ممنوع روزے

Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade fasting on the day of Yawm al-Fitr (Eid) and the day of Yawm al-Nahr (Baqar Eid / Eid al-Adha).

In the year there are also certain particular days on which keeping a fast is forbidden, and this ruling is from the Absolute Sovereign (Allah). He has declared prayer to be a great act of worship, yet He has also forbidden prayer at certain particular times. Likewise He has declared fasting to be the most beloved deed and a special means of spiritual progress, yet along with that He has also made fasting unlawful on certain particular days; and this matter is exactly in accordance with the majesty of the sovereignty of the Absolute Sovereign, and the task of us servants is merely compliance and obedience. In another narration it comes that the days of Tashriq are days of eating, drinking and remembering Allah. (Muslim)

Keeping these two hadiths in view, it is easily understood that fasting on five days of the year is forbidden, that is, unlawful. And fasting, an act of worship concerning which it has even been said that whoever keeps even a single day's fast (merely) to please Allah will be so distanced from Hell as a young crow flies, and flies on until it grows very old and dies (Bayhaqi and Tabarani), if anyone performs that worship on these days he will, instead of reward, be deserving of Allah's punishment, because in the Islamic Shari'ah no member of the community has the right to fast, of his own choice, on whatever day he wishes and then declare that day's fast. The upshot is that there are five days on which fasting is unlawful: one, the day of Eid, the day after completing the fasts of Ramadan; the second, the day of Baqar Eid; and three days after Baqar Eid, that is, the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth dates, which are called the days of Tashriq. The fast of Eid al-Fitr is forbidden for this reason: that Allah has made it, after Ramadan, the day of fitr, that is, the day of not fasting and of eating and drinking; therefore fasting on this day is opposition to the will of Allah. And the fast of Yawm al-Nahr (Eid al-Adha) is forbidden for this reason: that it is the day of eating the meat of the sacrifice; as if the will of Allah is that on this day, whatever sacrifices are offered for Allah, His servants should eat the meat of those sacrifices with gratitude, considering it as from Allah and as His hospitality, and becoming poor ones at His door; and that servant who deliberately fasts on the day of Allah's general hospitality is without doubt very arrogant and ungrateful for the blessing. So now, to fast on these days is not worship but rather a sin.

The day of Eid is not, for Muslims, some festival like the national festivals of the Hindus, Jews, Christians and other nations of the world, nor is this day observed every year as some historical memorial, as generally the festivals of other nations are memorials of such historical events; rather, this day is one of worship for Muslims, and to observe it the worship of prayer, of special dignity and quality, has been prescribed. So much so that when a Muslim wears fine clothes on this day and adorns his outward appearance, his purpose is only to reach the Eid-gah together with his other Muslim brothers and perform worship as an act of thanksgiving, and the whole aim of his adornment and decoration too is only the completion of an act of worship and to perform it in the best manner. Alas that we, in imitation of other nations, are gradually forgetting this Islamic conception of Eid and its true purpose. We too have taken Eid to be a national festival and a day of mere play and amusement. Therefore we have begun to celebrate it according to our own desires and wishes. But the Islamic Eid whose celebration the Master of both worlds (peace be upon him) commanded, in that Eid there is no room for play and amusement. Rather, if one reflects, in this Islamic celebration of joy that is Eid, at every step one is made to feel that we are the servants of Allah and have no authority to do anything against His will. First of all, in accordance with the command of Allah, one is not to fast on this day. According to the sunnah of the day of Eid, one is to bathe, wear the finest clothes available, and on the way to the Eid-gah proclaim the greatness and majesty of Allah through the takbir, and then in the two-rak'ah prayer, through more takbirat than in ordinary prayers, affirm the greatness of Allah. After acting upon this Islamic manner of expressing joy, does any sensible person still have any room to take part in gatherings of luxury, revelry, play and amusement and to display forgetfulness of God? In short, the Islamic Shari'ah has prescribed this Eid al-Fitr as an act of worship, and in it the manner of expressing joy too has been prescribed in the form of acts of worship. Therefore every Muslim should learn the particular rulings and instructions concerning Eid al-Fitr, so that Eid al-Fitr may be celebrated in the Islamic manner and Muslims may be rendered deserving of the reward of the Hereafter. May Allah grant every Muslim the ability to act. Ameen!