The Eid prayer in villages

Question

What is [the ruling on] forbidding the performance of [the prayers of] the two Eids in villages? Undoubtedly, if the Eid prayer is performed in a village it is not discharged, but it is not wajib upon villagers either. If something is not wajib, what harm is there in performing it? Rather, it is a means of tabligh and of spreading [the religion]. So please explain what harm there is in performing a nafl.

Answer

There are various and numerous harms (mafasid) in this. The common people will come to believe it to be wajib, and believing something that is not wajib — indeed impermissible — to be wajib is a great harm. Insisting on what is mandub and mustahabb is makruh: [ar]الإصرار على المندوب يبلغه إلى حد الكراهة[/ar] “Insistence on the mandub brings it to the level of karaha”…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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