They cited as evidence that the two sermons are sunnah the fact that the Prophet ﷺ gave those who attended the Festival prayer permission to leave and not attend the sermon. (1) Had it been obligatory, they argue, attending it would have been obligatory.

Yet this reasoning is in fact unsound, for the fact that attending it is not obligatory does not necessarily mean that it itself is not obligatory. The Prophet ﷺ may have permitted the people to depart while it remained obligatory upon him, so that he would deliver it to those who remained. Moreover, especially in the Prophet’s ﷺ time, people would generally not leave except out of necessity. Therefore, if someone held that one sermon, or the two sermons, of the two Festivals are obligatory, that would be a tenable view. This is also because the people gather in large numbers for the Festival prayer, and it is not fitting for them to depart without admonition and reminder.

His statement, “Voluntary prayer before or after it at its place is disliked,” means that it is disliked for one who attends the Festival prayer to offer a voluntary prayer before or after it at its place—that is, at the place of the Festival prayer. Thus, voluntary prayer before or after the prayer is disliked at that location; as for praying at home, there is no dislike.

The author’s wording, “is disliked,” apparently indicates that this applies to both the imam and others.

The evidence for this is that the Prophet ﷺ went out to the Festival prayer-ground and prayed two rak'ahs for the Festival prayer, without praying either before it or after it. (2)

There is, however, room for consideration in this argument, because the Prophet ﷺ went out to the Festival prayer-ground in order to lead the people in prayer; he led them in prayer and then departed, just as he did on Friday.