Numbering the Days of 'Iyd

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

How many days of ‘iyd, celebration, are there in Islam in total?

As recorded in Swahih ibn Hibban, a man came to Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sakhr ad-Dawsi az-Zahrani al-Azdi (r.a.) and asked, “Do you discourage people from fasting on the day of Jumu’ah?”

Sayyidina Abu Hurayrah (r.a.) replied, “I would not have discouraged people from fasting on the day of Jumu’ah, but I have heard Rasulullah (s.a.w.) say, ‘Do not fast on the day of Jumu’ah because it is a day of ‘Iyd unless connected with the days.’”

The meaning being that one should not fast on Friday by itself, unless one fasts on a Thursday or a Saturday with it.  This precludes Fridays that fall on significant dates, and the fast is for that event.  From the above hadits, we are told that Friday is a day of ‘Iyd and there are about 52 Fridays in a year.

As recorded in Sunan at-Tirmidzi, Sayyidina ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Amir (r.a.) narrated that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “The day of ‘Arafat and day of sacrifice and days of tashriq are days of ‘iyd for us and these are days of eating and drinking.”  This refers to a period from the 9th to the 13th of Dzu al-Hijjah.

For a believer, then, every day may be a day of ‘iyd and can be honoured appropriately.  From these two ahadits alone, there are at least 58 days of ‘iyd including al-‘Iydayn.


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