may Allah be pleased with him, and the practice was approved by al-Awzaʿī and by the scholars of raʾy; it is also the view of Ibn al-Mundhir. It is related from al-Shāfiʿī that if the town’s mosque is spacious, performing the prayer there is preferable, for it is the best and purest of all places; that is why the people of Mecca pray in the Sacred Mosque.

Our evidence, however, is that the Prophet ﷺ used to go out to the open prayer-ground and leave his own mosque, and the caliphs after him did likewise. The Prophet ﷺ would not abandon what is superior and close at hand in order to burden himself with what is inferior and farther away, nor would it be legislated for his community to forsake virtuous deeds. We have been commanded to follow the Prophet ﷺ and take him as our exemplar, and it is inconceivable that what we are commanded to do should be deficient while what we are forbidden from should be perfect. Nothing is reported showing that the Prophet ﷺ ever performed the ʿĪd prayer in his mosque except when a valid excuse arose. Moreover, this is the consensus of the Muslims: in every age and every land they go out to the prayer-ground, whether the congregational mosque is spacious or cramped. Even though his own mosque possessed great honor, the Prophet ﷺ still performed the prayer in the open ground.

I say: Ibn Qudāmah’s remark, “Nothing has been transmitted from the Prophet ﷺ …”