Reciting al-Fatihah twice or four times in the prayer for the solar or lunar eclipse: What is the wisdom behind this?
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The questioner : Reciting al-Fatihah twice or four times in the prayer for the solar or lunar eclipse: What is the wisdom behind this?
The Shaykh : The answer to this question is that we say that all the rulings of the Shari'ah undoubtedly have a wisdom, because they emanate from the All-Knowing, the Wise, Who places things in their proper places. However, due to the limitations of our knowledge and understanding, we cannot grasp all the wisdoms in everything that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated. Indeed, Allah the Exalted says:[Al-Isra 17:85] If this spirit that is between our ribs, which is the sustainer of our life, is unknown to us, then what is further from us than that? We are more deserving of ignorance regarding it than regarding the spirit.
If that is the case, then we cannot encompass the wisdom of everything that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated. If someone were to ask: What is the wisdom behind the prayers being five in the day and night? What is the wisdom behind the midday prayer being four units, and the afternoon and night prayers? Why were they not eight or six? Why were the prayers not ten instead of five, or three instead of five? All of this is a matter whose wisdom we cannot grasp. The wisdom for every believer regarding what Allah and His Messenger have legislated is that it is the command of Allah and His Messenger. For this reason, when Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was asked why the menstruating woman makes up the fast but not the prayer, she said: "That used to happen to us, so we were commanded to make up the fast, but we were not commanded to make up the prayer". She clarified that the wisdom is the command of Allah and His Messenger, and this is the case for every believer, as Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Ahzab 33:36] Based on this important and great principle, the answer to the questioner's question becomes clear, which is: What is the wisdom in repeating al-Fatihah, the recitation, and the bowing in the prayer for the eclipse?
There is no harm in seeking a wisdom for this. If we are guided to the truth, that is from the grace and mercy of Allah. If we err, that is from ourselves. And what appears to me, and Allah knows best, is that the wisdom in this is that since the cause for this prayer, which is the solar or lunar eclipse, is an unusual cause, a worship that is unusual was legislated for it. The prayer for the eclipse is outside the usual forms of prayer, just as the eclipse is outside the usual course of the sun and moon. This is one wisdom. Another wisdom is that the bowing and recitation were repeated in it to maintain the restriction to two units, for the prayer of the night and day is in pairs. And since the time of the eclipse usually lasts a long time, the bowing and recitation were repeated so that people would not be bored by a very long recitation. So a bowing was placed between the parts of the recitation, in which a person submits to his Lord and magnifies Him, then he stands up and reads, repeating the recitation once more. These are two wisdoms. If they are what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger intended, that is from the grace of Allah. If the matter is otherwise, that is from us, and we seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh. We now move on to a message sent by the listener H. M. A. from Riyadh, in which she says in her message.
The Shaykh : The answer to this question is that we say that all the rulings of the Shari'ah undoubtedly have a wisdom, because they emanate from the All-Knowing, the Wise, Who places things in their proper places. However, due to the limitations of our knowledge and understanding, we cannot grasp all the wisdoms in everything that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated. Indeed, Allah the Exalted says:
And they ask you, [O Muhammad], about the soul. Say, "The soul is of the affair of my Lord. And mankind have not been given of knowledge except a little."
وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًاIf that is the case, then we cannot encompass the wisdom of everything that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated. If someone were to ask: What is the wisdom behind the prayers being five in the day and night? What is the wisdom behind the midday prayer being four units, and the afternoon and night prayers? Why were they not eight or six? Why were the prayers not ten instead of five, or three instead of five? All of this is a matter whose wisdom we cannot grasp. The wisdom for every believer regarding what Allah and His Messenger have legislated is that it is the command of Allah and His Messenger. For this reason, when Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was asked why the menstruating woman makes up the fast but not the prayer, she said: "That used to happen to us, so we were commanded to make up the fast, but we were not commanded to make up the prayer". She clarified that the wisdom is the command of Allah and His Messenger, and this is the case for every believer, as Allah the Exalted said:
It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should [thereafter] have any choice about their affair
وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْThere is no harm in seeking a wisdom for this. If we are guided to the truth, that is from the grace and mercy of Allah. If we err, that is from ourselves. And what appears to me, and Allah knows best, is that the wisdom in this is that since the cause for this prayer, which is the solar or lunar eclipse, is an unusual cause, a worship that is unusual was legislated for it. The prayer for the eclipse is outside the usual forms of prayer, just as the eclipse is outside the usual course of the sun and moon. This is one wisdom. Another wisdom is that the bowing and recitation were repeated in it to maintain the restriction to two units, for the prayer of the night and day is in pairs. And since the time of the eclipse usually lasts a long time, the bowing and recitation were repeated so that people would not be bored by a very long recitation. So a bowing was placed between the parts of the recitation, in which a person submits to his Lord and magnifies Him, then he stands up and reads, repeating the recitation once more. These are two wisdoms. If they are what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger intended, that is from the grace of Allah. If the matter is otherwise, that is from us, and we seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to Him.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, O honorable Shaykh. We now move on to a message sent by the listener H. M. A. from Riyadh, in which she says in her message.