Question: If astronomers say that a solar or lunar eclipse will occur, we do not pray until we see it with ordinary sight, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “When you see that, then pray.” (1) However, if Allah has bestowed upon us a situation in which it cannot be seen in our land except through magnification or eyeglasses, then we do not pray.

It is sunnah to perform it in congregation or individually...

His statement, “It is sunnah to perform it in congregation or individually”: The eclipse prayer is prescribed by the sunnah and scholarly consensus. Some scholars have said that it is also prescribed by the Quran, deriving this from the saying of Allah, Most High:

“Among His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon; rather, prostrate to Allah, who created them.” [Fussilat: 37]

They said: People do not prostrate to the sun and moon while they are following their normal, customary course; rather, they prostrate when this eclipse occurs to them, out of fear of them. Thus, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, commanded that the prostration be for Him.

Although this deduction has some plausibility, we would not rely upon it were it not for the established sunnah.

By his statement, “It is sunnah,” the author, may Allah have mercy on him, indicates that the eclipse prayer is a sunnah, neither an individual obligation nor a communal obligation, and that people would not be sinful if they abandoned it. For, according to the jurists, a sunnah is that whose doer is rewarded and whose omission incurs no punishment.

The author, may Allah have mercy on him, stated this definitively, and this is the well-known position among the scholars.