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Eid Al-Adha Prayers

July 20 @ 7:15 am - 11:00 am

Eid Al-Adha will be on Tuesday, July 20th.

  1. All prayers will be held at MCC (the first two outdoors in the parking lot and the third indoors in MCC prayer halls).
  2. Registration is required for each member of your family.
  3. Bring your prayer rug if attending outdoor services.
  4. Masks are required for indoor services, and for those unvaccinated.
  5. Please remember to park at HP building. (entrance “A” on map

First Service

Second Service

  • Outdoors at MCC Parking Lot
  • Khateeb: Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
  • Takbeerat begins at 8:45 a.m.
  • Prayer promptly at 9:00 a.m.
  • RSVP: *This prayer is positively full. No room remains. Please RSVP for the first or third Eid service.*

Third Service

Eid Prayers at MCC

  • Registration is required for each member of your family, including children.
  • Factor in 10 minutes for parking and walking to the prayer space.
  • Enter through “A” for parking in HP parking. The security guard will close parking “B” once the limited parking spaces in MCC lot are full.
  • Once the prayer area is full, security guards will seal all entrances and ask you to join the next service.
  • Do not park in neighboring businesses or jaywalk on W. Las Positas. Pleasanton police will perform extra patrols during Eid services.
  • Please leave promptly after each prayer to make room for the next service.

Staying Pandemic Safe

  • Outdoors: Bring your own prayer rug. Face masks are required for worshippers not fully vaccinated.
  • Indoor: face mask required for everyone.
  • Outdoors: First rows in canopies with straw carpeting down are no social distancing prayer spots. Rows on asphalt have social distancing markers and same-household families are encouraged to cluster.

The Eid Prayer

Jazakum Allahu Khairan for your cooperation and support.

Questions? events@mcceastbay.org

*The takbeerat begins 15 minutes prior to each Eid prayer, which begin promptly. The sermon follows Eid prayer.

Please remember that the Khutbah (sermon) follows each prayer so please pay attention attentively.

Please also fast with the community on the blessed day of Arafat on Monday, July 19. This MCC is not hosting its annual Arafat Iftar in 2021.

Summarized Table of What to Do this Month

Sunday, July 11-18

1st-8th of Dhul Ḥijjah

Recommended to fast and do good deeds
“Righteous deeds done in the first ten days of the month of Dhul Hijjah are more beloved to Allah than any other days.” (BUKHARI)
Monday, July 19
9th of Dhul Ḥijjah
Highly recommended to fast
“Fasting on the Day of Arafah expiates for sins of the previous year and the coming year (MUSLIM).
Tuesday, July 20
10th of Dhul Ḥijjah
Eid prayer and animal sacrifice
Fajr of Monday, July 19 to Asr of Friday, July 23
Ayam ul Tashreeq
These are the Days of Remembrance in the three days following ‘Eid ul-Adha. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called these the days of food and drink. Recite Takbeerat after each prayer during these days.

??  Make the Most of the Blessed Days of Dhul Hijjah 

Please know that your Community Center and your charity dollars are hard at work to continue to serve our community and keep pace with the steady food and monetary demand during these difficult times for some of your East Bay neighbors.
Please remember MCC in your giving and donate now to replenish the Sadaqa & Zakat funds. Donate at https://mcceastbay.org/donate
The new crescent moon of Dhul HIjjah was sighted on the evening of Saturday, July 10. MCC follows traditional moonsighting that relies on the regional, verifiable naked-eye sighting of the new crescent moon. 
For those worshipers attending one of the two prayer services at the yet-announced outdoor prayer area, please remember to bring:
  • A prayer rug or sheet with you.
  • A (plastic/tote) bag to keep your shoes with you for the duration of the service.
  • Bring your own (reusable) water bottle to keep hydrated.

Eid Al-Adha Bazaar 2021

MCC will also host a pre-Eid bazar with several community vendors from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 18. Details

The Month of Dhul Hijjah – What a Muslim Should Do

What is Dhul Hijjah?

