Thus, the fact that an eclipse has an appointed time does not preclude Allah, when that time comes, from making it a cause of whatever He decrees—punishment or otherwise—for those He punishes at that time, or for others upon whom He brings such things. Likewise, Allah’s punishment of people with a fierce, cold wind, as with the people of ‘Ād, occurred at the appropriate time: the end of winter, as scholars of Quranic commentary and accounts of the prophets have mentioned. It is reported of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:
“Whenever he saw a rain cloud—a cloud thought likely to bring rain—he would pace back and forth, and his expression would change. ‘Ā’ishah said to him, ‘People rejoice when they see a rain cloud!’ He replied, ‘O ‘Ā’ishah, what assurance do I have? The people of ‘Ād saw the punishment as a cloud approaching their valleys and said, “This is a cloud bringing us rain.” Allah Most High said: “Rather, it is what you sought to hasten: a wind containing a painful punishment.”’”
Likewise, the times when Allah sends down mercy—such as the last ten days of Ramadan, the first ten days of Dhū al-Hijjah, the depths of the night, and other such times—are fixed times that neither come early nor fall late. During them, mercy descends that does not descend at other times.
Some versions of the hadiths concerning eclipses contain the Prophet’s words, as reported by Ibn Mājah and others:
“Neither is eclipsed because of anyone’s death or life. Rather, when Allah manifests Himself to anything in His creation, it humbles itself before Him.”
Abū Hāmid and others like him criticised this hadith and rejected it, not on the basis of hadith scholarship—for they have little knowledge of it, as Abū Hāmid used to say of himself: “My knowledge of the science of hadith is meagre”