Chapter: The Eclipse Prayer
Introduction
Thaʿlab said: The most eloquent expression is to say, “The sun was eclipsed (kasafat al-shams) and the moon was eclipsed (khasaf al-qamar).” A kasūf is the disappearance—whether total or partial—of the sun’s light during the day, whereas a khusūf is the disappearance—whether total or partial—of the moon’s light at night.

The direct cause of a solar eclipse is that the moon interposes itself between the sun and the earth; the cause of a lunar eclipse is that the earth interposes itself between the sun and the moon.

Allah, exalted is He, has made it a rule of nature that a solar eclipse takes place only during the sarār, the last days of the lunar month, when the two luminaries are in conjunction; and that a lunar eclipse occurs only during the abdār, the full-moon phase, when the two luminaries face one another.

Astronomers explain that every heavenly body—including the sun and the moon—moves along its own course, some lying higher than others, so that some are farther from us than the rest. When one of these bodies passes in front of another that is nearer to us, the lower body screens the higher from our sight, and an eclipse of the higher body results.

Thus, when the moon happens to pass between us and the sun, the sun is eclipsed. If the moon blocks the sun completely, a total eclipse occurs because the whole face of the sun is covered; but if the alignment is not exact from our vantage point, the eclipse is only partial.

As for a lunar eclipse, it is the obscuring of the moon’s light when the sun casts its shadow upon it,