Dhul Hijjah is the name of the last month in the Islamic lunar calendar. It literally means: “the time of Hajj”.

Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam and constitutes the pilgrimage to Makkah, which every Muslim must perform at least once in their lifetime if they are able to undertake it. That is what makes this month so special: it is the month in which the Pilgrimage takes place.

The First Ten Days

The first ten days are considered to be special in Islam. Allah created time and made some times to be better than others, where rewards are multiplied. This encourages people to do more good deeds and renew their zeal to worship Allah. It is similar to a farmer who works extra hard to plant crops during certain seasons because those times of the year will yield better results. The Prophet said regarding Dhul Ḥijjah, “There are no other days in which actions are better than in these ten days.”[1]

Therefore, it is recommended to increase in good deeds. Fast on as many of these days as possible, like the Prophet Muhammad did.[2] Pray in the masjid more often. Read more Qur’an, and reflect on it. Give more charity. Visit people who are sick. Be extra careful not to gossip, use profanity, or insult others.

Technically, the tenth day is the day of Eid, which is a celebration. It is not allowed to fast on this day. So when ‘ten days’ are mentioned, it actually means the first nine days of the month.

Cutting Hair and Nails

Some scholars hold that a person should not cut their nails or hair during these first ten days of Dhul Ḥijjah. That is because of the report that the Prophet Muhammad said: “Whoever sights the crescent for the month of Dhul Ḥijjah and intends to sacrifice an animal should cut neither his hair nor his nails.”[3] Imam Nawawī says that the wisdom behind this could be that a person who is offering a sacrifice wants to resemble a person performing Hajj since it is about sacrifice, so they refrain from cutting the hair and nails to further the resemblance [since pilgrims to Makkah are also not allowed to cut].[4]

However, there is another report about the Prophet by his wife ʿĀ’ishah that: “…the Prophet sent a sacrificial animal to the Kaʿbah [while residing at Madīnah] but did not abstain from anything [that a person performing Ḥajj would abstain from]…”[5] This report led many scholars to say that it is perfectly fine to cut one’s hair and nails during these days. This is the opinion that I lean towards. See the Appendix below for a more detailed discussion of why scholars have differed on this issue.

Fast on the 9th Day

The 9th day of this month (Saturday, Aug. 10) is called “the day of ʿArafah” because that is the day the pilgrims performing Hajj gather in the plain of ʿArafah, just outside Makkah. It is highly recommended for people who are not performing Hajj to fast on this day. This is a special fast that the Prophet Muhammad said: “Fasting on the day of ʿArafah is an expiation for the preceding year and the following year.”[6] This meant that the fast is so rewarded that it helps to absolve a person of some of the sins they committed in the past and might do in the future.

So, one day before the Eid celebration, make sure to fast (MCC hosts an Arafat program with Dr. Ataie and an outdoor Iftar on the eve of Eid).

Summarized Table of What to Do this Month

Sunday, July 11-18

1st-8th of Dhul Ḥijjah

Recommended to fast and do good deeds
Monday, July 19
9th of Dhul Ḥijjah
Highly recommended to fast
Tuesday, July 20
10th of Dhul Ḥijjah
Eid prayer and animal sacrifice
Fajr of Monday, July 19 to Asr of Friday, July 23
Ayam ul Tashreeq
These are the Days of Remembrance in the three days following ‘Eid ul-Adha. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called these the days of food and drink. Recite Takbeerat after each prayer during these days.

Appendix

Muslims scholars have differed over whether or not there are any restrictions on cutting the nails or hair during the first ten days of Dhul Ḥijjah. This results from different approaches to dealing with the prophetic reports on the issue. There are two main pieces of evidence which result in three different opinions about how to understand them.

