Ruling on Eid and the Sunnahs of Eid

I would like to know some of the Sunnahs of Eid and the rulings thereon.
Praise be to Allaah.
Allaah has set out severalrulings concerning Eid, including the following:
1 – It is mustahabb to recite takbeer during the night of Eid from
sunset on the last day of Ramadaan until the imam comes to lead the
prayer. The format of the takbeer is as follows:
Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, laa ilaaha ill-Allaah, Allaahu akbar,
Allaahu akbar, wa Lillaahi'l-hamd (Allaah is Most Great, Allaah is
MostGreat, there is no god except Allaah, Allaah is Most Great, Allaah
is MostGreat, and all praise be to Allaah).
Or you can say Allaahu akbar three times, so you say:
Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, laailaaha ill-Allaah,
Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, Allaahu akbar, wa Lillaahi'l-hamd
(Allaah is Most Great, Allaah is MostGreat, Allaah is Most Great,
there is no god except Allaah, Allaah is Most Great, Allaah is
MostGreat , Allaah is Most Great, and all praise be to Allaah).
Both are permissible.
Men should raise their voices reciting this dhikrin the marketplaces,
mosques and homes, butwomen should not raise their voices.
2 – You should eat an odd number of dates before leaving for the Eid
prayer, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) did not set out on the day of Eid until he had eaten an odd
number of dates. Heshould stick to an odd number as the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did.
3 – You should wear your best clothes – this isfor men. With regard to
women, they should not wear beautiful clothes when they go out to the
Eid prayer-place, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: "Let them go out looking decent" i.e., in regular
clothes that are not fancy. It is haraam for them to go out wearing
perfume and makeup.
4 – Some of the scholars regarded it as mustahabb to do ghusl for the
Eid prayer, because it is narrated that some of the salaf did this.
Doing ghusl for Eid prayer is mustahabb, just as it is prescribed
forJumu'ah because one is going to meet people. So if one does ghusl,
that is good.
5 – The Eid prayer. The Muslims are unanimouslyagreed that the Eid
prayer is prescribed in Islam. Some of them say that it is Sunnah,
some say that it is fard kafaayah (a communal obligation) and some say
that it is fard 'ayn (an individual obligation), and that notdoing it
is a sin. They quoted as evidence the fact that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded even the virgins and women
in seclusion, i.e., those whodid not ordinarily come out, to attend
the Eid prayer place, except thatthose who were menstruating should
keep away from the prayer-place itself, because it is not permissible
for a menstruating woman to stay in the mosque; it is permissible for
her to pass through but not to stay there.
It seems to me, based on the evidence, that it is fard 'ayn (an
individual obligation) and that every male is obliged to attend the
Eid prayer except for those who have an excuse. This wasthe view
favoured by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on
him).
In the first rak'ah the imam should recite Sabbih isma rabbika
al-A'ala (Soorat al-A'la 87) and in the second rak'ah he should recite
Hal ataaka hadeeth ul-ghaashiyah (al-Ghaashiyah 88). Or hemay recite
Soorat Qaaf (50) in the first and Soorat al-Qamar (54) in the second.
Both optionsare narrated in saheeh reports from the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
6 – If Jumu'ah and Eid fall on the same day, the Eid prayer should be
held, as should Jumu'ah prayer, as is indicated bythe apparent meaning
of the hadeeth of al-Nu'maan ibn Basheer which was narrated by Muslim
in his Saheeh. But those who attend the Eid prayer with the imam may
attend Jumu'ah if they wish, or they may pray Zuhr.
7 – One of the rulings on Eid prayer is that according to many
scholars, if a person comes to the Eid prayer-place before the imam
comes, he should sit down and not pray two rak'ahs, because the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) prayed Eid with
two rak'ahs, and hedid not offer any prayer before or after it.
