Eclipses in Hadith

Abstract

It is said that, after the Prophet’s young son Ibrāhīm died, the sun eclipsed. When the people said that the sun had eclipsed because Ibrāhīm had died, the Prophet said that eclipses do not occur due to deaths, and led eclipse prayers. This paper argues that while the hadith corpus correctly records an annular solar eclipse in 632 CE, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad did not die on that day. Rather, one set of hadith records Ibrāhīm’s death and burial, and another set of hadith records the eclipse; by the mid-ninth century, the two strands fused into a single story. This story, in turn, parallels accounts of an eclipse after the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson, al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (d. 680), at the Battle of Karbala. While some Muslims present the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story as a way of showing how Islam broke from pre-Islamic notions of eclipses, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse and Karbala-eclipse narratives together still retain ancient associations between eclipses and death, lament, battle, the fall of notables, and apotropaic ceremonies. This paper also exemplifies how reports of astronomical events in hadith can yield insights into Islamic history, and a supplementary appendix explores some later eclipses mentioned in the Shiʿi hadith corpus.

1. Introduction

Most readers interested in eclipses and Islam will be familiar with the story that, right before a frightening solar eclipse, the Prophet Muḥammad’s young son died. When rumors spread that the sun had eclipsed because Ibrāhīm had died, the Prophet declared, “The sun and moon do not eclipse at anyone’s death or life (inna al-shams wa-al-qamar lā yankasifān li-mawt aḥad wa-lā li-ḥayātihi).”1 Then he led eclipse prayers (ṣalāt al-kusūf, ṣalāt al-ayāt), which remain a staple of Muslim practice. Thus, the Prophet also broke with ancient superstitions about eclipses, presciently refuting the modern orientalist trope of Muslims as irrational and superstitious.

This story is compelling but, as I argue here, historically untrue.

Rather, I argue that while the hadith corpus correctly records an annular solar eclipse in 632 CE—which is the best-recorded eclipse in the hadith corpus—Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad did not die on that day. Instead, one set of hadith records Ibrāhīm’s death and burial, and another set of hadith records the eclipse; by the mid-ninth century, the two strands fused into a single story. This story, in turn, parallels accounts of an eclipse after the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson, al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī (d. 680), at the Battle of Karbala, which is examined at length in this paper both due to its similarities to the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative, as well as its prevalence in histories and in Shiʿi sacred narrative. While some Muslims present the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story as a way of showing how Islam broke from pre-Islamic notions of eclipses, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse and Karbala-eclipse narratives together still retain ancient associations between eclipses and death, lament, battle, the fall of notables, and apotropaic ceremonies. This paper is also an example of how reports of astronomical events in hadith can yield insights into Islamic history, and a supplementary appendix explores other eclipses mentioned in the Shiʿi hadith corpus. While this paper introduces astronomical data and draws a conclusion about the historicity of the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative, the primary goal of this paper is not to provide conclusions about science or history but rather to provide insights into Islamic narratives involving eclipses.

2. The Building Blocks of the Ibrāhīm-Eclipse Narrative

In the Sunni corpus, this story is not usually related in a single hadith (narration).2 Rather, in the canonical books of Sunni hadith, as well as the earlier books of Sunni hadith, aspects of it are related in various accounts (as explored in the next section). The various components appear piecemeal; for instance, there are separate hadith that relate the eclipse, the eclipse prayers, and Ibrāhīm’s death and burial. These accounts appear together in the Ṭabaqāt of Ibn Saʿd (d. 845), in a section on Ibrāhīm ibn Rasūl Allāh (Ibrāhīm, the son of the Messenger of God).3 (The situation within the Shiʿi corpus is different; it will be discussed in a later section on the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story in Shiʿi hadith.).

