Source: Extracted from Hudiyyat al-Muslimīn – Namāz ke Aham Masāʾil maʿ Maqmal Namāz al-Nabawiyyah ﷺ by Shaykh Zubair ʿAlī Zai رحمه الله
From ʿĀʾishah (رضي الله عنها):
"The Prophet ﷺ led them in the prayer during a solar eclipse with four bowings in two prostrations. The first bowing was the longest."
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1/145, Ḥadīth 1064; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/296, Ḥadīth 901]
① This ḥadīth and other authentic narrations prove that the prayer for solar and lunar eclipses consists of two rakʿahs, with two rukūʿs in each rakʿah. This is the view of the majority of scholars.
② This ḥadīth also establishes that this prayer is recommended to be offered in congregation.
③ According to the Deobandī and Barelwī position, each rakʿah contains only one rukūʿ, not two. [al-Hidāyah: 1/175] — but there is no explicit evidence for this view, and it is therefore rejected as it contradicts the above authentic narration.
④ The term two prostrations (sajdatayn) refers to two rakʿahs, as indicated in another ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim:
"Indeed, he prayed four bowings in two rakʿahs and four prostrations."
[Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/296, Ḥadīth 901]
Ḥadīth Evidence
From ʿĀʾishah (رضي الله عنها):
"The Prophet ﷺ led them in the prayer during a solar eclipse with four bowings in two prostrations. The first bowing was the longest."
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1/145, Ḥadīth 1064; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/296, Ḥadīth 901]
Benefits and Rulings
① This ḥadīth and other authentic narrations prove that the prayer for solar and lunar eclipses consists of two rakʿahs, with two rukūʿs in each rakʿah. This is the view of the majority of scholars.
② This ḥadīth also establishes that this prayer is recommended to be offered in congregation.
③ According to the Deobandī and Barelwī position, each rakʿah contains only one rukūʿ, not two. [al-Hidāyah: 1/175] — but there is no explicit evidence for this view, and it is therefore rejected as it contradicts the above authentic narration.
④ The term two prostrations (sajdatayn) refers to two rakʿahs, as indicated in another ḥadīth in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim:
"Indeed, he prayed four bowings in two rakʿahs and four prostrations."
[Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 1/296, Ḥadīth 901]
