I said: “How, then, is this to be understood?” He said: “I think he heard it from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.”

He said: “They would not set out until the forenoon had advanced, saying, ‘We eat so that we do not go early to our prayer.’”

I say: This is an authentic chain of transmission meeting the criteria of al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Ibn Abi Shaybah (2/161) also narrated, through Abd Allah ibn al-Harith, that Ibn Abbas said:

“If you go out on the day of Eid—meaning Eid al-Fitr—then eat, even if it is only a date.”

Its chain of transmission is authentic. This Abd Allah is the Ansari, Abu al-Walid.

Supporting the meaning of the hadith under discussion is what al-Bayhaqi narrated (3/283) with an authentic chain from Said ibn al-Musayyib, who said:

“The Muslims would eat on the day of Eid al-Fitr before the prayer, but they would not do so on the Day of Sacrifice.”

The “Muslims” in this report can only be the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who received this sunnah from the Prophet. This is what Ibn Abbas meant by saying, “It is from the sunnah,” as is established in the terminology of hadith scholarship.

Moreover, the hadith has many supporting reports explicitly attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, such as the hadith of Anas: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would not set out on the day of Eid al-Fitr until he had eaten some dates.”

Al-Bukhari and others narrated it. Some weak narrators added, “seven dates.” That is why I included it in the other book (4248).