Abu Dawud

1؎ : In this hadith there is evidence for those who hold the view of two bowings (ruku‘) in every unit (rak‘ah), and this second narration itself corresponds with the chapter heading. However, since both students of Jabir ibn ‘Abdullah radi Allahu anhuma, ‘Ata’ and Abu’z-Zubayr, have differed: ‘Ata’ narrated from Jabir radi Allahu anhu the report of six bowings, and Abu’z-Zubayr narrated from him the report of four bowings, for this reason the author did not suffice with mentioning only the second narration, but also mentioned the narration of ‘Ata’ before it, even though it does not correspond with the chapter heading. Imam Bukhari and other imams have said that it is not correct to interpret these hadiths of the eclipse (kusuf) as permissibility (of multiple bowings) unless there is multiplicity of incidents in the prayer for rain (salat al-istisqa’), and such multiplicity of incidents is not found here, because all these narrations pertain to that prayer of the solar eclipse which the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam performed on the day of the death of his son Ibrahim. In such a case, preference must be given to the narrations with two bowings, because they are more authentic and well-known. In contrast, a group of the imams of jurisprudence and hadith have considered there to be multiplicity of incidents and have interpreted these narrations as permissibility, and have said that if the duration of the eclipse becomes lengthy, then it is permissible to increase the number of bowings from three up to five. Imam Nawawi has considered this strong in his commentary on Sahih Muslim.