Some of the scholars are of the view that when a person comes he
should not sit down until he hasprayed two rak'ahs, because the Eid
prayer-place is a mosque, basedon the fact that menstruating women are
not allowed there, soit comes under the same rulings as a mosque,
which indicates that it is a mosque. Based on this,it comes under the
general meaning of the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him): "When any one of you enters the mosque, let him
not sit down until he has prayed two rak'ahs." With regard to the fact
that the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not
offer any prayer before or after the Eid prayer, that is because when
he arrived the prayer started.
Thus it is proven that weshould pray Tahiyyat al-Masjid (two rak'ahs
to"greet the mosque") when arriving at the Eid prayer-place, as in the
case of all mosques, because if we assume from the hadeeth that there
is no Tahiyyat al-Masjid for the Eid mosque, then we should say that
there is no Tahiyyat al-Masjid for the Jumu'ah mosque either, because
when the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) arrived at the Jumu'ah mosque he would deliver the khutbah, then
pray two rak'ahs then leave and pray the regular Sunnahs of Jumu'ah in
his house, so he did not offer any prayer before it or after it (in
the mosque).
What seems more likely to be correct in my view is that we should pray
two rak'ahs in the Eid prayer-place to greet themosque, but we should
not denounce one another with regard to this issue, because it is a
matter concerning which the scholars differ. We should not denounce
others with regard to matters wherethe scholars differ, unless there
is a clear text. So we should not denounce the one who prays (Tahiyyat
al-Masjid) or the one who sits down without praying.
8 – One of the rulings on the day of Eid – Eid al-Fitr – is that
Zakaat al-Fitr is due on this day. The Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) enjoined thatit should be paid before the Eid
prayer. It is permissible to pay it oneor two days before that,
because of the hadeeth of Ibn 'Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him)
which was narrated by al-Bukhaari: "They used to give it one or two
days before (Eid) al-Fitr."If it is paid after the Eid prayer, it does
not countas Sadaqat al-Fitr, because of the hadeeth of Ibn 'Abbaas:
"Whoever pays it before the prayer, it is Zakaat al-Fitr, and whoever
pays it after the prayer, it is ordinary charity." It is haraam to
delay Zakaat al-Fitr until after the Eid prayer. If one delays it with
no excuse then it is not acceptable zakaah, but if there is anexcuse –
such as if a person is traveling and does not have anything to give or
anyone to give it to, or he is expecting his family to pay it and they
are expecting him to pay it, then in this case he should pay it when
it is easy for him to do so, even if that is after the prayer, and
there is no sin on him because he has an excuse.
9 – People should greet one another, but that results in haraam
actionson the part of many people, such as men entering houses and
shaking hands with unveiled women without any mahram being present.
Some of these evils are worse than others.
We see some people denouncing those who refuse to shake hands with
those who are not their mahrams, but it is they who are the
wrongdoers, not he. But he should explain to them and tell them to ask
trustworthy scholars to verify his actions and he should tell them not
to get angry and insist on following the customs of his forefathers,
because they do not make a permissible thing forbidden or a forbidden
thing permissible. He should explain to them that if they do that,
they will belike those of whom Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
"And similarly, We sent not a warner before you(O Muhammad) to any
town (people) but the luxurious ones among them said: "We found our
fathers following a certain way and religion, and we will indeed
follow their footsteps"
[al-Zukhruf 43:23]
Some people have the custom of going out to the graveyard on the day
of Eid to greet the occupants of the graves, but the occupants of the
graves have no need of any greeting or congratulations, becausethey do
not fast or pray qiyaam.
Visiting the graves is not something to be done especially on the day
of Eid or Friday or any particular day. It was proven that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) visited the graves at
night, as mentioned in the hadeeth of 'Aa'ishah narrated by Muslim.
And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
"Visit the graves for they will remind you of the Hereafter."
Visiting graves is an act of worship, and acts of worship are not
acceptable unless they are in accordance with sharee'ah. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not single out the day
of Eid for visiting the graves, so we should notdo so either.
10 – There is nothing wrong with what men do on the day of Eid of
embracing one another.
11 – It is prescribed for the one who goes out tothe Eid prayer to go
by one route and return by another, following the example of the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). This
Sunnah does not apply to other prayers, Jumu'ah or anything else, it
only applies to Eid.