Today, among both Sunnis and Shiʿis, Ibrāhīm-eclipse is refined into a single story, the main building blocks of which are:

• Towards the end of the Prophet’s life, in Medina, the Prophet’s son Ibrāhīm (less than two years old) dies.
• The Prophet sheds tears.
• The Prophet buries his son. (If one accepts the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story as historically correct, this almost certainly would have had to have happened after the eclipse prayers, but the story is usually told in such a way that it concludes the burial before moving on to the eclipse.)
• Some of his companions criticise him—either because, in their view, mourning was prohibited, or because it was unmanly, or because it was seen as dissatisfaction with the divine decree—whereupon the Prophet defends his response.
• A solar eclipse occurs.
• Some of the companions were frightened.
• Some of the companions say that the eclipse was related to Ibrāhīm’s death.
• The Prophet tells them that “the sun and moon do not eclipse at anyone’s death or life.”
• The Prophet leads eclipse prayers.

However, these components are not represented equally throughout the hadith. For instance, many hadith tell of the eclipse, but few hadith talk about the details of the burial. They also occur alongside other varying, sometimes contradictory details, and often center on a perceived tension between the mourning practices of the Arabs before and after Islam. Retellings—either within or outside the hadith corpus—also express didactic themes. For instance, although the Prophet grieved, he did not disagree with the will of Allah.

These building blocks coalesce into a coherent narrative in the section on Ibrāhīm in the Ṭabaqāt of Ibn Saʿd. These reports are told in a way that clarifies confusion over what constitutes Islamically lawful mourning:

The Messenger of God came in, leaning on ʿAbd al-Raḥman ibn ʿAwf, while Ibrāhīm was struggling with the pangs of death. When he died, the eyes of the Messenger of God filled with tears.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said, “Oy, Messenger of God—this is what you forbade the people! When the Muslims see you crying, they will cry.”

When his tears had run their course, he said, “This is mercy. Whoever has no mercy will receive no mercy. We forbade the people from wailing (niyāḥah) and from praising a man for [a merit] which he did not have.”

Then he said, “Were there not an all-encompassing promise that all would reunite, [traversing] a clear path [towards the next life], and that our first would meet our last, we would have mourned far more intensely than this. We are truly in grief over him. Eyes shed tears, and hearts sadden, but we do not say anything that would displease our Lord, and he shall complete his suckling in the Garden.”

(Ibn Saʿd n.d., vol. 1, p. 137)

Although Sunnis and Shiʿis both tell this story, primarily, hadith about it are related in the Sunni hadith collections, and minimally within Twelver Shiʿi hadith collections.4 Nevertheless, the story is important to Twelver Shiʿis because it is used to vindicate Twelver Shiʿi ritual practices regarding death and mourning. Some Sunnis argue that the Prophet forbade vociferous mourning, mourning the deceased after a fixed number of days, and prayer at gravesites. In contrast, ritual lament over the martyrdom of al-Ḥusayn (d. 680), the grandson of the Prophet, is central to Twelver Shiʿi practice, as is the visitation of shrines at the tombs of the Shiʿi Imams5 and other notables. Shiʿis also openly embrace mourning the deceased for a lengthier period.6 Therefore, Shiʿis sometimes use this story to defend grieving as a legitimate part of the Prophetic practice, and argue that the opposition to grieving came not from the Prophet but was for political reasons—namely, to shut down dissent over the martyrdom of al-Ḥusayn. Hence, the broader polemical and apologetic context of this story should not be neglected.

3. Was There an Eclipse?

When examining the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story, the first question is whether there was an actual eclipse. It is commonly accepted that, towards the end of the Prophet’s life, there was indeed a solar eclipse visible in Medina. According to NASA’s Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses, this annular solar eclipse is calculated to have occurred in the southern Arabian Peninsula on 27 January 632 (typically converted to 28 Shawwal 10 AH), with the instant of the greatest eclipse at 9:31 AM (see Figure 1). The eclipse would have begun at 6:47 am—about an hour and 20 min after the dawn prayers—and the sun would have risen around 6:50 am, making the eclipse particularly dramatic.7

