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When the Eclipse Prayer Coincides with an Obligatory Prayer The eclipse prayer is connected to a particular cause and is legislated when an eclipse is observed. Because the eclipse may clear before the prayer is performed, the Prophet ﷺ instructed the Muslims to hasten to prayer upon witnessing it. This raises an important practical question when an eclipse occurs close to the time of an obligatory prayer: which prayer should be given precedence, and what should be done if prolonging the eclipse prayer could result in the obligatory prayer being missed? The matter can be understood through the following scenarios. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ The Prophetic Command to Hasten to the Eclipse Prayer ʿĀʾishah رضي الله عنها narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said concerning the sun and moon: “هما آيتان من آيات الله، لا يخسفان لموت أحد ولا لحياته، فإذا رأيتموهما فافزعوا إلى الصلاة” “They are two signs from the signs of Allah. They do not eclipse because of the death or life of anyone. So when you see them, hasten to the prayer.” The ḥadīth of ʿĀʾishah is agreed upon by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, with this particular wording recorded by al-Bukhārī. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (1046); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (901). The words “hasten to the prayer” (فافزعوا إلى الصلاة) establish the principle of promptly turning to the eclipse prayer when its cause appears. Furthermore, the eclipse prayer is connected to the eclipse itself and may therefore be missed if the eclipse clears. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 1. There is sufficient time to perform both prayers If there is sufficient time to perform the eclipse prayer and thereafter perform the obligatory prayer within its prescribed time, there is a recognised position among the scholars that the eclipse prayer is performed first because it is the prayer more liable to be missed. An-Nawawī رحمه الله said: “قال الشافعي والأصحاب رحمهم الله: إذا اجتمع صلاتان في وقت واحد قدم ما يخاف فوته، ثم الأوكد” “Ash-Shāfiʿī and the scholars of the school said: When two prayers coincide at the same time, that which is feared will be missed is given precedence, followed by that which is more emphatically prescribed.” He further explains that where there is no fear of the other prayer being missed: “يقدم الكسوف؛ لأنه يخاف فوته” “The eclipse prayer is given precedence because it is feared that it will be missed.” Al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab (5/61). Ibn Qudāmah رحمه الله likewise said: “وإذا اجتمع صلاتان، كالكسوف مع غيره من الجمعة، أو العيد، أو صلاة مكتوبة، أو الوتر، بدأ بأخوفهما فوتا، فإن خيف فوتهما بدأ بالصلاة الواجبة” “If two prayers coincide, such as the eclipse prayer with another prayer — the Friday prayer, ʿĪd, an obligatory prayer or Witr — he begins with whichever of the two is more liable to be missed. If it is feared that both will be missed, he begins with the obligatory prayer.” Al-Mughnī (2/146). Thus, there is a clear juristic basis for performing the eclipse prayer first where sufficient time remains to perform the obligatory prayer afterwards without endangering its prescribed time. For example, if an eclipse occurs during the time of ʿAṣr and there remains ample time before sunset to perform the eclipse prayer and then comfortably perform ʿAṣr, the eclipse prayer may be given precedence because it could be lost through the eclipse clearing, whereas the obligatory prayer can still be performed within its prescribed time. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 2. There is insufficient time to perform both prayers If the time has become constrained such that performing the eclipse prayer first would cause the obligatory prayer to leave its prescribed time, the obligatory prayer takes precedence, even if this results in the eclipse clearing and the eclipse prayer consequently being missed. An-Nawawī رحمه الله states the governing principle: “إذا اجتمع صلاتان في وقت واحد قدم ما يخاف فوته، ثم الأوكد” “When two prayers coincide at the same time, that which is feared will be missed is given precedence, followed by that which is more emphatically prescribed.” Thus, once both prayers become liable to being missed, the obligatory prayer is the more emphatically prescribed of the two. Al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab (5/61). Ibn Qudāmah رحمه الله states this explicitly: “فإن خيف فوتهما بدأ بالصلاة الواجبة” “If it is feared that both will be missed, he begins with the obligatory prayer.” Al-Mughnī (2/146). The principle is therefore straightforward: when the eclipse prayer alone is liable to be missed, there is a recognised basis for giving it precedence. However, when the obligatory prayer itself becomes liable to being missed, the obligatory prayer takes precedence. