Lessons drawn from the ḥadith:

1. The standing in the first rakʿah is prolonged to the length of reciting Sūrah al-Baqarah.
2. The first rakʿah is performed with two bowings and two prostrations, each bowing and prostration shorter than the one before it. The second rakʿah is performed in the same manner, but its standing, bowing, and prostration are all shorter than those of the first.
3. Shaykh al-Islām said: “The duration of an eclipse may at times be long and at other times short, depending on how much of the celestial body is obscured. When the obscuration is great, the prayer is lengthened so that al-Baqarah—or something comparable—is recited in the first standing, and something shorter after the first bowing. Sound aḥādīth confirm what we have stated. If the cause of the prayer disappears, it is prescribed to shorten the prayer accordingly; the same applies when it is known beforehand that the eclipse will be brief, or if it clears before the prayer begins: one performs the prayer and abbreviates it. This is the position of the vast majority of scholars, for the prayer was legislated for a specific cause, and that cause has ceased.”
4. The Prophet ﷺ finished the prayer after the sun had re-emerged, whereupon he addressed the people. This description is agreed upon in the ḥadith of Ibn ʿAbbās and is identical to the earlier report of ʿĀʾishah.
5. In one narration recorded by Muslim: “He prayed eight rakʿahs with four prostrations.” Muslim also relates from Jābir: “He prayed six rakʿahs and prostrated twice.” Abū Dāwūd transmits from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb: “He prayed five rakʿahs and prostrated, and did the same in the second unit.” Al-Bayhaqī narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās, regarding an earthquake, that “he prayed six rakʿahs and four prostrations.”

Differences among the scholars:
The scholars have differed over the number of rakʿahs in the eclipse prayer.
The Ḥanafīs hold that it consists of two rakʿahs like the other prayers, citing the report of Abū Dāwūd: “The Prophet ﷺ prayed two rakʿahs, lengthening the standing in both, and the sun cleared.”
The majority of scholars maintain that it should be prayed as four rakʿahs with four prostrations,