Eid al-Fitr

The story behind the day

Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Breaking the Fast, ends the month of Ramadan. It begins when the new crescent of Shawwāl is sighted, and tradition gives it three days, though many places keep one. Muslims mark it with a special congregational prayer, a gift of food for the poor paid beforehand, their best clothes, and visits to family, with the greeting Eid Mubarak. Fasting on the day itself is forbidden. Sunni and Shia Muslims keep the festival together, though their legal traditions classify its prayer differently.^[1–10]

Origins

Egypt's Dar al-Ifta relates that when the Prophet reached Medina he found its people keeping two festivals of pagan origin, and replaced them with the fast-breaking feast that ends Ramadan and the feast of sacrifice; a report in Sunan Abu Dawud has him say that God gave believers something better than those two days of play. Muslims believe that the Prophet introduced both festivals, and they have kept the Eids for some fourteen centuries. The festival begins once Shawwāl's new moon has been sighted, or when Ramadan has run to thirty days. The Congressional Research Service notes that it is often celebrated for one day, while the Open University and the Library of Congress describe a celebration of three.^{[2–3, 11]}

How it is kept

Before the prayer every Muslim of means pays zakat al-fitr, a measure of staple food for each person: one ṣāʿ of the staple food of the country. Then comes the Eid prayer, of two rakʿas, held in congregation on the first morning and followed by two sermons. Many eat something first, dates in the Sunni report, and wear their best clothes and perfume. Homes are often decorated. Families visit relatives and friends, and everyone greets one another with Eid Mubarak.^{[5–6, 8–10, 14–15]}

Across traditions

Shia Muslims share the festival with Sunnis, as they share the other main holy days of the calendar. Sunni jurists differ on how binding the Eid prayer is: Malikis and Shafiʿis call it a confirmed sunnah, Hanbalis a duty of the community, and Hanafis an obligation on each man. In Twelver Shia law it was obligatory in the presence of the Imam and is, in his occultation, recommended, to be prayed in congregation or alone. Both traditions have worshippers say takbīrs on the Eid, and both give two sermons after a congregational prayer.^{[7, 12, 14, 16–17]}