The ruling on the eclipse prayer.

The Shaykh : As for the ruling on the prayer, I mean the eclipse prayer, the majority of scholars hold that it is a recommended practice (sunnah). However, the correct view is that it is obligatory, either as a collective obligation (fard kifayah) or as an individual obligation (fard 'ayn). As a collective obligation, it means that if some of the people of the town perform it, the objective is achieved. Or as an individual obligation, it means that it is obligatory for every person to pray the eclipse prayer. But the stronger view is that it is a collective obligation. And it is not permissible for the people of the town to leave the eclipse prayer. If they do so, they are sinful. The evidence for this is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was alarmed, greatly alarmed by the eclipse, and he rushed out until they caught up with him by his cloak, (peace and blessings be upon him), and placed it on his shoulder, and he dragged his cloak due to the intensity of the alarm. He went to the mosque and ordered a caller to call out: . The people gathered, and it was a hot day. They gathered and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed with them a strange prayer with no parallel in the prayers. And in this prayer, he witnessed what he had not known before. He saw Paradise and he saw the Fire. He saw what this community is threatened with. The punishment of the grave was revealed to him. Great things occurred, very great things, which indicate what? Their importance. And that it has a great significance, and it is not possible for us to know what occurred with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then we say: It is a recommended practice (sunnah), whoever wishes prays and whoever wishes does not pray. Never. Then he ordered to rush to the prayer, and to the remembrance, supplication, saying Allahu akbar, seeking forgiveness, charity, and freeing slaves. All of this occurred from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So a prayer surrounded by these great circumstances cannot be said to be a recommended practice (sunnah). Rather, it is a collective obligation (fard kifayah). So the eclipse prayer is a collective obligation (fard kifayah). And the meaning of a collective obligation (fard kifayah) is that it is obligatory for the people of the town to pray. And if the number sufficient to establish the prayer is present, it drops from the rest. As for the people of the town leaving it, and the eclipse coming and passing as if it were a cloud passing over the horizon. This cannot happen.