—contrary to what the compiler’s wording might suggest—Abū Qilābah related it inconsistently: at one time, “from al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr,” at another, “from Qabīṣah al-Hilālī,” then, “from al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr or someone else,” and again, “from Qabīṣah al-Hilālī or someone else.”

The text of the report is likewise unstable. One version says, “two rakʿahs, two rakʿahs,” with an additional phrase, “and he turned left away from it”; another states, “and he ended with the salām” instead of “and he kept supplicating concerning it.” See Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl 3 / 131.

In hadith methodology such inconsistency (iḍṭirāb) is evidence of weakness and of the narrator’s lack of precision; how, then, can it be used to counter authentic reports?

His statement: “It is permissible to recite aloud or silently.”

I reply: It is established that the Prophet ﷺ performed the eclipse prayer only once, and it is soundly reported in al-Bukhārī that he recited aloud. Nothing authentic contradicts this—were anything to exist it would still be outweighed—so how can the author place the proven aloud recitation on a par with an unproven silent one? He voiced a similar view earlier regarding the qunūt in times of calamity; recall it.