and the forthcoming Bedouin ḥadīth indicates that no prayer is an individual obligation except the five daily prayers.

Mālik and al-Shāfiʿī—in the view most widely accepted among their followers—held that the ʿĪd prayer is a highly-emphasised sunnah.

Their evidence, like all that precedes, is the ḥadīth of the Bedouin in which the Prophet ﷺ mentioned to him that five prayers were incumbent upon him. The man asked, “Am I bound to anything besides them?” He replied, “No, unless you choose to perform voluntary prayers.”

Abū Ḥanīfah, a report from Imām Aḥmad, and the opinion preferred by Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah maintain that it is individually obligatory.

They adduce Allah’s words, “So pray to your Lord and sacrifice” and “Prosperous indeed is the one who purifies himself, remembers the name of his Lord, and then prays,” for some Qurʾānic exegetes state that the prayer meant in these two verses is the ʿĪd prayer. They also cite his order that adolescent girls and women in seclusion be brought out, and his command that they perform the prayer the next morning when news of the new moon reached them only after its time had elapsed.

In all of these texts the imperative form denotes obligation, as does his lifelong practice and that of his successors after him.

As for the Bedouin ḥadīth, it contains nothing to negate the obligation of the ʿĪd prayer, for the man’s question and the Prophet’s answer concerned the obligatory prayers that recur every day and night, not those linked to a specific occasion—such as the two ʿĪd prayers, which express gratitude to Allah for His special blessings: completing the fast and night worship of Ramaḍān, slaughtering sacrificial animals, and performing the rites of pilgrimage.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah inclines to the view that it is obligatory for women as well, in light of the explicit wording of this ḥadīth.

Points derived from the ḥadīth:

1- The apparent purport of the ḥadīth is that the ʿĪd prayer is compulsory even for women, provided they do not go out adorned or perfumed, for that has been prohibited. It may, however, be merely recommended for them, the command serving as encouragement to do good.
2- A menstruating woman must avoid the mosque so that she does not soil it.
3- The ʿĪd prayer-ground has the same ruling as mosques.
4- Menstruation does not bar a woman from supplication and the remembrance of Allah.
5- The day of ʿĪd enjoys special merit; it is a time when prayers are hoped to be answered and when the call from the Most High is heard.