A woman performing ‘Eed prayer at home

11-2-2009 | IslamWeb

Question:

assalam wa allykum,
is it allowed for women to pray eid prayer (both eids) at home if she cannot go out?
may Allah reward you.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

 

It is better for a woman to go out for the ‘Eed prayer because Um ‘Atiyyah narrated: ‘‘The Prophet ordered us that we should take out for ‘Eed Al-Fitr and ‘Eed Al-Adhha prayers the unmarried virgins, the women in menses and the mature girls, but the women in menses should keep away from the Musalla (the place of the prayer) and participate in the good deeds as well as the invocations of all the Muslims.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

According to the view that the congregation is a condition for the validity of the ‘Eed prayer –as per the opinion of the Hanbali and Hanafi Schools of jurisprudence –then this prayer is not valid if it is performed by a man or a woman individually. However, according to the view that the congregation in ‘Eed prayer is desirable and not a condition –as per the view of the Maaliki and Shaafi’i Schools of jurisprudence –then it is valid and acceptable to perform this prayer individually.

The view we adopt here in Islamweb is that if a woman has a sound reason for not going out for the ‘Eed prayer, then she can perform this prayer at home individually and she will be rewarded for doing so, Allaah willing. However, she should perform this prayer (‘Eed prayer) according to its legislated form, which is to say Allaahu Akbar seven times as well as the Takbeer for starting the prayer, and it is desirable to recite in the first Rak’ah Chapter Al-A’la [Quran 87] or Chapter Qaaf [Quran 50] after having recited Al-Faatihah, and in the second Rak’ah one should say Allaahu Akbar five times (as well as the transitional Takbeer when standing from the first Rak’ah to the second Rak’ah) and it is desirable to recite Chapter Al Ghaashiyah [Quran 88] or Chapter Al-Qamar [Quran 54] after having recited Al-Faatihah.

Allaah Knows best.