Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- Performing Eid Prayer is a confirmed Sunnah that Muslims, males and females, should be keen to attend.
2- It is also highly recommended for women to participate and listen to the sermon.
3- If a woman could not attend the Eid prayer for some reason and performed it at home, it would be also valid.
In his well-known book, Fiqh As-Sunnah, Sheikh Sayyed Sabiq states:
The prayers of the two Eids were prescribed in the first year after the migration. It is a confirmed Sunnah, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) always performed these prayers and he ordered the men and women to go out to attend them.
For whom the performance of Eid Prayer is valid:
The Eid Prayer is valid for men, women, children, travelers, residents, people in congregation and people praying individually.
It is also valid if performed in a house, mosque, or a distant place designated for the prayer, and so on.
Women and children going out to attend Eid Prayer:
The Shari`ah urges women and children to go out and attend the Eid prayer. This includes married, single, young, old, or menstruating women.
Umm Atiyyah reported: “We were ordered to go out with the single and menstruating women to the two `Eids in order to witness the good and the supplications of the Muslims. The menstruating women would be separate from the others.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Ibn `Abbas said that the Prophet would take his wives and daughters to the two Eids. This is reported by Ibn-Majah and al-Bayhaqi.
Ibn Abbas further reported, “I went out with the Prophet on the day of breaking the fast or of the sacrifice, and he prayed and gave a khutbah (sermon), and then he went to the women and admonished them, reminded them of Allah, and ordered them to give charity.” (Al-Bukhari)
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.