Just as other types of historical records often mention eclipses, many hadith relate this eclipse. It is also related by both men and women, which one would expect for a memorable natural phenomenon.8 Some hadith bolster details about when or how long the eclipse occurred; for instance:

• Length: It is related that the Prophet extended the prayer until the end of the eclipse. Some hadith say that, during the eclipse prayer, the Prophet may have or could have recited Sūrat al-Baqarah (which takes about two and a half hours to recite, according to today’s codex).9 It is also related that the Prophet recited lengthy parts of the Qur’an, and that the prayer lasted so long that some men fainted.10
• Time of day: It is related that the Prophet rode out of town and returned before midday because of the eclipse.11 This situates the eclipse as occurring before noon. While this is a bit of a stretch, given that the eclipse would have occurred right before sunup, it seems consistent enough to be acceptable, especially given that human memory tends to be hazy about the details. While some hadith present the companions as engaging in day-to-day activities prior to the eclipse, possibly, some of them had started their daily activities after the dawn prayers (that is, after first light but before sunrise), and so these hadith do not necessarily conflict with the astronomical timing of the hadith.

While this eclipse is the best-recorded eclipse within the hadith collections, Twelver Shiʿi hadith, which were also collected from the Imams after the time of the Prophet, and hence extend 3 centuries later, also mention various other solar and lunar eclipses. Some of them are mentioned in Appendix A for the interested reader due to their potential value as a historical source.

4. Did Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad Die on the Day of the Eclipse? The Sunni Hadith

Since it is well-established that an eclipse did in fact occur in Medina towards the end of the Prophet’s life, the next question is whether Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad actually died on that day. Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad is said to have been a child of the Prophet and Māriyah al-Qibṭiyyah, and to have been born around 630 CE.12 Since he appears in various reports—for instance, Māriyah was freed at his birth, and some of the Prophet’s wives were jealous of her because of him—I do not see any particular reason to question his birth, even if there are disagreements about the exact details of the Prophet’s children. That said, David Powers argues that Ibrāhīm did not exist and was instead introduced into Islamic narrative to support the belief that the Prophet was the final Prophet.13 If Ibrāhīm was not born, then obviously he did not die on the day of the eclipse, but one can still study him as a character in a story. In either case, I argue that Ibrāhīm did not die on the day of the eclipse (27 January 632 or 28 Shawwal 10 AH), for the following reasons.14

First, although many Sunni hadith speak of an eclipse, most hadith about the eclipse do not mention Ibrāhīm (see

Table 1. A comparison between the number of hadith relating the eclipse and number of hadith relating Ibrāhīm death in Sunni sources.

Title	Author	Number of Eclipse Hadith	Number of Eclipse Hadith Mentioning Ibrāhīm
Al-Muwaṭṭaʾ (Mālik ibn Anas 1985, vol. 1, pp. 186–89)	Malik ibn Anas (d. 795)	4	0
Musnad Aḥmad15	Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 855)	21 (see note)	4 (see note)
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (al-Bukhārī 1981; Muslim n.d., vol. 2, pp. 23–31).	Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī (d. 870)	26	3
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (Muslim n.d., vol. 3, pp. 27–37).	Muslim ibn Ḥajjāj (d. 875)	21	3
Sunan Abī Dāwūd16	Abū Dāwūd Sulaymān ibn Ashʿath al-Sijistānī (d. 889)	19	1
Sunan al-Tirmidhī17	Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī (d. 892)	4	0
Sunan al-Nasāʾī18	Aḥmad ibn Shuʿayb al-Nasāʾī (d. 915)	44	1
Sunan Ibn Mājah19	Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn Mājah (d. 886)	5	0

). Since there are reams of hadith on the eclipse—with some repeated and overlapping content—it is difficult to enumerate exactly how many distinct hadith there are about the eclipse. However, here are some examples from the most prominent Sunni hadith collections; they have been selected because they are the most influential Sunni hadith collections, and are considered to be more reliable than lengthier biographical or historical works, such as the Ṭabaqāt. They are taken from chapters on eclipse prayers, which primarily relate the Prophet’s response to the eclipse in 632 AD. (Apart from Musnad Aḥmad, which is not arranged topically). While this is not meant to imply that there is no other material on eclipses outside these chapters or books, nonetheless, they offer a solid overview of all things eclipse in Sunni hadith.

