the sermon; he would frequently proclaim Allah’s greatness in the sermons of the two Eids. This does not indicate that he began them with it.
Opinions have differed concerning how to begin the sermons for Eid and the prayer for rain. Some held that both should begin (1) with proclamations of Allah’s greatness. Others held that the sermon for the prayer for rain should begin with seeking forgiveness, while others held that both should begin with praise of Allah. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (2) said: This is the correct view, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“Every important matter that is not begun with praise of Allah is incomplete” (3).
He would begin all his sermons with praise of Allah (4).
He (peace and blessings be upon him) also permitted (5) those who attended the Eid prayer either to remain seated for the sermon or to leave (6),
(1) In some manuscripts, here and below, the initial imperfect-tense letter is left unmarked; others read: “yuftatahān (both are begun).”
(2) See Majmū‘ al-fatāwā (22/393–394).
(3) Transmitted by Ahmad (8712), Abū Dāwūd (4840), al-Nasā’ī in al-Kubrā (10255–10258), Ibn Mājah (1894), Ibn Hibbān (1, 2), al-Dāraqutnī (883, 884), and al-Bayhaqī (3/208), from Abū Hurayrah. The hadith is weak because one of its narrators, Qurrah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān, is weak, and because of inconsistencies in its wording and chain of transmission. Al-Nasā’ī indicated these inconsistencies, and al-Dāraqutnī discussed them in detail in his ‘Ilal (1391), concluding that the mursal (disconnected) version is the correct one.
(4) Ayn and Mīm-Bā add: “li-llāh (to Allah).”
(5) Sād adds after it: “al-nabī (the Prophet).”
(6) Transmitted by Abū Dāwūd (1155), al-Nasā’ī in al-Mujtabā (1571) and al-Kubrā (1792), Ibn Mājah (1290), al-Dāraqutnī (1738), al-Hākim (1/295), and al-Bayhaqī (3/301), through al-Fadl ibn Mūsā al-Sīnānī, from Ibn Jurayj, from ‘Atā’, from ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Sā’ib. Abū Dāwūd said: “This is a mursal report from ‘Atā’, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).” Al-Dāraqutnī accepted this assessment; Ibn Ma‘īn likewise expressed it in his Tārīkh, as transmitted by al-Dūrī (3/15), as did Abū Zur‘ah in ‘Ilal Ibn Abī Hātim (513). Al-Fadl ibn Mūsā alone transmitted it with a connected chain. He was contradicted by ‘Abd al-Razzāq (5670), Hishām ibn Yūsuf [Abū Zur‘ah in al-‘Ilal], and al-Thawrī [al-Bayhaqī (3/301)], all three of whom transmitted it from Ibn Jurayj, from ‘Atā’, as a mursal report. Nevertheless, al-Albānī graded the connected version as authentic in al-Irwā’ (629) and Sahīh Abī Dāwūd—al-Umm (4/320).