Bukhari

Hadith Commentary: Benefits and Issues: 1.
There are three ways to seek rain:
➊ Supplication (du'a) may be made individually or collectively.
➋ Supplication may be made during the Friday sermon (khutbah) or after the obligatory prayer.
➌ Going out to an open field, delivering a sermon, and making supplication together with all the people.

2.
When the prayer for rain (Salat al-Istisqa) is performed in an open field, the view of the majority of scholars is that the prayer is performed first, then the sermon is delivered.
According to the Shafi'is (rahimahullah) and the Malikis (rahimahullah), there are two sermons, and this is also the view of Imam Muhammad (rahimahullah). According to the Hanbalis, there is one sermon, and this is also the position of Imam Abu Yusuf (rahimahullah).
And the supplication in the sermon will be made by the imam facing the qiblah, and he will raise his hands; the followers will also participate with him.
And at the end, the imam and the followers will turn their cloaks inside out, and the sermon may also be delivered before the prayer.
In it, there will be exhortation to repentance, seeking forgiveness, and giving charity and alms, and the supplication will, in any case, be made in the sermon, and the cloak will also be turned inside out at this point,
whether the sermon is before or after the prayer.

3.
According to Imam Malik (rahimahullah), Imam Shafi'i (rahimahullah), Imam Ahmad (rahimahullah), and the two companions (of Abu Hanifah), the prayer for rain (Salat al-Istisqa) is Sunnah.
According to Imam Abu Hanifah (rahimahullah), there is no prayer for Istisqa; rather, one should go out to the open field and make supplication, and the cloak is not to be turned inside out.

4.
According to the Shafi'is (rahimahullah) and Hanbalis (rahimahullah), the prayer for rain (Salat al-Istisqa) is like the Eid prayers, that is, there are seven takbirs in the first rak'ah and five in the second, and according to the majority of scholars, the prayer is like the Fajr prayer.
And according to Imam Abu Hanifah (rahimahullah), the prayer for rain (Salat al-Istisqa) may be performed individually, and there is consensus that the recitation (qira'ah) should be loud.