You’ve said “Eid Mubarak”, one of Eid Al Adha greetings, a hundred times. Probably more. But at some point — if you’re learning Arabic to understand the Quran — something shifts. A phrase you’ve said your whole life suddenly has an inside to it.
The Eid Al Adha greetings Muslims exchange on this day aren’t just pleasantries. They’re built from Arabic roots. And once you see that, you can’t unsee it. This post is about that: the most common greetings, where the Arabic actually comes from, and what knowing that does for you as a learner.
What You’re Saying When You Say “Eid Mubarak” as part of Eid Al Adha greeting
عيد مبارك. Two words. Said everywhere on this day, written on cards, typed in group chats, said at the mosque door before anyone’s had breakfast. Most people know it means something like “blessed celebration” — but the individual words have more going on than the translation suggests.
عيد and the Root ع و د
The root behind العيد is ع-و-د —, and it’s all about returning. Coming back. The word for Eid literally tells you something: this is a day that recurs, a day that finds you again every year.
Once you start learning Arabic properly, you notice this kind of thing everywhere. A word that looked just like a tag actually hides meaning in itself. That’s what Quranic Arabic does to you: it jiggles your brain and makes you look twice at words you thought you already knew.
مبارك — More Than Just “Blessed.”
مبارك is from ب-ر-ك, the root that gives us barakah. And this root isn’t just a vocabulary word. For example, it appears in the Quran — Surah Al A’raf (7:137) is one place you’ll find it. What Allah describes there isn’t just “good” or “nice.” It’s abundance that spills over. More than you asked for. More than you expected. That is the essence of baraka.
So, it would be great if you type “Eid Mubarak” in your group chat next time; you are not just wishing happy holidays to your friends. You are making a meaningful wish to other people in reality.
Which is a completely different thing. It’s closer to: may this returning day be one filled with that kind of overflowing goodness for you. That’s a genuinely different thing to wish someone, once you know what you’re saying.
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Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum: Eid Al Adha Greeting the Companions Exchanged
تقبل الله منا ومنكم
Most Arabic learners who’ve been around Islamic circles know this phrase. What fewer people know is where exactly it comes from — and the answer is a bit more specific than “it’s from the Sunnah.”
The Source
This phrase is not a direct narration from the Prophet ﷺ — scholars have been clear on that point. What is established is that it was the practice of the Companions. We know this because Muhammad ibn Ziyad was there. He narrated it. After the Eid prayer, he was sitting with Abu Umamah al-Bahili (may Allah be pleased with him) and a few other companions; their topic of discussion was this. Hence, it is mentioned. Imam Ahmad not only checked the chain of this narration thoroughly, but he also considered it authentic (Al-Jawhar al-Naqi, 3/319).
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani broadly supported the idea that it is allowed to say any words when greeting or congratulating on Eid if the intention is good. However, the unique characteristic of this sentence in comparison to the others is one item. The Companions said it. After Eid. To each other.
What the Grammar Is Doing
تقبل here is a du’a verb — a supplication framed as a wish, not a fact. It’s not saying “Allah accepted.” It’s saying, may He accept. That distinction matters in Arabic, and it’s a construction that appears regularly in Quranic supplications and the adhkar, which is exactly why recognizing it pays off for Arabic learners over time.
The root is ق-ب-ل — acceptance, receiving, turning toward. Think about what the Companions actually understood when they said this. Surah Al Ma’idah (5:27) — the story of Adam’s two sons — makes something very clear. Acceptance before Allah isn’t guaranteed by the outward act.
Ibn Kathir’s tafsir of that verse says exactly that. What’s being weighed is taqwa, not just the deed itself. So after Eid, after the prayer and the sacrifice and the whole day, the Companions looked at each other and said: “May Allah accept from us and from you.” Not out of habit. Not to be polite. Because they genuinely knew that the answer to that question wasn’t theirs to give. That’s a different kind of greeting than most people realise they’re giving.
Eid Sa’eed — The Joy-Rooted Greeting
عيد سعيد
You know the longer version, too, right? كل عام وأنتم بخير. Every Arab family says it. Egypt, the Levant, everywhere. It just comes out. And سعيد — most people translate it as “happy” and move on. But that’s selling it short.
The root is س-ع-د. It’s not about a good mood or a nice day. It’s about your life actually going well. Real wellbeing. The kind you’d genuinely wish for someone you love, not just something you type in a group chat.
Sa’d is a name you’ll recognize from the Companions, drawn from this same root.
