Should the Recitation in Salat al-Kusuf (Solar Eclipse Prayer) Be Audible or Silent?
✍️ Written by: Imran Ayyub Lahori
❖ The Issue:
In the prayer of Kusuf (Solar Eclipse), should the Qur’anic recitation be audible (jahrī) or silent (sirrī)?
❖ Evidence from Hadith:
It is narrated from ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها:
جهر النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم فى صلاة الكسوف بقرائته
❝The Prophet ﷺ recited aloud during the Solar Eclipse prayer.❞
📖 [Bukhari: 1065, Book of Eclipses: Chapter on Audible Recitation in Eclipse Prayer; Muslim: 901]
There is another narration from Samurah رضي الله عنه stating:
لا نسمع له صوتا
❝We did not hear his voice.❞
However, this narration is weak.
📚 [Daʿīf Abū Dāwūd: 253]
❖ Legal Position Based on Hadith:
Since it is authentically established that the Prophet ﷺ led the eclipse prayer only once, and in that prayer, he recited aloud, as confirmed by the Sahih Bukhari narration, and since the opposing report is weak and not acceptable as evidence, the correct practice is to perform audible recitation (jahrī) in Salat al-Kusuf.
❖ Scholarly Views:
✔ Imam Al-Shawkānī رحمه الله:
Audible recitation is better than silent recitation.
📘 Nayl al-Awtār: 2/641
✔ ʿAllāmah ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Mubārakpūrī رحمه الله:
The view supporting audible recitation is the stronger opinion.
📘 Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 3/171
✔ Shaykh al-Albānī رحمه الله:
Authentic Ahadith prove audible recitation.
📘 Tamām al-Minnah: p. 263
✔ Imams Aḥmad, Isḥāq, and Ibn al-Mundhir رحمهم الله also held this opinion.
❖ View of Other Jurists:
◈ Imām al-Shāfiʿī, Imām Mālik, and Imām Abū Ḥanīfah رحمهم الله were of the opinion that:
- In Salat al-Kusuf (Solar Eclipse) → silent recitation (sirrī)
- In Salat al-Khusuf (Lunar Eclipse) → audible recitation (jahrī)
📚 References: al-Mughnī: 3/324; al-Majmūʿ: 5/57; al-Umm: 1/406; Badāʾiʿ al-Ṣanāʾiʿ: 1/281; al-Mabsūṭ: 2/86; Ḥāshiyat al-Dasūqī: 1/402; Nayl al-Awtār: 2/641
❖ Summary:
✿ Authentic Ahadith establish that audible recitation was performed by the Prophet ﷺ in the solar eclipse prayer. Therefore, the stronger and more reliable opinion is to adopt jahrī qirā’ah in Salat al-Kusuf.
