that the cause of a solar eclipse is the moon’s coming between it and the earth, it becomes clear that an eclipse cannot occur on the seventh, eighth, ninth, or tenth day, because during these days the moon is far from the sun. Rather, it draws close to it at the end of the month.

For this reason, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “The sun can only be eclipsed on the twenty-ninth, the thirtieth, or at the end of the twenty-eighth night, because this is when the moon may be close to the sun and thus come between it and the earth.”

Likewise, the cause of a lunar eclipse is the earth’s coming between the moon and the sun, for the moon receives its light from the sun, like a mirror placed before a lamp.

A mirror before a lamp is illuminated by its light; but if you extinguish the lamp, it becomes dark. This is why Allah called the moon a light. He, glorified and exalted is He, says:

“Blessed is He who has placed constellations in the sky, and placed in it a radiant lamp and an illuminating moon.” [Surah al-Furqan]

And the Exalted says:

“And He made the moon therein a light, and made the sun a lamp.” [Surah Nuh]

According to this actual state of affairs, the moon cannot be eclipsed on the tenth, eighth, ninth, eleventh, seventeenth, twentieth, twenty-fifth, or twenty-seventh night. It can only be eclipsed on the nights of the full moon—that is, the fourteenth and fifteenth nights—because these are the nights on which the earth may come between it and the sun. The moon is on one side and the sun on the other: the moon is in the east and the sun in the west, so the earth can come between them; at that point, the moon is eclipsed. Allah the Exalted says: “And We have made the night and the day as two signs. Then We have effaced the sign of the night and made the sign of the day”