bowings were authentic, and understood them to mean that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed the prayer on several occasions and that all these forms are permissible. Among those who held this view were Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Khuzaymah, Abū Bakr ibn Ishāq al-Duba‘ī, and Abū Sulaymān al-Khattābī; Ibn al-Mundhir also considered it sound. However, the approach adopted by al-Shāfi‘ī and then Muhammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī (1), giving preference to some reports over others, is more appropriate, for the reason we have mentioned (2): the reports (3) all describe the prayer the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed on the day his son died.

I say: Ahmad’s explicitly recorded position likewise follows ‘Ā’ishah’s hadith alone: two bowings and two prostrations in each unit of prayer. In the narration of al-Marrūdhī (4), he said: “I hold that the eclipse prayer consists of four bowings and four prostrations: two bowings and two prostrations in each unit of prayer. I follow ‘Ā’ishah’s hadith. Most of the hadiths support this.” This was the position chosen by Abū Bakr and the earlier scholars of his school, as well as by our teacher, Abū al-‘Abbās Ibn Taymiyyah. He judged every hadith that differed from it to be weak, saying: “They are erroneous. The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) performed the eclipse prayer only once, on the day his son Abraham died (5).” Allah knows best.

During an eclipse, he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) commanded people to remember Allah, pray, supplicate, seek forgiveness, give charity, and free slaves (6).