Guidance Regarding the Prayer for Eclipse and the Prayer for Rain
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Some people, Honorable Shaykh, are lax in attending the prayer for rain or the prayer for solar or lunar eclipse. What is the guidance for them?
Answer:
The prayer for the eclipse is confirmed; the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed it because it involves supplication to Allah, seeking forgiveness, and prayer. There is great reward in it. The prayer for the eclipse is established, and Muslims who are near the mosque should strive to attend it to participate in it.
They should establish it and share in the reward and recompense with Allah, and revive the Prophetic Sunnah. It is not permissible to be negligent in it. Some ignorant people, or those who have a type of atheism and doubts, say: What is the benefit of the prayer for the eclipse? It is a known thing that happens, and it is known by calculation, so there is no benefit from it. They think that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) established it because he was ignorant of the occurrence of the eclipse and was ignorant. There is no connection between knowing it by calculation and praying for it. Is it not the case that the midday prayer is known to be at the time the sun reaches its zenith, and the time of the zenith is known?
Why is the prayer prescribed? Why are the acts of worship linked to their causes also prescribed? Do you know their causes? Is this from ignorance or from atheism? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prescribed for us: when you see that of the sun or the moon, pray and supplicate until it is cleared from you. This is because it is not known whether this is a sign of punishment that will occur among the people. And what assures us that the light of the sun or the light of the moon will return? Who guarantees this for us? It may extinguish and not return. The Hour may stand, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) feared that the Hour would come when the sun was eclipsed. He feared it was the Hour and went out dragging his cloak (peace and blessings be upon him) out of fear. This is from ignorance or from atheism. We have no say in the acts of worship; we do them as Allah and His Messenger prescribed them. We have no say in asking about their cause or about this or that. Yes.
Some people, Honorable Shaykh, are lax in attending the prayer for rain or the prayer for solar or lunar eclipse. What is the guidance for them?
Answer:
The prayer for the eclipse is confirmed; the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed it because it involves supplication to Allah, seeking forgiveness, and prayer. There is great reward in it. The prayer for the eclipse is established, and Muslims who are near the mosque should strive to attend it to participate in it.
They should establish it and share in the reward and recompense with Allah, and revive the Prophetic Sunnah. It is not permissible to be negligent in it. Some ignorant people, or those who have a type of atheism and doubts, say: What is the benefit of the prayer for the eclipse? It is a known thing that happens, and it is known by calculation, so there is no benefit from it. They think that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) established it because he was ignorant of the occurrence of the eclipse and was ignorant. There is no connection between knowing it by calculation and praying for it. Is it not the case that the midday prayer is known to be at the time the sun reaches its zenith, and the time of the zenith is known?
Why is the prayer prescribed? Why are the acts of worship linked to their causes also prescribed? Do you know their causes? Is this from ignorance or from atheism? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prescribed for us: when you see that of the sun or the moon, pray and supplicate until it is cleared from you. This is because it is not known whether this is a sign of punishment that will occur among the people. And what assures us that the light of the sun or the light of the moon will return? Who guarantees this for us? It may extinguish and not return. The Hour may stand, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) feared that the Hour would come when the sun was eclipsed. He feared it was the Hour and went out dragging his cloak (peace and blessings be upon him) out of fear. This is from ignorance or from atheism. We have no say in the acts of worship; we do them as Allah and His Messenger prescribed them. We have no say in asking about their cause or about this or that. Yes.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/011 — archive.org (17:24)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.