خير in the second phrase is one of those Arabic words that keeps showing up everywhere once you start noticing it — over 150 times in the Quran, carrying the sense of good in a deep, substantive way, meaning benefit and divine favour rather than just “nice things.”
When you’ve spent real time with خير in the Quran and then say كل عام وأنتم بخير to someone, you’re wishing them something with more weight than the casual translation “may every year find you well” quite gets across.
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Writing These Greetings in Eid Al Adha Cards
If you’re putting Arabic in an Eid Al Adha card or a digital message, here are the phrases in Arabic script:
عيد أضحى مبارك — Eid Adha Mubarak
تقبل الله منا ومنكم — Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum
عيد سعيد وكل عام وأنتم بخير — Eid Sa’eed wa kull am wa antum bi khayr
One thing worth mentioning for Arabic learners: writing these out by hand — rather than copy-pasting — actually does something for you that passive reading doesn’t.
الأضحى itself comes from ض-ح-و, connected to sacrifice and to the early morning hours, which is when the Eid sacrifice was traditionally performed. The holiday’s name is actually a word from the Qur’an. When you write the letters, it deepens that link, much more than just seeing the transliteration would.
The Takbeer — What Comes Before Any Greeting
Part of Eid Al Adha that some people overlook in their posts about greetings is the Takbeer of Tashreeq. From the Fajr prayer on 9th Dhul Hijjah to Asr prayer on the 13th, Muslims are reciting this after every obligatory prayer:
الله أكبر، الله أكبر، لا إله إلا الله، والله أكبر، الله أكبر، ولله الحمد
For anyone learning Arabic with Quranic goals, these words are actually worth pausing on rather than rushing through. أكبر is the comparative form of كبير — greater, greatest. لا إله إلا الله is a complete Arabic sentence with its own grammatical logic, one that Arabic students spend real time with because of how it’s constructed. الحمد comes from ح-م-د, the root that opens the entire Quran in Surah Al Fatiha.
Said across five days, multiple times a day — that’s a lot of repetition of some of the most important vocabulary in the Quran. More than most practice exercises give you, honestly.
When the Words You Know Start Talking Back
There is a point when you’ve been studying Arabic for the sake of understanding the Quran so deeply that even your usual phrases begin to change without you realizing it. For example, you say “Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum, ” and you sense, at the back of your mind, that تقبل is a particular verb form, derived from ق-ب-ل, used here as a prayer. You won’t even have to reason it out consciously. It’s just there.
That’s not a dramatic shift when it comes. It’s usually quiet — the words getting a kind of texture they didn’t have before. But it’s real, and Eid Al Adha wishes are actually a good place to feel it happen because these are words you say to people you care about, in a context that already has meaning for you. Language sticks differently in moments like that.
The greetings of Eid Al Adha are short; they come from the same roots as Quranic vocabulary, and unlike most practice material, you’ll use them every year for the rest of your life. That’s as good a reason as any to know them properly.
For anyone who wants to understand the Quran as they read it — not just move through the words — Alif Arabic’s Quranic Arabic course is the place to start building that.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best Eid Al Adha greeting to use in Arabic?
“Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum” is the most spiritually grounded option — it’s a du’a, not just a greeting, and traces back to the practice of the Companions on Eid. “Eid Mubarak” is universally understood and perfectly appropriate. You can use either or combine them. There’s no single “correct” choice, and the sincerity behind the words matters more than the specific phrase.
What’s the right reply to “Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum”?
Say it back: “Taqabbal Allahu minna wa minkum” That’s what the Companions did, and it’s the simplest, most established reply. Some people add “wa antum min al-fa’izin” (and may you be among the successful), which is also fine — but just returning the du’a as-is is completely sufficient.
Is there a difference between Eid Mubarak and Eid Sa’eed?
Different roots, different flavours. Mubarak comes from ب-ر-ك — that’s divine blessing, abundance, overflow. Sa’eed comes from س-ع-د — joy, genuine good fortune. Both are sincere. Both are right. Which one comes out of your mouth first usually just depends on where you grew up or who you’re standing in front of.
What Arabic should I write on an Eid Al Adha card?
“عيد الأضحى مبارك”
is your safe start — anyone, anywhere, any context.
Add “تقبل الله منا ومنكم” if you want the card to carry a du’a, not just a wish. Then “كل عام وأنتم بخير” at the end, if you want it to feel like it came from a person, not a template. And if you’re learning Arabic? Write the script out yourself. By hand. It takes one extra minute, and it does more for you than you’d expect.
