for had it been for the Friday prayer, he would have delivered sermons on other Fridays as well. Rather, it was delivered for the pilgrimage rites. Hence, Muslim scholars unanimously agree that a sermon is to be delivered at ʿArafah even when the day is not a Friday. These mass-transmitted reports thus establish that the sermon is delivered for the Day of ʿArafah, even when it does not fall on a Friday, and not for the Friday prayer.

Likewise, neither he nor any of his Rightly Guided Caliphs performed the Eid prayer at Minā. He entered Makkah in the year of the Conquest, arriving during Ramadan, and was there for Eid al-Fitr. Yet he did not perform the Eid prayer there on that day, nor has any Muslim reported that he did. Clearly, had he led the Eid prayer in Makkah, with so many Muslims accompanying him—more than ten thousand—this would have been among the events people had the strongest interest and incentive to transmit. Likewise, the Battle of Badr took place during Ramadan, and Eid came while he was travelling, yet he did not perform an Eid prayer while travelling.

Furthermore, no one in Madinah performed the Eid prayer except with him, just as they did not perform the Friday prayer except with him. There were many mosques in Madinah: each quarter of the Ansār had a mosque and an imam who led its people in prayer. These imams led them in the five daily prayers, but did not lead them in either the Friday prayer or the Eid prayer.

It is therefore clear that they regarded the Eid prayer as belonging to the same category as the Friday prayer, not as an unrestricted voluntary prayer or a funeral prayer. The claim that the Eid prayer is voluntary is not conceded.