ill or imprisoned on Eid and normally performs the Eid prayer, he cannot go out. Such people are in the same position as those for whom ʿAlī appointed someone to lead the prayer. They pray in congregation or individually, offering four units of prayer, as they do on Friday, without the additional takbīrs, audible recitation, or either call to prayer—the adhān or iqāmah. Since the Eid prayer has neither an adhān nor an iqāmah, neither is prescribed for the prayer offered in its place. This differs from Friday prayer, since both Friday prayer and the noon prayer have an adhān and an iqāmah.

Anyone who misses Friday prayer offers the noon prayer, because the noon prayer is obligatory and is waived only for those who perform Friday prayer. Thus, everyone upon whom prayer is obligatory must offer either Friday prayer or the noon prayer on Friday. For this reason, women, travelers, and others who do not perform Friday prayer offer the noon prayer.

As for Eid, no prayer is prescribed for that occasion other than the Eid prayer, and it is prescribed only with the imam. Women and travelers who can perform it with the imam do so, and this is prescribed for them. Friday prayer is different: they may choose either to perform it with the imam or to offer the noon prayer. With Eid, however, if they miss it, they miss it without a substitute. Thus, the Eid prayer is more emphatically prescribed for travelers and women than Friday prayer: Friday prayer has a substitute, whereas the Eid prayer does not.

Moreover, each of the two Eids occurs only once a year, whereas Friday prayer recurs fifty times or more each year. Missing some Friday prayers is therefore not like missing the Eid prayer. Someone who regards the Eid prayer as an individual obligation might reasonably hold it obligatory for those who