What is the wisdom behind the Prophet's — may God’s prayers and peace be upon him — going to the Eid prayer from one route and returning from another?

On the day of Eid, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would take a different route, meaning he would go by one path and return by another, and Muslims are encouraged to emulate him. Scholars have differed on the wisdom behind this act, proposing more than twenty different opinions. These include: so that both paths or their inhabitants, whether jinn or humans, might bear witness for him; to display the rituals of Islam and the remembrance of Allah; to vex the hypocrites or the Jews; to make the houses along the path prosperous through his passage and sight; to visit his relatives and uphold ties of kinship; to be optimistic about a change of state towards forgiveness; or to multiply the reward. Some scholars have favored the view that the Prophet's (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) action was not devoid of many wisdoms, and that the fundamental wisdom is to follow the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).