In the above selection, which comprises the most prominent Sunni collections of hadith, less than 10% of the hadith about the eclipse mention Ibrāhīm’s death. This overall percentage seems low, given Ibrāhīm’s role in the eclipse story. Additionally, the greatest percentage of Ibrāhīm-eclipse hadith appears in Musnad Aḥmad, which is considered to be less stringent about authenticity than the “six books”.

The Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrations in the six primary books, as well as a narration in Musnad al-Ṭayālisī, comprise four narration strands, with minor variations or truncation between them. They all begin as narrations via lines of single narrators, some of which branch out to multiple narrators. One of these, which flourished in Basra, comes across as a commentary on a narration about the eclipse. The remaining three, which flourished in Kufa, are related by (a) al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah to Ziyād ibn ʿIlāqah, to other narrators; (b) Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh to ʿAṭāʾ to ʿAbd al-Malik, to other narrators; and (c) Abū Masʿūd to Qays to Ismāʿīl, to other narrators. There are also separate narration strands in Musnad Aḥmad, which add other details regarding the eclipse prayers, but which do not recur as a whole in the six books. These narrations resemble each other; for instance, the masses say “inkasafat [al-shams] li-mawt Ibrāhīm” (“the sun has eclipsed at the death of Ibrāhīm”) or something similar. In contrast, the eclipse narrations, taken as a whole, contain both stock phrases and varying details about the eclipse prayers and other happenings of that day. While these distinct narration strands may seem substantial, it should be noted that far more narrators reported the eclipse in the Sunni collections (including prominent Muslims such as ʿĀʾishah, the wife of the Prophet, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and Ibn ʿAbbās), but did not mention Ibrāḥīm. Similarly, many hadith relate that the Prophet said, “The sun and moon do not eclipse at anyone’s death or life” without mentioning Ibrāḥīm, and so this statement can be considered independently. (Shiʿi variants of this story will be addressed in the next section.)

Conversely, hadith about Ibrāhīm’s death and burial typically do not mention the eclipse (see

Table 2. Hadith on Ibrāhīm’s burial in prominent Sunni sources.

	Number of Hadith on Ibrāhīm’s Burial	Number of These Hadith Mentioning the Eclipse
Al-Muwaṭṭa21	0	0
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī22	2	0
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim23	024	0
Abū Dāwūd25	3	0
Sunan al-Tirmidhī26	1	0
Sunan al-Nasāʾī27	028	0
Sunan Ibn Mājah29	4	0

). For instance, Ibn Saʿd includes 29 hadith about Ibrāhīm’s death, of which only 3 mention the eclipse. Rather, they provide various other details, such as where Ibrāhīm died, how he was buried, and the Prophet’s grief.20 Since the death of Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad is often mentioned in chapters on burial rites, the following counts are taken from chapters on burial rites (apart from Musnad Aḥmad, which is not arranged topically).

While some may argue that hadith mentioning only the eclipse or only the burial may be shortened versions of longer hadith texts, there is no surviving longer text that is obviously truncated. Furthermore, although hadith are sometimes shortened to address jurisprudential questions, there would be no impetus to shorten most but not all narrations mentioning the eclipse and Ibrāhīm, which appear together in the same chapter. To the contrary, as mentioned above, in at least one strand of Ibrāhīm-eclipse hadith, there is a shift in tone and style, as if the mention of Ibrāhīm was added later, as commentary by one of the narrators (which is a common phenomenon in hadith transmission).30 Altogether, this lends the sense that the death of Ibrāhīm and the eclipse were separate events: each developed a strand of hadith separately, and then they were later collated into a single event.

