu Dawood. A different version was narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah, in which he added at the end: And Ibn az-Zubayr said: I saw ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab do something like this when two Eids happened on the same day. 

7.

In the Saheeh of al-Bukhaari (may Allah have mercy on him) and the Muwatta’ of Maalik (may Allah have mercy on him) it is narrated that Abu ‘Ubayd, the freed slave of Ibn Azhar, said: I was present on the occasion of two Eids (together) with ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan; that was on a Friday. He offered the (Eid) prayer before the khutbah, then delivered the khutbah and said: O people, on this day two Eids have come to you together, so whoever wants to wait for Jumu‘ah with the people of al-‘Awaali, let him do so, and whoever wants to go back, then I gave him permission to do so. 

8.

It was narrated that ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allah have mercy on him) said, when two Eids came together on one day: Whoever wants to pray Jumu‘ah, let him do so, and whoever wants to stay, let him do so.” Sufyaan said: i.e., let him stay in his house.

Narrated by ‘Abd ar-Razzaaq in al-Musannaf; a similar report was narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah. 

Based on these hadiths that have isnaads going back to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and these mawqoof reports from a number of the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them), and what has been affirmed by the majority of scholars, the Committee has issued the following rulings: 

1.

Whoever attends the Eid prayer has a concession allowing him not to attend Jumu‘ah prayer, so he may pray it as Zuhr at the time of Zuhr. But if he decides to pray Jumu‘ah with the people, that is preferable. 

2.

Whoever has not attended the Eid prayer is not included in that concession, therefore the obligation to attend Jumu‘ah is not waived in his case. Therefore he must go to the mosque in order to pray Jumu‘ah. If there are insufficient numbers to perform Jumu‘ah prayer, then he should pray it as Zuhr. 

3.

The imam of the Jumu‘ah mosque must hold Jumu‘ah prayers on that day so that those who wish to attend, and those who did not attend the Eid prayer, may attend Jumu‘ah. If sufficient numbers of people attend for Jumu‘ah prayer, then Jumu‘ah prayer must be offered, otherwise it should be offered as Zuhr. 

4.

Whoever attends the Eid prayer and has a concession allowing him not to attend Jumu‘ah must pray it as Zuhr after the time for Zuhr begins. 

5.

At this time it is not prescribed to give the adhaan except in the mosques where Jumu‘ah prayers will be held. It is not prescribed to give the adhaan for Zuhr on that day. 

6.

The view that whoever attends the Eid prayer has a concession waiving both Jumu‘ah and Zuhr prayer on that day is an incorrect view. Therefore it is rejected by the scholars and they have deemed it to be mistaken and odd, because it is contrary to the Sunnah and suggests that one of the obligatory duties enjoined by Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is to be waived with no evidence to that effect. Perhaps the Sunnahs and reports about this issue – which grant a concession allowing the one who attended the Eid prayer not to attend Jumu‘ah, but state that he must still pray Zuhr – did not reach the one who said that. 

And Allah, may He be exalted, knows best. May Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas 

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn ‘Abdullah Aal ash-Shaykh, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan al-Ghadyaan, Shaykh Bakr ibn ‘Abdullah Abu Zayd, Shaykh Saalih ibn Fawzaan al-Fawzaan

Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas

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