and to witness the Muslims as they supplicate their Lord.
3 – The day of Eid is a day of gathering and of devoting oneself to the worship and gratitude of Allah Most High, performed at the open assembly and the prayer-ground. It is therefore unfitting to absent oneself from this great spectacle, when the Muslims pour onto a single expanse of open desert, standing before their Lord in the brightness of the forenoon, openly exposed before Him. Such a magnificent scene is one in which supplications are most likely to be answered; hence attending it is essential.
4 – The rulings that apply to the Eid prayer-ground are the same as those that apply to other places of prayer; for that reason menstruating women have been commanded to keep away from the prayer-area.
5 – A menstruating woman is obliged to stay out of the mosque.
6 – Menstruation does not bar a woman from making supplication or remembering Allah Most High.
7 – The day of Eid enjoys great merit, and it is especially hoped that prayers made on it will be answered.
8 – The basic rule regarding the command to bring out adolescent girls and menstruating women so that they may witness the goodness and the Muslims’ supplication is that it is obligatory. Nevertheless, the scholars hold three opinions:
(a) It is obligatory, because the wording addresses them with a direct command.
(b) It is recommended (sunna); the command is understood as encouragement, since merely attending the Muslims’ supplication is not itself obligatory.
(c) It has been abrogated: in the early days of Islam, there was a need to increase the visible numbers of Muslims, but once the community became large this need ceased.
The strongest of these views is the second: that it is recommended.
Shaykh al-Islam said: “There is no objection to women attending so long as they are not wearing perfume, adornment, or conspicuous clothing, for the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Let them go out unperfumed.’ They must keep apart from the men, and the menstruating women must avoid the prayer-ground.” End quote.
9 – Ibn al-Mulqin, on the other hand, said in his commentary on al-ʿUmda: One cannot cite the command to bring the women out as evidence that the Eid prayer itself, or going out for it, is obligatory, because that command was directed only to