By Shaykh Yusuf Badat
Question:
Is it fard (mandatory) to offer the lunar eclipse prayer?
Answer:
In the Name of God, Most Merciful, Most Kind
Jazak Allāh Khayr/ Thank you for your question.
Offering prayer (salah) during a lunar eclipse is an emphasized prophetic practice (sunnah muʾakkadah) in the view of the Shafiʾe and Hanbali school. It is a recommended practice (mandub) according to the Malikischool. The Hanafi jurists are of the view that this prayer is praiseworthy (hasan). No Islamic jurist has made the lunar eclipse prayer mandatory (fard al-aiyn).
The lunar eclipse prayer can be offered individually in one’s home, as preferred by the Maliki and Hanafi Fiqh [due to nightfall and its dangers]. This prayer can also be performed in congregation at the masjid as stipulated and preferred by the Shafiʾe and Hanbali schools of jurisprudence [basing it on the solar eclipse prayer].
(See: Al-Mawsuʾah Al-Fiqhiyyah, Kitab Fiqh ʿAla Al-Madhahib Al-Arbaʿah, Al-Muhit Al-Burhani, Iʿila Al-Sunan)
“Whenever you see these eclipses pray and invoke (Allah) until the eclipse is over.”
(Bukhari)
And Allah Knows Best.
Source: brought to you by Mathabah, read more here.
