Abu Ahmad bin Adi al-Hafiz said: Hanash bin al-Mu'tamir Abu al-Mu'tamir al-Kinani, whom some called Hanash bin Rabi'ah, heard from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him); Simak bin Harb and al-Hakam bin Utaybah narrated from him. They criticise his hadith, and he is a Kufan. I heard Ibn Hammad mention this from al-Bukhari. Abu Ahmad said: Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Nasa'i said: Hanash bin al-Mu'tamir is not strong.
The Shaykh says: Some of our companions held that the reports that have come with these numbers are authentic, and that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did it on several occasions: once with two bowings in each rak'ah, once with three bowings in each rak'ah, and once with four bowings in each rak'ah; each narrator conveyed what he had memorised, and all of these forms are permissible. It is as though he (peace and blessings be upon him) would add bowings when he saw that the sun had not yet cleared. This was the view of Ishaq bin Rahawayh, and after him Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Khuzaymah, Abu Bakr Ahmad bin Ishaq bin Ayyub al-Sibghi and Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi, and Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Ibrahim bin al-Mundhir, the author of al-Khilafiyyat, considered it good. Success is from Allah. But the preference that al-Shafi'i indicated is more correct, and Allah knows best.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب صلاة الخسوف / 6330