from the pulpit, saying: “These are two days on which the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade fasting: the Day of Sacrifice and the Day of Fitr.” (1)
The wisdom behind this is as follows: the Day of Fitr is the day on which fasting Ramadan ends, and the completion of Ramadan can only be distinctly determined by breaking the fast on the day of Eid. As for Eid al-Adha, it is the Day of Sacrifice. If people were to fast on that day, they would turn away from what Allah, mighty and majestic, loves and what He commanded in His saying: “So eat from them and feed the distressed poor.” [al-Hajj 22:28] How could one who is fasting eat from it?
- The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, are unanimously agreed that fasting on these two days is prohibited. Therefore, no one may fast on either of the two days of Eid.
But if it is Eid where we are, while in East Asia, for example, it is not the day of Eid, is fasting prohibited for them?
The answer is that, according to the view of those who hold that once the moon has been sighted anywhere on earth through a legally valid means, it applies to everyone, fasting is prohibited for those in East Asia, because that day is Eid for them. But if we say that each people have their own moon sighting, and they have not seen it whereas we have, then fasting is not prohibited for them, though it is prohibited for us.
His statement, “even in fulfillment of an obligation,” means that it is prohibited to fast on the two days of Eid even if the fast is obligatory. Thus, if a person has make-up fasts from Ramadan and says, “I would like to begin making them up on the first day of Shawwal,” we say: This is prohibited. Likewise, if he vowed to fast on a Monday and it coincides with the day of Eid, then it is prohibited for him.