Mālik and Abū Ḥanīfah, by contrast, held that no congregational prayer is prescribed; rather, they considered it commendable for people to pray individually, two rakʿahs, just like any other supererogatory prayer.

The basis of their disagreement lies in how they understood the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—words:

“The sun and the moon are two of Allah’s signs. They are not eclipsed because of anyone’s death or life. When you behold either of them, beseech Allah, pray until He removes what afflicts you, and give charity.”

This ḥadith is recorded by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.

Whoever took the command to pray on both occasions as conveying a single meaning—namely, the very form he performed at the solar eclipse—concluded that the lunar-eclipse prayer should likewise be offered in congregation. But whoever understood a different meaning—because no report has reached us that he, peace and blessings be upon him, ever prayed in congregation for a lunar eclipse, despite its frequent occurrence—held that what is required is merely the minimum that the Law designates as “prayer,” that is, an individual voluntary prayer.

The advocate of this opinion regards the default rule to be that, whenever the word “prayer” occurs in a command, it is to be taken at its minimal legal sense unless other evidence indicates otherwise. Since the Prophet’s own practice at the solar eclipse showed that more was intended there, that incident constitutes an exception, whereas the original presumption remains in force for the lunar eclipse. Al-Shāfiʿī, however, deemed the Prophet’s action during the solar eclipse to be an exposition of the concise command to pray at both eclipses; consequently, that explanation must be followed.

Abū ʿUmar Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr claimed that reports exist from Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿUthmān stating that they prayed for a lunar eclipse in congregation, two rakʿahs with two bowings in each, which supports al-Shāfiʿī’s view.

Some scholars have further recommended a special prayer for earthquakes, violent winds, unusual darkness, and the like, by analogy with the prayers for the lunar and solar eclipses, since the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—explicitly mentioned the underlying cause, namely that such phenomena are “signs.” In their eyes this is one of the strongest forms of analogy, for it rests on a cause expressly named in the source-text. Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and a number of other jurists, however, did not accept this analogy.

Abū Ḥanīfah said: “If someone prays because of an earthquake, he has done well; if he does not, there is no blame upon him.” A report from Ibn ʿAbbās states that he prayed for an earthquake in the same manner as the eclipse prayer.

Chapter Seven: The Prayer for Rain (Ṣalāt al-Istisqāʾ)

The scholars are unanimously agreed that going out to seek rain, assembling outside the town, beseeching Allah Most High, and humbly imploring Him for the descent of rain is a Sunnah established by the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—yet they differed concerning the prayer itself in