Second, the hadith collections attributed to the earliest eras do not mention Ibrāhīm; rather, they only mention praying and/or reciting the Qur’an during an eclipse. These include the section on eclipse prayers in Musnad Zayd ibn ʿAlī (attributed to Zayd ibn ʿAlī, d. 740, best associated with Zaydism)31^. and the Muwaṭṭaʾ (Malik ibn Anas, d. 795, Sunni). The earliest Shiʿi compilation—Kitāb Sulaym ibn Qays (ascribed to [pseudo] Sulaym ibn Qays, 7th c.),32 does not mention the eclipse at all, although it mentions Ibrāhīm’s death.33 However, Musnad Abu Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī (by Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī, d. 819/820, Sunni) contains the report from al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah of Ibrāhīm’s death connected with the eclipse, even though the other reports on the eclipse in the book do not mention it.34 After that, the Ṭabaqāt and Musnad Aḥmad seem to be the earliest surviving works to connect the eclipse to Ibrāhīm. This is not meant to imply that any of these compilers themselves fabricated the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story, but, rather, that the story coalesced sometime before 820. Of course, dating hadith solely based on written records is problematic, given the orality of the tradition, but it is worth considering in conjunction with other arguments.

Third, most Sunni hadith about the eclipse present the Prophet as discussing other matters during the eclipse. For instance, he speaks about adultery, the Children of Israel, visions of heaven and hell, the punishment of the grave, and how most denizens of hell are women. These are all matters one does not expect someone to be giving sermons on immediately after the death of his child, especially since the hadith about Ibrāhīm’s death present the Prophet as being distraught and attending to his son’s burial.35

Fourth, there is also the question of how many events can be packed into a single morning. The Ibrāhīm-eclipse story, as commonly told, lends the sense that Ibrāhīm died in the morning and was buried before the eclipse. (However, a Shiʿi narration says that Ibrāhīm was buried after the eclipse).36 It is also narrated that the Prophet rode out from Medina before the eclipse.37 It seems unlikely that all of this could occur before the eclipse, since the eclipse also occurred in the morning. The idea that the Prophet rode away from the city and then back does not match the portrayal of him being stricken with grief. David Powers, the author of Muḥammad is not the Father of Any of Your Men, interprets this seeming dissonance as follows:

Muḥammad’s response to the death of Ibrāhīm may be compared to David’s response to the death of Bathsheba’s illegitimate first son. The biblical king resumed normal activities immediately following the death of his son (II Sam. 12:20–23).38

However, this also does not fit with accounts of the Prophet’s grief; in any case, eclipse prayers are not normal activities but are, by nature, abnormal. Nonetheless, Powers’ observation suggests an existing narrative model that the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story was later slotted into.

In my view, accounts of the Prophet exhorting people to avoid adultery, or censuring women, allude to rumors (or stories of rumors) that the Prophet was not really Ibrāhīm’s father; as F. Buhl observes that “in view of the fact that all the marriages of Muḥammad after the hidjra were childless, it would have been surprising if evil-minded people had not cast suspicions on the paternity of Ibrāhīm” (Buhl 2012). Jealousy towards Māriya is often cited as the reason for the revelation of Qur’an 66:1 (“O Prophet! Why dost thou forbid that which God has made lawful unto thee, seeking the good pleasure of thy wives? And God is Forgiving, Merciful”), as summarized as follows:

This verse was reportedly revealed after the Prophet had sworn to his wife Ḥafṣah that he would no longer have intimate relations with his Coptic slave girl, Māriyah. The Prophet had been intimate with Māriyah in Ḥafṣah’s apartment on Ḥafṣah’s day (the Prophet’s wives rotated, each having one day with him in turn). When Ḥafṣah became upset, the Prophet asked her to tell no one of it and then told Māriyah that she was forbidden to him, after which this verse and the following verses were revealed [according to al-Qurṭubī, al-Suyūṭī, al-Ṭabarī, and al-Wāḥidī], according to some after a period of twenty-one days [according to al-Wāḥidī].39

