Eid al-Fitr

Eid al-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر, romanized: ʿĪd al-Fiṭr, lit. 'Festival of Breaking the Fast') is the first of the two main festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-dusk fasting (sawm) of Ramadan. The holiday is known under various other names in different languages and countries around the world.

Eid al-Fitr has a particular salah that consists of two rakats generally performed in an open field or large hall. It may only be performed in congregation (jamāʿat) and features six additional Takbirs (raising of the hands to the ears whilst reciting the Takbir, saying "Allāhu ʾAkbar", meaning "God is the greatest"). In the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, there are three Takbirs at the start of the first rakat and three just before rukūʿ in the second rakat. Other Sunni schools usually have 12 Takbirs, similarly split in groups of seven and five. In Shia Islam, the salat has six Takbirs in the first rakat at the end of Tilawa, before rukūʿ, and five in the second. Depending on the juristic opinion of the locality, this salat is either farḍ (فرض, obligatory) or mustaḥabb (strongly recommended). After the salat, Muslims celebrate the Eid al-Fitr in various ways with food being a central theme, which also gives the holiday the nickname "Sweet Eid" or "Sugar Feast".