Source: “Ghair Masnoon Nafli Namazain” by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Ameenpuri❖ Performing Two Rakʿahs After Returning from ʿĪd Prayer — Are These Reports Authentic?
Some reports mention performing two rakʿahs after returning home from the ʿĪd prayer. However, these narrations are weak or fabricated, and therefore cannot be the basis for religious practice.
✿ First Report
Narrated from Sayyidunā Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī رضي الله عنه:
"The Messenger of Allah ﷺ would not pray anything before the ʿĪd prayer, but when he returned home, he would perform two rakʿahs."
Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 3/28, 40
Reference: Sunan Ibn Mājah: 1293
Status of the Chain of Narration:
Weak (ḍaʿīf) — due to ʿAbdullāh bin Muḥammad bin ʿAqīl, who is considered weak.
- Imām Nawawī رحمه الله said:
"He is weak according to the majority."
(al-Majmūʿ: 1/155)
- al-ʿUmrī al-Makkī:
"Most scholars weakened him due to poor memory."
(Fayḍ al-Qadīr by al-Manāwī: 5/527)
- al-Haythamī:
"He is weak according to the majority."
(Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid: 1/134)
- Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī:
"Weak."
(Fatḥ al-Bārī: 10/324)
- al-Būṣīrī:
"He is weak. He was declared weak by Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal, Ibn Maʿīn, Abū Ḥātim, ʿAlī bin al-Madīnī, Ibn Khuzaymah, and others."
(Ittiḥāf al-Khiyarah al-Mahrah: 5/458)
✿ Second Report
Narrated from Sayyidunā Salmān al-Fārisī رضي الله عنه, the Prophet ﷺ said:
"Whoever offers four rakʿahs after the ʿĪd al-Fiṭr prayer — reciting in the first rakʿah al-Fātiḥah and Sabbihisma Rabbikal Aʿlā, in the second al-Shams, in the third al-Ḍuḥā, and in the fourth Qul Huwa Allāhu Aḥad — it is as though he has recited all the Divine books revealed to the Prophets, fed all the orphans, anointed them with oil, cleaned them, earned rewards equivalent to everything upon which the sun rises, and will have fifty years’ sins forgiven."
Reference: al-Mawḍūʿāt by Ibn al-Jawzī: 2/447
Status of the Chain of Narration:
Fabricated (mawḍūʿ)
Reasons for Rejection:
➊ Muḥammad bin Aḥmad bin Ṣiddīq — not authenticated.
➋ Abū Bakr Aḥmad bin Jaʿfar al-Marwazī — no biographical details available.
➌ Yaʿqūb bin ʿAbd al-Raḥmān — possibly Abū Yūsuf al-Jaṣṣāṣ, of whom:
- Abū Muḥammad Ibn Ghulām al-Zahrī said:
"He is not reliable."
(Suʾālāt al-Sahmī: p. 261, no. 380)
- al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī:
"He has excessive confusion in his narrations."
(Tārīkh Baghdād: 16/431)
➍ ʿAbdullāh bin Muḥammad bin Rabīʿah al-Qudāmī — weak.
- al-Dhahabī:
"One of the weak narrators who attributed disasters to Imām Mālik!"
(Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl: 2/488)
➎ Sulaimān bin Ṭarḥān al-Taymī — mudallis (has unclarified chains).
- Ibn al-Jawzī:
"Fabricated — full of unknown narrators."
(al-Mawḍūʿāt: 2/447)
A Variant Chain (by Salamah bin Shabīb):
This report was also narrated via Salamah bin Shabīb, found in:
Reference: al-Laʾālī al-Maṣnūʿah by al-Suyūṭī: 2/61
Yet, this chain too is fabricated — both ʿAbdullāh bin Muḥammad bin Shaybah and his teacher Faḍl bin Muḥammad al-Jundī are unknown.
- Ibn ʿIrāq said:
"Though Salamah bin Shabīb is a narrator of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim and Sunan al-Arbaʿah, his student Faḍl bin Muḥammad al-Jundī is unknown. Perhaps he fabricated the narration and inserted it with this chain."
(Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah: 2/95)
- al-Muʿallimī al-Yamānī said:
"The matter is unclear to me. In any case, this narration is objectionable in both chain and text."
(Ḥāshiyah al-Fawāʾid: p. 64)
Conclusion
◈ The practice of praying two rakʿahs at home after ʿĪd prayer is based on weak narrations.
◈ Reports encouraging four rakʿahs with specified sūrahs and immense rewards are fabricated.
◈ These narrations involve weak, unknown, and even lying narrators.
◈ There is no authentic basis in Sunnah for such a practice.