The idea of jealousy towards Māriya is further developed in a narration in al-Mustadrak by al-Ḥākim al-Naysābūrī, which relates an account of how Māriya was accused of adultery, whereupon the Prophet had ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib chase the man down, and he was found to be lacking a male organ. A similar story appears in a later Shiʿi collection, but in a lengthier form, and there, it occurs on the day of Ibrāhīm’s death.40 It might even provide a motivation for the Prophet to leave the city—to escape from his domestic life. Although these accounts are obscure in both Sunni and Shiʿi writings, they do provide a narrative justification for why the Prophet might speak about adultery or women, and show how individual stories can coalesce into a single narrative over time in ways that are meaningful and relatable to audiences. (That said, one criticism attributed to him during the eclipse is that a woman starved her cat to death, so narratives are not always coherent).41

Fifth, most hadith about the eclipse related from members of the Prophet’s family, including his wives, do not mention a death in the family. In contrast, one would expect close family members to recall this.

Sixth, a traditional date for the death of Ibrāhīm is 10 Rabīʿ al-Awwal 10 AH (18 June 631 CE).42 10 Rabīʿ al-Awwal could not have been the date of a natural solar eclipse, since solar eclipses only occur at the new moon, which falls at the end of the lunar month.43 However, this date neatly parallels the accounts of an eclipse at the Battle of Karbala, which occurred on 10 Muḥarram 61 AH (9 October 681 CE); this is one of several parallels between the two eclipse stories, which will be explored later.44 This is before it became possible to easily calculate when the “Prophet’s eclipse” occurred, at which time the eclipse day began to be used as the standard date for the death of Ibrāhīm.45

Seventh. Lastly, in antiquity, eclipses were primarily associated with the death of kings, not children. This is reinforced by a hadith in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, which says that “the Arabs used to believe that the sun eclipsed due to the death of a great man (ʿaẓīm)”; a toddler is not yet a great man.46 Therefore, one would expect the people to associate the eclipse with the death of an adult, not a child. Additionally, narrations on the death of Ibrāhīm only show the Prophet mourning him, not the masses. Eclipses also classically portended death in the coming year, not only the actual day, and the Prophet Muḥammad himself did die about 4 months later, on 28 Ṣafar 11 AH.

Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that, based on Sunni sources, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad did not actually die on the day of the eclipse. Rather, his death was absorbed into the eclipse narrative later.

5. The Shiʿi Ibrāhīm-Eclipse Hadith

Although the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative is told by both Sunnis and Shiʿis, largely, Shiʿi authors rely on Sunni sources for the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative. Although there may be deeper reasons for this, a simple reason may be that most Shiʿi hadith contain far fewer statements attributed to the Companions. Furthermore, most Shiʿi hadith are attributed to the later Imams (starting from Imam al-Bāqir, d. 733), by which time there were no surviving eyewitnesses of the eclipse in the Ḥijāz. Rather, the eclipse is recalled to support various points about Shiʿi belief and ritual practice.

Within the Twelver hadith corpus, the main version of the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story appears in al-Kāfī (by Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Kulaynī, d. 941). A truncated version of this hadith can be found elsewhere in al-Kāfī, and also in al-Maḥāsin (by Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Khālid al-Barqī, d. 887–8 or 893–4). The lengthier version reads as follows:47

I48 heard Abū al-Ḥasan Mūsā [the seventh Imam, d. 799] saying:

When Ibrāhīm ibn Rasūl Allāh died, three sunnahs were established. First, when he died, the sun eclipsed, so the people said, “The sun has eclipsed because the Messenger of God has lost his son.”

Therefore, the Messenger of God climbed the minbar, praised and glorified God, then said, “O people! The sun and the moon are two signs of God. They run their course, obedient to God. They do not eclipse at anyone’s death or life. If they, or either of them, eclipses, then pray.”

Then he came down from the minbar and led the people in the eclipse prayers.

[This is where the shorter version ends.]

