Source: Extracted from Hudiyyat al-Muslimīn – Namāz ke Aham Masāʾil maʿ Maqmal Namāz al-Nabawiyyah ﷺ by Shaykh Zubair ʿAlī Zai رحمه الله
From ʿAbdullāh bin ʿAmr bin al-ʿĀṣ (رضي الله عنهما):
"The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘The takbīrs in ʿĪd al-Fiṭr are seven in the first rakʿah and five in the last, and recitation is after them in both.’"
[Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 1/170, Ḥadīth 1151]
① This ḥadīth proves that ʿĪd prayer consists of twelve takbīrs — seven in the first rakʿah and five in the second.
② Nāfiʿ (رحمه الله) said:
"I prayed ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā and ʿĪd al-Fiṭr with Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه); he made seven takbīrs in the first rakʿah and five in the second."
[Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik: 1/180, Ḥadīth 435 – authentic chain]
③ In one non-verbal narration of Abū Dāwūd, four takbīrs are mentioned in the first rakʿah [Abī Dāwūd: 1/170, Ḥadīth 1153], but the chain is weak due to Abū ʿĀʾishah being majhūl (unknown) — as stated by Ibn Ḥazm, Ibn al-Qaṭṭān, and al-Dhahabī.
④ Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما) said:
"The Prophet ﷺ would raise his hands in every takbīr before rukūʿ."
[Musnad Aḥmad: 2/134, Ḥadīth 6175; authenticated by Ibn al-Jārūd: Ḥadīth 178]
⑤ ʿUqbah bin ʿĀmir (رضي الله عنه) said:
"For every indication in prayer, each finger earns a reward."
[al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr by al-Ṭabarānī: 17/297, Ḥadīth 819 – ḥasan chain per Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 2/103]
⑥ It is proven with a ḥasan chain that the Prophet ﷺ, when making sujūd al-tilāwah, would say the takbīr and then prostrate.
[Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 1/207, Ḥadīth 413]
Imām Isḥāq bin Manṣūr said:
"I saw Imām Aḥmad (رحمه الله) raise his hands when performing sujūd al-tilāwah in prayer."
[Kitāb al-Masāʾil ʿan Aḥmad wa Isḥāq, vol. 1, p. 481]
Ḥadīth Evidence
From ʿAbdullāh bin ʿAmr bin al-ʿĀṣ (رضي الله عنهما):
"The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘The takbīrs in ʿĪd al-Fiṭr are seven in the first rakʿah and five in the last, and recitation is after them in both.’"
[Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 1/170, Ḥadīth 1151]
- Declared ṣaḥīḥ by Imām Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal, ʿAlī bin al-Madīnī, al-Bukhārī, al-Nawawī, and others.
[al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr: 2/84, Ḥadīth 691; Nīl al-Maqṣūd ḥāshiyah on Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Ḥadīth 151]
Benefits and Rulings
① This ḥadīth proves that ʿĪd prayer consists of twelve takbīrs — seven in the first rakʿah and five in the second.
② Nāfiʿ (رحمه الله) said:
"I prayed ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā and ʿĪd al-Fiṭr with Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه); he made seven takbīrs in the first rakʿah and five in the second."
[Muwaṭṭaʾ Mālik: 1/180, Ḥadīth 435 – authentic chain]
- The same ruling is also established from ʿAbdullāh bin ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما).
[Aḥkām al-ʿĪdayn by al-Firyābī, p. 176, Ḥadīth 28 – authentic chain]
③ In one non-verbal narration of Abū Dāwūd, four takbīrs are mentioned in the first rakʿah [Abī Dāwūd: 1/170, Ḥadīth 1153], but the chain is weak due to Abū ʿĀʾishah being majhūl (unknown) — as stated by Ibn Ḥazm, Ibn al-Qaṭṭān, and al-Dhahabī.
- Imām Makḥūl (رحمه الله), the narrator of this weak ḥadīth, himself was a supporter of twelve takbīrs.
[Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 2/175, Ḥadīth 5714; al-Firyābī: Ḥadīth 122 – authentic chain]
④ Ibn ʿUmar (رضي الله عنهما) said:
"The Prophet ﷺ would raise his hands in every takbīr before rukūʿ."
[Musnad Aḥmad: 2/134, Ḥadīth 6175; authenticated by Ibn al-Jārūd: Ḥadīth 178]
- Imām al-Bayhaqī and Imām Ibn al-Mundhir used this narration as evidence that raising the hands is Sunnah in the takbīrs of ʿĪd, and nothing authentic contradicts it.
⑤ ʿUqbah bin ʿĀmir (رضي الله عنه) said:
"For every indication in prayer, each finger earns a reward."
[al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr by al-Ṭabarānī: 17/297, Ḥadīth 819 – ḥasan chain per Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 2/103]
- From this, it is understood that twelve takbīrs equal 120 good deeds.
⑥ It is proven with a ḥasan chain that the Prophet ﷺ, when making sujūd al-tilāwah, would say the takbīr and then prostrate.
[Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 1/207, Ḥadīth 413]
- Therefore, it is also recommended to raise the hands when saying the takbīr for sujūd al-tilāwah.
Imām Isḥāq bin Manṣūr said:
"I saw Imām Aḥmad (رحمه الله) raise his hands when performing sujūd al-tilāwah in prayer."
[Kitāb al-Masāʾil ʿan Aḥmad wa Isḥāq, vol. 1, p. 481]
