What to do if Eid falls on a Friday

by Asma bint Shameem If Eid falls on a Friday, then the strongest opinion among the ulama is that if a person attends the Eid prayer, then he doesn’t HAVE to attend the Jumu’ah prayer. But that does not mean that we SHOULDN’T go to Jumu’ah. Obviously it’s good if we do. And that’s the Sunnah. But the concession is there for those who can’t make it to both the Eid AND Friday Prayers. 📌Proof: 1. The Prophet sal Allaahu Alayhi wa sallam said: “Eid prayer and Friday prayer have fallen on the same day, today. Whoever prays ‘Eid prayer, Friday prayer is not obligatory on him. As for us, we are going to pray the Friday prayer”. (Abu Dawood- authentic by al-Albaani) 2. ‘Ataa Abi Rabaah said: “Ibn Az-Zubayr radhi Allaahu anhu led us in Eid prayer early one Friday morning. [Later that day] we went out to pray Friday prayer, but we didn’t see Ibn Zubayr!? Therefore, we prayed by ourselves; and when that happened, Ibn ‘Abbaas was in Ta’if. So when we saw Ibn ‘Abbaas, we asked him (Ibn Abbaas) about Ibn az-Zubayr not praying Friday prayer with us. Ibn Abbaas answered by saying, “What Ibn az-Zubayr did (not praying Friday prayer) was in accordance with the Sunnah.” (Abu Dawood) This was the opinion of many of the Sahaabah such as Omar, Uthman, Ibn Masoud, Ibn Abbas and others, radhi Allaahu anhum. Ibn Taymiyyah had the same opinion and said: “and there is no knowledge of any disagreement among them (the Sahaabah) on this. Shaikh Saleh al-Fawzaan said: “If ‘Eid prayer falls on the same day as Friday prayer, whoever prays ‘Eid prayer, it is not obligatory for him to pray Friday prayer. Rather Friday prayer becomes recommended (sunnah) for him. However, as it relates to the Imam [of the community], it is obligatory for him to pray both ‘Eid prayer and Friday prayer. He can not leave off Friday prayer because those who choose to pray Friday prayer need an Imam. (Fawzaan 2/257).” ❓ What about Dhuhr❓ Obviously the obligation of Dhuhr is till there. So whoever does not pray Jumu’ah has to of course pray Dhuhr. And Allaah knows best.