A: The prophetic report narrated by Umm Salamah states: “Whoever sights the crescent for the month of Dhul Ḥijjah and intends to sacrifice an animal should cut neither his hair nor his nails.”[7]

B: The prophetic report narrated by ʿĀ’ishah that: “…the Prophet sent a sacrificial animal to the Kaʿbah [while residing at Madīnah] but did not abstain from anything [that a person performing Ḥajj would abstain from]…”[8]

The first opinion is to affirm that both reports are equally authentic. Report A should be taken in its literal sense, but report B should be confined to only those who send a sacrificial animal, not those who sacrifice an animal within their own city.[9] The scholars who took this approach and said cutting nails and hair is forbidden for a person who intends to slaughter are Aḥmad ibn Ḥambal, Ibn Ḥazm, and Ṭaḥāwī [of the Ḥanafī school].[10]

The second opinion is to affirm both reports as equally authentic and that they are addressing the exact same issue, but understand that report A should not be taken literally as a prohibition, but rather as something disliked. The scholars who took this approach are ash-Shāfiʿī and some of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal’s students [such as Abū Yaʿlā].[11]

The third opinion is to prefer report B over report A because it is of a higher standard of authenticity. Report A is also dismissed since it is contrary to analogy [qiyās] because if a person was supposed to refrain from cutting their nails and hair, they should have also been instructed to refrain from certain clothing, perfume, and intimacy because that is what people who are performing Hajj must also do.[12] The scholars who took this approach and said there is nothing wrong with cutting the hair or nails are Abū Ḥanīfah and his students, Mālik and his students, and Sufyān al-Thawrī.[13]


[1] Al-Bukhārī
[2] “Allah’s Messenger used to fast the [first] nine days of Dhul Ḥijjah…” Abū Dāwūd
[3] Muslim 3:1565, Abū Dā’ūd 3:94, Tirmidhī 4:102, Nasā’ī 7:211.
[4] Sharḥ al-Nawawī ʿalā Muslim 13:138-139. Al-Nawawī mentioned another possible reason as well which I prefer not to mention here.
[5] Bukhārī 7:102, Muslim 2:957.
[6] Muslim
[7] Muslim 3:1565, Abū Dā’ūd 3:94, Tirmidhī 4:102, Nasā’ī 7:211.
[8] Bukhārī 7:102, Muslim 2:957.
[9] `Awn al-Maʿbūd wa Ḥāshiyah ibn al-Qayyim ʿalā Sunan Abī Dāwūd 7:346, al-Istidhkār 4:84.
[10] al-Tirmidhī 4:102, Tuḥfah al-Aḥwadhī 5:99-100, Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār 14:141-143.
[11] Tuḥfah al-Aḥwadhī 5:99-100, `Awn al-Maʿbūd wa Ḥāshiyah ibn al-Qayyim ʿalā Sunan Abī Dāwūd 7:346.
[12] `Awn al-Maʿbūd wa Ḥāshiyah ibn al-Qayyim ʿalā Sunan Abī Dāwūd 7:347.
[13] Tuḥfah al-Aḥwadhī 5:99-100, al-Istidhkār 4:84.

The Messenger (PBUH) of Allah said, “There are no days during which righteous action is so pleasing to Allah than these days (the first 10 days of Dhul HIjjah).” [Bukhari]
 
  • Read Qur’an
  • Make Dua
  • Increase Nawaafil (voluntary) prayers
  • Increase fasting
  • Increase Dhikr (supplications)
  • Increase charity

Questions? events@mcceastbay.org

Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, “There are no days during which the righteous action is so pleasing to Allah than these days (i.e., the first ten days of Dhul-Hijjah).” He was asked: “O Messenger of Allah, not even Jihad in the Cause of Allah?” He (PBUH) replied, “Not even Jihad in the Cause of Allah, except in case one goes forth with his life and his property and does not return with either of it.” [Al- Bukhari]

It is a good sunnah to do Qurbani/Udhiyah to feed the poor in these times. Some scholars may have viewed it as obligatory, however, the majority see it as a voluntary (sunnah/mustahab) act. For those who wish to do Qurbani, it is mustahab (or voluntary sunnah) to avoid cutting hair and nails until the Qurbani is slaughtered. If you cut any hair or nails, however, your Qurbani is accepted and it has no effect on the slaughter.

MCC East Bay

5724 W Las Positas Blvd #300
Pleasanton, CA 94588 United States