The purport of the hadiths: the Sunnah is to perform the prayer in the open-air musalla

Once these reports are understood, they furnish decisive proof that the Sunnah for the two ʿEid prayers is to hold them in the musalla. This is the view of the majority of scholars. In Sharḥ al-Sunnah, Imām al-Baghawī writes:

“The Sunnah is for the imam to go out for the two ʿEid prayers; if he has an excuse he may pray in the mosque1—that is, a mosque within the town.”

Imām Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Nawawī says in his commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, when discussing the first hadith:

“This is evidence for those who consider it recommended to go out to the musalla for the ʿEid prayer and that doing so is better than performing it in the mosque. Such has been the practice of people in most regions, whereas the people of Mecca do not.”