and prostrated twice, then in the second rakʿah he did the same.” (1)
—
Grade of the ḥadith:
The transmitted texts differ over how many bowings are performed within a single rakʿah. One narration says, “two bowings in each rakʿah,” another, “three bowings in each rakʿah,” another, “four bowings in each rakʿah,” and yet another, “five bowings in each rakʿah.” Accordingly, the eclipse prayer has been reported in all of these various forms, even though the eclipse itself occurred only once during the Prophet’s lifetime. For that reason the leading imams and critical scholars judged the report of ʿĀʾishah—which stipulates “four bowings in two rakʿahs”—to be sounder than the rest and declared the other versions weak. Among those scholars are al-Shāfiʿī, Aḥmad, al-Bukhārī, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, and others.

Vocabulary of the ḥadith:
• “The sun was eclipsed” (inkhasafat al-shams): Jurists normally reserve kusūf (eclipse) for the sun and khusūf for the moon. This was the preference of Thaʿlab, who wrote in al-Faṣīḥ, “kasafat al-shams, khusifa al-qamar is the better of the two expressions,” and al-Jawharī regarded it as more eloquent.
Al-ʿAynī said: In fact, there is a distinction in meaning. Some hold that kusūf refers to partial obscuration of either luminary, whereas khusūf denotes complete disappearance of both. The Exalted says, “So We caused the earth to swallow him and his dwelling” (Qur’an 28:81). Other linguists consider it more eloquent to apply kusūf to the sun and khusūf to the moon, while still allowing either term to be used for the other.