and the evidence for this is that the people are instructed to go out to the open plain so as to manifest the rite and publicly proclaim it. Some scholars said that the Prophet only took a different route because of the poor who gather in the marketplaces: along one road there might be needy dwellings that are not found along the other, allowing him to give charity to those on this path and to those on that. The view that appears nearer to the mark—and Allah knows best—is that he did so in order to make the symbol of the Eid prayer visibly apparent, with worshippers streaming toward it from every street of the town.

The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, then disagreed: does the same ruling extend to the Friday prayer? Since Friday is itself an Eid, some held that it should be joined to the two Eids, so one would come to Friday prayer by one route and return by another. Other scholars broadened the ruling and said that it is likewise recommended for the five daily prayers: a person would, for example, go to the Zuhr prayer by one road and return by another, and the same for ʿAsr and the remaining prayers, arguing that every attendance at a prayer can be analogized to the Eid prayer. Still others widened the scope further, maintaining that taking a different route is prescribed for every devotional act: whatever act of worship you set out for, depart by one path and come back by another—even when visiting the sick. If you go to see a patient, then go to him by