Exemption of Friday Prayers on Eid

There is also a narration regarding being exempt from the Friday prayers when it falls on the same day as Eid.

Abu Ubaid, the freed slave of Ibn Azhar narrates that once on the day of Eid-ul-Adha, he offered the Eid prayers behind Hazrat Umar (ra). Hazrat Umar (ra) led the prayers before delivering the sermon to the congregation in which he stated, “O people! Verily the Holy Prophet (sa) forbade from keeping a fast on both Eid days; one Eid day commemorates the end of the fasting month, whilst the other Eid day is the day on which you eat the meat of the sacrificed animals.” Abu Ubaid states that he also offered the Eid prayer behind Hazrat Uthman (ra) and which fell on a Friday. Hazrat Uthman (ra) led the prayers prior to the sermon. He then addressed the people and said, “O people! Today is a day in which you have been blessed with two Eids. Thus, those living on the outskirts of Medina who are able to wait for the Friday prayers may do so and whosoever wishes to return, they have my permission to leave.”

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Adahi, Bab ma Yu‘kal min Luhum al-Adahi wa ma Yatazawadu minha, Hadith 5571-5572)

There is something mentioned in Fiqh-e-Ahmadiyya regarding which I am yet to see any evidence to support it. In Fiqh-e-Ahmadiyya it is written that if Eid falls on a Friday, then after the Eid prayers, the Friday prayers should not be offered, nor should Zuhr prayers be offered. Instead, the Asr prayers are to be offered at Asr time. There is a narration from Ata bin Rabah who states, “On one occasion, Eid fell on a Friday. Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Zubair said, ‘Since two Eids have been joined on the same day, they will be offered together.’ Thus, Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Zubair offered two rak‘aat for both prayers before the afternoon. Subsequently, no prayers were offered until the Asr prayers”, i.e. on that day, only the Asr prayers were offered.

(Fiqh-e-Ahmadiyya [Ibadat] p. 177)

More research needs to be done in this regard. Hazrat Khalifatul Masih IV (rh) also said the same thing and carried out research.

(Khutbat-e-Tahir, Vol. 6, p. 374, Khutbah Jumuah 29 May 1987)

Initially, I also thought that perhaps there was no need [to offer the Zuhr prayers], but no other narration has been found which directly indicates the practice of the Holy Prophet (sa) whereby the Zuhr prayer was not offered. There is only this narration stating what Hazrat Abdullah (ra) bin Zubair did. Therefore, further research is needed in this regard.

Fiqh [Ahmadiyya] is being revised again and in my view, this narration ought to be checked thoroughly again to see how accurate it is in that the Zuhr prayer does not need to be offered. It is correct that the Friday prayer does not need to be offered, but to say that even the Zuhr prayer does not need to be offered, aside from the aforementioned narration, we do not find any narration which has been quoted directly from the Holy Prophet (sa) or from the Khulafa-e-Rashidin. Also, from the research I asked to be carried out, no narration has come to light as of yet.