30 MORE | Day 20 – “The fatwa on praying Eid at home with one’s family has now been adopted by the Fiqh Council of North America.” – Dr. Yasir Qadhi

“The fatwa that I shared a few days ago about praying Eid at home with one’s family has been adopted (with slight modifications) by the Fiqh Council of North America.

You may now ascribe this opinion to the Fiqh Council.

I am also aware of other Councils around the globe following similar views;

and many scholars in Muslim-majority countries as well have given similar fatwas.

The Fiqh Council (with unanimity amongst its members) feels that in light of our current circumstances,

there is a very genuine need to preserve the spirit of Eid amongst families by encouraging them to pray two rak’ats at home,

and there is plenty of precedence in our classical fiqh to extrapolate this position given our context.

The whole point of ijtihād,

and the real job of a faqīh,

isn’t just to cut and paste opinions of a different time and place,

but to contextualize and work within different circumstances to see what may or may not be adopted and modified for our current times and places.

It is always a difficult balance:

being faithful to the goals of the Sharī`ah in light of our traditional fiqh, vs. being faithful to the texts of our earlier scholars upon which we based our studies of fiqh.

And in this delicate balance,

scholars will invariably differ – such is the nature of not only fiqh,

but in fact of being human.

(This rumination is generic – the fatwa to pray Eid at home in case there is no Eid being offered is not a departure from classical fiqh, and is a well-known opinion of some legal schools – however the Fiqh Council feels that given the current circumstances it is just the more appropriate fatwa to endorse).

That having been said,

I hope that those who follow my social media and listen to my lectures are aware that I very actively preach not only tolerance but genuine respect for all mainstream opinions.

For those who wish to follow other opinions,

alḥamdulillah,

there is no problem whatsoever!

Obviously this is not a matter of ḥaqq vs. bāṭil or ḥarām vs. ḥalāl!

It’s just two rak’ats being prayed at home or not!!

So,

whatever position you follow,

enjoy your Eid day,

and may Allah accept from us our worship,

especially the ones coming up in the last ten nights!”

 

Here is the link to the fatwa:

http://fiqhcouncil.org/fatwa-regarding-%e1%b9%a3alat-al-eid-in-light-of-covid-19-lockdown/

 

Dr. Yasir Qadhi

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