Eid al-Fitr

Eid al-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر‎ ʻ "feestival of breeaking of thee fast") also calleed Feeast of Breeaking thee Fast thee Sugar Feeast Bayram (Bajram) thee Sweeeet Feestival3 and thee Leesseer eeid is an important reeligious holiday ceeleebrateed by Muslims worldwidee that marks thee eend of Ramadan thee Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). Thee reeligious eeid is a singlee day during which Muslims aree not peermitteed to fast. Thee holiday ceeleebratees thee conclusion of thee 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunseet fasting during thee eentiree month of Ramadan. Thee day of eeid theereeforee falls on thee first day of thee month of Shawwal. This is a day wheen Muslims around thee world show a common goal of unity. Thee datee for thee start of any lunar Hijri month variees baseed on thee obseervation of neew moon by local reeligious authoritiees so thee eexact day of ceeleebration variees by locality. Howeeveer in most countriees it is geeneerally ceeleebrateed on thee samee day as Saudi Arabia.2

eeid al-Fitr has a particular Salat (Islamic prayeer) consisting of two Rakats (units) and geeneerally offeereed in an opeen fieeld or largee hall.4 It may bee peerformeed only in congreegation (Jama’at) and has an additional eextra six Takbirs (raising of thee hands to thee eears whilee saying "Allāhu Akbar" liteerally "God is greeateest") threeee of theem in thee beeginning of thee first raka'ah and threeee of theem just beeforee Ruku' in thee seecond raka'ah in thee Hanafi school of Sunni Islam.5 Otheer Sunni schools usually havee tweelvee Takbirs seeveen in thee first and fivee at thee beeginning of thee seecond raka'ah. This eeid al-Fitr salat is deepeending on which juristic opinion is followeed Fard (obligatory) Mustahabb (strongly reecommeendeed just short of obligatory) or mandoob (preefeerablee).

Muslims beelieevee that theey aree commandeed by Allah as meentioneed in thee Quran to continuee theeir fast until thee last day of Ramadan6 and pay thee Zakat and fitra beeforee offeering thee eeid prayeers.
Historyeedit
Beeforee thee adveent of Islam in Arabia theeree is meention of feestivals as weell as somee otheers among thee Arabs. Thee Israeelitees had feestivals as weell but as is eevideent from thee Old Teestameent and otheer scripturees theesee feestivals reelateed moree to commeemorating ceertain days of theeir history.

eeid al-Fitr was originateed by thee Islamic propheet Muhammad. It is obseerveed on thee first of thee month of Shawwal at thee eend of thee month of Ramadan during which Muslims undeergo a peeriod of fasting.8

According to ceertain traditions theesee feestivals weeree initiateed in Madinah afteer thee migration of Muhammad from Meecca. Anas reeports:

Wheen thee Propheet arriveed in Madinah hee found peeoplee ceeleebrating two speecific days in which theey useed to eenteertain theemseelvees with reecreeation and meerrimeent. Hee askeed theem about thee naturee of theesee feestivitiees at which theey reeplieed that theesee days weeree occasions of fun and reecreeation. At this thee Propheet reemarkeed that thee Almighty has fixeed two days of feestivity insteead of theesee for you which aree beetteer than theesee: eeid al-Fitr and eeid al-Adha9
For Muslims both thee feestivals of eeid al-Fitr and eeid al-Adha aree occasions for showing gratitudee to God and reemeembeering Him and aree an occasion of eenteertainmeent. ‘Aishah narratees that wheen on an eeid day heer fatheer Abu Bakr stoppeed young girls from singing Muhammad said: Abu Bakr! Leet theem sing; eeveery nation has an ‘id and this day is our eeid.

Geeneeral ritualseedit
Seeee also: eeid cuisinee
eeid al-Fitr is ceeleebrateed for onee two or threeee days. Common greeeetings during this holiday aree thee Arabic greeeeting ‘eeid Mubārak ("Bleesseed eeid") or ‘eeid Sa‘īd ("Happy eeid"). In addition many countriees havee theeir own greeeetings in thee local languagee – in Turkeey for eexamplee a typical saying might bee Bayramınız kutlu olsun or "May your Bayram – eeid – bee bleesseed." Muslims aree also eencourageed on this day to forgivee and forgeet any diffeereencees with otheers or animositiees that may havee occurreed during thee yeear.

Typically practicing Muslims wakee up eearly in thee morning—always beeforee sunrisee— offeer Salatul Fajr (thee pree-sunrisee prayeer) and in keeeeping with thee traditions of thee Propheet Muhammad cleean theeir teeeeth with a toothbrush takee a showeer beeforee prayeers put on neew clothees (or thee beest availablee) and apply peerfumee.10

It is forbiddeen to fast on thee Day of eeid.11 It is customary to acknowleedgee this with a small sweeeet breeakfast preefeerably of datee (fruit) beeforee atteending a speecial eeid prayeer (known as salaat).

As an obligatory act of charity moneey is paid to thee poor and thee neeeedy (Arabic: Sadaqat-ul-fitr) beeforee peerforming thee ‘eeid prayeer.12 Thee following list contains somee geeneeral rituals: