What is the eclipse prayer?

Why Muslims pray during an eclipse

On the day the Prophet's ﷺ young son Ibrahim died, there was a solar eclipse, and people said it happened because of his death. The Prophet ﷺ corrected them: the sun and the moon are two signs of Allah and do not eclipse because of anyone's death or life, so when you see it, pray and call upon Allah until it clears (Sahih al-Bukhari 1043).

So the prayer isn't superstition. It's a moment of awe at Allah's creation, which science explains well: the moon passing between the earth and the sun, or the earth's shadow falling on the moon.

How to pray it

Aisha described the Prophet's ﷺ eclipse prayer: he stood and recited for a long time, bowed for a long time, rose and recited again, bowed again, then prostrated; and he did the same in the second rakah (Sahih al-Bukhari 1044). In short:

• Intention and takbir for the eclipse prayer. No adhan; the call is "as-salatu jami'ah" (prayer in congregation).
• First rakah: al-Fatiha and a long recitation, a long ruku, stand up, al-Fatiha and another (shorter) recitation, a second ruku, stand, then two prostrations.
• Second rakah: the same, a little shorter.
• Tashahhud and salam, then the imam usually gives a short sermon.

If you don't know long surahs, recite what you know. The Hanafi school prays it like a normal two-rakah prayer with one ruku per rakah; the other three schools follow the two-ruku method.

Solar vs lunar eclipse

Both have the prayer. The majority of scholars (Shafi'i and Hanbali) treat the lunar eclipse prayer (salat al-khusuf) the same way as the solar one, including in congregation; Hanafis and Malikis prefer praying it individually at home. Only pray while the eclipse is visible where you are; a partial eclipse counts too.

What else to do

In the same hadith the Prophet ﷺ told people to make dua, say takbir, pray and give charity (Sahih al-Bukhari 1044). It is a good time to reflect, much like other natural signs such as rain. See What dua do I say when it rains? Like the Eid prayer, it is a special congregational prayer many new Muslims attend for the first time. See How do I pray the Eid prayer?