Eid – Musalla (Ahadith 787 -788)

Assalamu`alaykum,
Bismillah.

Volume 2, Book 15, Number 787:

Narrated Ibn Umar: On the day of ‘Id-ul-Fitr and ‘Id-ul-Adha a spear used to be planted in front of the Prophet I (as a Sutra for the prayer) and then he would pray.

Volume 2, Book 15, Number 788:

Narrated Ibn Umar:

The Prophet used to proceed to the Musalla and an ‘Anaza used to be carried before him and planted in the Musalla in front of him and he would pray facing it (as a Sutra).

Sutra is a screen that a person uses to define his prayer space, such as a wall, door etc. The bare minimum requirement for sutra is: that it should be as tall as the length of one hand.

There have been multiple posts on this topic already. Do go through them! Just to get the gist of it all:

• `Anza (spear) can be used as sutrah.
• Imaam’s sutrah is enough for the whole congregation.
• Prophet (SAW) and the companions used to offer the Eid prayers in an open ground.
• Musalla, by the way, is any place that we offer Salah on. It can be a rug, a ground, a mountain, a rock, anything.

Did you know? The sin of crossing one’s prayer space is so huge that Prophet (SAW) said:

If the person who passes in front of another person in prayer knew the magnitude of his sin he would prefer to wait for 40 (days, months or years) rather than to pass in front of him.

More on it here.

Wassalam.