What Is Sunnah to Eat on Eid, and Is It Haram to Fast on Eid?

What is sunnah to eat on Eid depends on which Eid it is. On Eid al-Fitr the Prophet Muhammad ate dates, an odd number of them, before leaving for the Eid prayer. On Eid al-Adha he did the opposite and did not eat until after the prayer.

Fasting is the other half of the question. Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari record that the Prophet forbade fasting on the day of Eid al-Fitr and the day of Eid al-Adha, and the schools of Islamic law treat a fast on either day as not allowed. The details, and the points where scholars differ, are below. For a ruling on your own situation, ask your local scholar or mosque.

What is sunnah to eat on Eid al-Fitr?

Dates, eaten before the prayer. Anas bin Malik reported that the Prophet never set out for the prayer on the day of Eid al-Fitr until he had eaten some dates, and that he ate an odd number of them (Sahih al-Bukhari 953). Most people take that to mean one, three, five or seven.

The meaning is easy to see. After a month of fasting through the daylight hours, eating first thing in the morning marks that the fast is over and that this day is different.

If you have no dates, the practice being followed is eating something before you go, so any food serves the purpose. The dates themselves are the recommended form, not a requirement.

What is sunnah to eat on Eid al-Adha?

On Eid al-Adha the sunnah is to wait. Buraidah reported that the Prophet would not leave on the day of Fitr until he ate, and would not eat on the day of Adha until he had prayed (Jami at-Tirmidhi 542).

Many people who are offering a sacrifice then make their first meal of the day from its meat. The Quran says of the sacrificial animals: eat from their meat and feed the desperately poor (22:28). In a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (5569) the Prophet told people to eat of it, feed others from it and store some of it.

This is a recommended practice, not an obligation, and it is not a fast. Someone who needs to eat before the prayer, for health or any other reason, has done nothing wrong.

Is it haram to fast on Eid?

Yes, according to the mainstream position in all the schools of Islamic law. Abu Said al-Khudri reported that the Prophet forbade fasting on Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha (Sahih al-Bukhari 1991). On that basis scholars treat a fast on either Eid day as prohibited, whether it is a voluntary fast, a make-up day from Ramadan or a fast someone vowed to keep.

The reasoning given in the hadith literature is that these are days of eating, drinking and celebration. A hadith in Jami at-Tirmidhi (773) describes the Day of Sacrifice and the days that follow as Eid for the people of Islam, and days of eating and drinking.

If you have Ramadan fasts to make up, you can begin them from the second day of Shawwal, the day after Eid al-Fitr.

Eid ul Adha fasting: which days around it can you fast?

Much of the confusion about Eid ul Adha fasting comes from the days around it, because the rule changes from one day to the next.

• The Day of Arafah (9 Dhul Hijjah, the day before Eid al-Adha): fasting is recommended for people who are not on Hajj. In Sahih Muslim (1162) the Prophet said he hoped the fast of this day would atone for the sins of the year before and the year after.
• Eid al-Adha itself (10 Dhul Hijjah): fasting is forbidden.
• The days of Tashriq (11, 12 and 13 Dhul Hijjah): the Prophet called these days of eating and drinking (Sahih Muslim 1141), and fasting on them is not allowed. The exception recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari (1997) is for pilgrims who could not afford the sacrificial animal. Scholars differ on some details, so check with your own.
• From 14 Dhul Hijjah onward: voluntary and make-up fasts are allowed again.

Fasting after Eid al-Fitr

Only the first day of Shawwal, the day of Eid al-Fitr itself, is closed to fasting. Many communities celebrate for two or three days, but that is custom. We cover the length of the festival in our guide to Eid al-Fitr.

After Eid day, many Muslims fast six days of Shawwal. In Sahih Muslim (1164) the Prophet said that whoever fasts Ramadan and follows it with six days of Shawwal, it is as if they fasted perpetually. The hadith does not say the six days must be consecutive or begin straight after Eid; ask your scholar how your school approaches them.

What do people eat on Eid in practice?

Beyond the dates and the sacrificial meat, there is no set Eid menu in the sunnah. What ends up on the table is cultural, and it varies from country to country and family to family: sweets and pastries are common on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, and meat dishes are central to Eid al-Adha.

For a sense of one tradition, see our guide to Palestinian food.

The other fixed parts of the morning are the Eid prayer and, before Eid al-Fitr, the payment of Zakat al-Fitr, which exists so that people in need have food for the day.

Sharing the Eid meal with families in Gaza

Both Eids are built around making sure other people eat. Zakat al-Fitr is described in hadith as food for the poor, and the meat of Eid al-Adha is meant to be shared with people in need.

For many displaced families in Gaza, a holiday meal depends on food aid reaching them. Fight for Palestine funds food parcels and hot meals through local partner teams. You can give through our food assistance campaign, or read how we handle Zakat.