A Window to Clear the Soul: Why Does Allah Ask Us to Pray During an Eclipse?

While I most often post once a week, I don't limit myself to posting whenever I feel a calling to do so. This is the case now. I feel a calling to communicate some of the inner realities I sense around the upcoming solar eclipse on August 12th (Wednesday).

I have been contemplating the correlation between how I tend to feel in the days leading up to an eclipse, what I observe in nature and in the people around me, and what Islam tells us about these celestial events.

For a few years now, I have paid close attention to how I feel in the days before an eclipse and during intense solar flares. I love astronomy and classical astrology, particularly because our Muslim forefathers studied the heavens extensively.

Sadly, much of astrology today has been reduced to pop culture, where it is often used for prediction rather than self-knowledge. In doing so, we have lost sight of the deeper wisdom and power Allah placed within the beautiful science of the stars, ʿilm al-nujūm.

What an Eclipse Can Reveal: An Inward Sufi Perspective

There is something deeply fascinating about the way Islam asks us to respond to an eclipse.

Qur'an 41:37

وَمِنْ ءَايَـٰتِهِ ٱلَّيْلُ وَٱلنَّهَارُ وَٱلشَّمْسُ وَٱلْقَمَرُ ۚ لَا تَسْجُدُوا۟ لِلشَّمْسِ وَلَا لِلْقَمَرِ وَٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ٣٧

"Among His signs are the day and the night, the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or the moon, but prostrate to Allah, Who created them all, if you truly worship Him alone."

The thing is, how can we begin to understand what Allah means when He calls something one of His signs if we don't take the time to understand what that thing is and what it does in the first place?

This is one of the reasons I have found it so fascinating to study the heavens for myself. The more we observe creation, the more deeply we can contemplate what it might be pointing us towards.

The Prophet ﷺ described the sun and moon as signs (āyāt) of Allah. When an eclipse occurs, we are not asked to fear it, interpret it as an omen, or attribute events in our lives to it. We are asked to pray, remember Allah, make duʿa and turn towards Him.

But what might an eclipse reveal to us when we look at it through an inward, esoteric, mystical perspective?

An eclipse is a temporary obscuring of light.

The sun has not disappeared. The light has not ceased to exist. Something has simply come between us and what was previously visible.

I believe this offers us a beautiful metaphor for the inner life.

There are times when something within us becomes obscured, disrupted or brought into darkness. An old identity may begin to fall away. Attachments that once gave us security may no longer feel the same. Parts of ourselves that we have kept hidden may come into awareness.

This can feel unsettling, but darkness is not always a sign that something has gone wrong. Sometimes, something is being shed so something new can emerge.

This is why I find myself contemplating eclipses as moments of energetic shedding, purification and regeneration. Islam teaches that an eclipse is an outer sign through which we contemplate an inner reality.

Maybe a relationship ends, maybe you lose a job, or maybe you discover something magnificent within yourself through something you believed you had lost.

When I contemplate the lunar phases and all the celestial bodies, but particularly an eclipse, I believe they invite us to ask:

What is obscuring my inner light right now? What is keeping me feeling small, powerless, defeated, or fearful?

What am I being asked to release?

What has become visible because something else has temporarily gone dark?

And what might be regenerated if I turn towards Allah rather than resist the darkness?

Qur'an (41:53)

سَنُرِيهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فِى ٱلْـَٔافَاقِ وَفِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ شَهِيدٌ ٥٣

"We will show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this Quran is the truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is a Witness over all things?"

Perhaps the purpose of an eclipse is not simply to make us look up at the sky but to remind us to look within and then turn back towards the One who is the source of all Light.

If this contemplation resonates with you, I invite you to use the upcoming eclipse as an opportunity to turn inward and, most importantly, to turn towards Allah.

Take some time to find how Salāt al-Kusūf (the solar eclipse prayer) is performed according to your madhhab (school of thought), and consider setting aside some quiet time for prayer, dhikr, duʿa and reflection while the eclipse is taking place.

May Allah make it easy for you to leave behind every thought, pattern, belief, desire, fear, habit, and way of being that separates you from Him. Ameen. ☀️🌑🌍