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 3. The eclipse prayer has begun, but prolonging it could cause the obligatory prayer to be missed A further situation is where the eclipse prayer has already begun while there is apparently sufficient time, but its continuation at length would threaten the remaining time of the obligatory prayer. In this situation, the eclipse prayer should be shortened and completed, leaving sufficient time for the obligatory prayer to be performed within its prescribed time. Shaykh ʿAbdul-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz رحمه الله discussed the case of a lunar eclipse occurring before Fajr and said: “ويخفف حتى يصلي الفجر بعد ذلك في وقتها… وإن صلى فليخفف، يبدأ بصلاة الخسوف قبل الفجر، ثم يصلي صلاة الفجر في وقتها قبل الشمس” “He should shorten it so that he can perform Fajr after that within its time… If he performs it, then he should shorten it: he begins the eclipse prayer before Fajr, then performs the Fajr prayer within its time before sunrise.” Source: https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/13046/هل-تصلى-الخسوف-والكسوف-في-اوقات-النهي⁠� Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ al-ʿUthaimīn رحمه الله addressed essentially the same situation. Speaking about an eclipse prayer that had begun before Fajr, he said: “فإذا صلوا وطلع الفجر وخافوا أن تطلع الشمس قبل أن ينتهوا من صلاة الفجر فماذا يصنع؟ يخفف الصلاة -أي: صلاة الكسوف- من أجل صلاة الفجر” “If they are praying and Fajr enters, and they fear that the sun will rise before they finish the Fajr prayer, what should they do? They shorten the prayer — meaning the eclipse prayer — for the sake of the Fajr prayer.” Sharḥ Bāb Ṣalāt al-Kusūf, lesson 853. He also stated concerning the length of the eclipse prayer: “المشهور عند أهل العلم أن صلاة الكسوف لا تكرر، ولكن ينبغي للإمام أن يلاحظ مدة الكسوف فيجعل الصلاة مناسبة، فإن كانت قصيرة قصر الصلاة” “The well-known position among the people of knowledge is that the eclipse prayer is not repeated. However, the imam should take into consideration the duration of the eclipse and make the prayer proportionate to it. If it is short, he shortens the prayer.” Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā wa-l-Rasāʾil (16/322). These statements establish an important practical principle: the Sunnah of prolonging the eclipse prayer should not be implemented in a manner that jeopardises an obligatory prayer. Accordingly, if there is ample time, the eclipse prayer may be performed with the prescribed length. However, as the end of the obligatory prayer’s time approaches, the imam should shorten the remaining recitation, bowing and prostration, complete the eclipse prayer, and leave sufficient time for the obligatory prayer. There is therefore no need to plan to abandon the eclipse prayer midway. Rather, its length should be managed so that it can be completed while preserving sufficient time for the farḍ. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 4. The eclipse prayer is dependent upon observing the eclipse A final important principle is that the eclipse prayer is connected to the eclipse actually being observed, rather than merely to astronomical calculations indicating that an eclipse is taking place. The Prophet ﷺ attached the ruling to sight, saying: “فإذا رأيتموهما فافزعوا إلى الصلاة” “When you see them, hasten to the prayer.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (1046); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (901). Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taimiyyah رحمه الله said: “ولكن إذا تواطأ خبر أهل الحساب على ذلك فلا يكادون يخطئون، ومع هذا فلا يترتب على خبرهم علم شرعي؛ فإن صلاة الكسوف والخسوف لا تصلى إلا إذا شاهدنا ذلك”