In addition...

In addition, the words تَزَکیٰ and فَصَلَّیٰ in the two verses “قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَکیٰ” (Qur’an 87:14) [meaning: “Felicitous is he who purifies himself”] and “وَ ذَکرَ‌ اسْمَ رَ‌بِّهِ فَصَلَّیٰ”[Qur’an 87:15] [meaning: “celebrates the Name of his Lord, and prays”] mean to give Zakat al-Fitra and pray the Eid Prayer [7] .

Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (PBUH) looked at some people who were happy and laughed; then he (PBUH) turned to his companions and said, ‘God, the Almighty, created the month of Ramadan as a field for the competition of his creatures so that through obeying God, they excel each other towards His happiness. Some excelled and won, and some left behind and lost. Thus, it is so surprising one who is frivolously playful and laughing on the day the good-doers are rewarded and those who fall behind lose.

By God, I swear that if the veils are removed, the good-doer will engage in his good-doing and the evil-doer will be taken captive in his evil-doing [8] .” Similarly, Imam al-Rida (PBUH) said, “The day of Fitr is appointed as Eid so that Muslims have a gathering and come out for the sake of God and praise Him for the blessings they have been given; and the day of Eid is the day of gathering, day of breaking the fasting, day of giving Zakat, day of happiness and day of worship; and it is the first day of the year in which eating and drinking is permissible since the month of Ramadan is the first month of the year for the people of truth.

So, God wanted them to have a gathering to praise the Lord and on this day, saying Takbir in the prayer is more than on other days because Takbir is glorifying God and praising Him for His blessings as He has said, ‘and magnify Allah for guiding you, and that you may give thanks.’ (2:185) and on that day, 12 Takbirs have been instructed to be said, of which 7 have to be said in the first Rak’a and 5 Takbirs in the second Rak’a, and they have not been made equal since it is recommended that the obligatory prayer follows 7 Takbirs.

Therefore, the first Rak’a begins with 7 Takbirs. And there are 5 Takbirs in the second Rak’a, since Takbirat al-Ihram for all the prayers during one day are 5 Takbirs and because Takbirs in each of the two Rak’as be odd [9] .” Etiquette of Eid al-Fitr There are some etiquette and supererogatory acts of worship that need to be observed on both the eve as well as the day of the first of Shawwal (i.e., Eid al-Fitr day).