Eclipse: A Divine Miracle

Eclipse: A Divine Miracle occurred only when during the movement of celestial bodies, a third body came in between two others, creating an obstacle to the light of one falling upon the other. This blockage of light causes the eclipse to take place. In ancient times, the eclipse was explained only in terms of superstition. In the nineteenth century, it was learned from scientific observation that this is an event in space of an easily explainable nature. There was nothing mysterious about it. A number of books have been written on the subject of eclipses. Some of these are: Eclipses of the Sun and Moon (1937) by Sir F.W. Dryson; Eclipse Phenomenon in Astronomy (1969) by F. Link; and Eclipse in the Second Millennium BC (1954) by G. Van Bergh. There are three periods in human history in each of which eclipses have been differently regarded. The first period of the history of the eclipse was shrouded in superstitious belief. The second period was that of the Islamic period. The third period of the history of the eclipse started with the invention of the telescope in modern times. According to Islam, the eclipse is not a matter of superstition. It is purely an astronomical event of a material nature. Rather, it is a part of nature as created by the Creator of the universe. It is a manifestation of the omnipotent power of God. It is an introduction of the Lord of the world. The eclipse wordlessly announces God’s wise creation. Towards the end of the Prophet Muhammad’s life, the Prophet’s wife Maria Qibtia bore him a beautiful son in Madinah. The Prophet named him Ibrahim after the Prophet Ibrahim. Ibrahim was just one and half years old when on January 6, 32 A.D. he died. It so happened that the death of Ibrahim coincided with a solar eclipse. From ancient times one of the many prevailing superstitions was that the solar and lunar eclipses were caused by the death of some king or other important personage. They were meant to show, they believed, that the heavens mourned the death of the exalted