Eclipse: A Divine Miracle

person. At that time the Prophet Muhammad was the head of state in Madinah. For this reason, certain inhabitants of Madinah began attributing the eclipse to the death of the Prophet’s son. As soon as the Prophet heard this, he refuted it. There are several accounts of this event in different books of Hadith. One of these was recorded as follows: “One day, the Prophet came in great haste to the Mosque. At that time the sun was in eclipse. The Prophet began to say prayers and, by the time he had finished, the eclipse was over. Then, addressing the congregation, he said that ‘people imagine that the sun and moon go into eclipse at the death of some important person, but this is not true. The eclipses of the sun and moon are not due to the death of any human being. Both the sun and the moon are just two of God’s creations, with which He does as He will.’ He told them that ‘when they saw the eclipse, they should pray to God.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1042) “The lunar eclipse and solar eclipse are two of God’s signs.” This is no simple matter. It is in fact indicative of some real meaning. It is not just in a literal sense, but rather some deeper meaning is suggested here. This means if we ponder deeply, upon the way solar eclipses and lunar eclipses occur, it will become a source of discovery of God. Instead of simply being two astronomical signs, they will represent God’s signs in a deeper sense. Lunar eclipses and solar eclipses are unique miracles of God’s creation. As mentioned above, an eclipse takes place when three astronomical bodies, the earth, the moon and the sun come into a straight alignment while orbiting. There is a great difference between the sizes of the three bodies. If the moon is considered equal to a grain of sand, then the earth is equal to a football, while the sun would be greater than the Himalayas. Although of different sizes, when directly aligned and viewed from the earth, they appear to be of equal size. When