After he had finished the prayer, he said, “O ʿAlī! Stand and prepare my son [for burial]. So ʿAlī stood and washed Ibrāhīm, applied camphor to him, and shrouded him. Then he brought him out, and the Messenger of God waited until he had arrived at the grave.

The people said, “The Prophet has forgotten to pray over Ibrāhīm because he is so grief-stricken.”

So he stood and said, “O people! Jibrāʾīl has come to me with what you said. You claimed that I forgot to pray over my son because I was grief-stricken. It is not as you think. [God]—the Subtle, the Aware—commanded you to perform five prayers: one takbīr for each [daily] prayer for the deceased. He also commanded me to pray [the funeral prayers] over those who [are old enough to] pray.”

Then he said, “O ʿAlī! Descend and lay my son to rest.”

So he descended and laid Ibrāhīm to rest in his grave.

The people [then] said that since the Prophet did not climb into his son’s grave, no one else should do that.

So the Messenger of God told them, “O people! You are not forbidden from climbing into the graves of your sons. However, I cannot be sure that none of you would unwrap the shroud from your son, whereupon Shayṭān would play with him and make him wail excessively (jazaʿ), which would defeat his reward [with God, for suffering this loss].” Then he left.49

Here, the primary purpose of the story is to outline the procedure for burial and to defend Twelver Shiʿi death rites: while Sunnis perform four takbīrs over the deceased, Shiʿis perform five.50 Highlighting ʿAlī’s role in the burial emphasizes ʿAlī’s closeness to the Prophet and supports the Shiʿi view that ʿAlī was the Prophet’s legitimate successor; this is a common theme in Shiʿi hadith. This hadith also explains the Prophet’s decision regarding the funeral prayer, and emphasizes the Shiʿi belief that the Prophet is inerrant.

In contrast, conflicting Sunni narrations say that the Prophet both did and did not pray over Ibrāhīm’s body. A hadith in Sunan Ibn Mājah argues that the Prophet did not pray over his son because, had his son lived, he would have been “a truthful one and a prophet (ṣiddiqan wa nabiyyan)”, and a prophet does not pray over another prophet (even a potential prophet) (Ibn Mājah n.d., vol. 1, p. 474, no. 1511). In contrast, in Twelver Shiʿi belief, only an infallible (Prophet or Imam) may lead the funeral prayers over an infallible. Therefore, this hadith uses the burial to directly and indirectly argue for many aspects of Shiʿi belief and practice.

However, there are some problems with this hadith, even from the angle of Shiʿi scholarship.

First, both versions (the longer and shorter) are graded majhūl due to unknown narrators (al-Majlisī 1404 AH, vol. 14, p 137, vol. 15, p. 438). Insofar as there are only two main Shiʿi hadith on this topic, this is a problem. It is especially a problem since unattributed narrations in the Shiʿi books often codify popular stories and sayings, including popular hadith related through Sunni lines of transmission.

Second, when Sunni and Shiʿi hadith contain parts that are identical and other parts that diverge, there is the possibility of appendage, or a dialogue between texts. Furthermore, the hadith begins by speaking of “three sunnahs” but only mentions one, suggesting that some of the text was lost or corrupted.

Third, the expression “the sun and moon eclipse at no one’s death” conflicts with the entrenched Shiʿi belief that the sun and/or moon eclipsed at the Battle of Karbala after the martyrdom of al-Ḥusayn. This is not a new objection; ʿAllāmah al-Majlisī (d. 1699) defends this by saying that “the sun and moon eclipse at no one’s death” means that eclipses do not occur merely because someone dies; however, God may still cause an eclipse as an expression of divine anger due to people’s misdeeds, which is what happened after the Battle of Karbala.51 That is, the eclipse at the Battle of Karbala was caused by the killing of al-Ḥusayn, not his death. While some might find this explanation satisfying, others may feel that an inconsistency remains.

Fourth, it is also worth observing that eclipses are still treated as ominous in hadith. Sunni hadith advise freeing slaves during an eclipse, which can be understood as an appeal to divine grace.52 Various Twelver Shiʿi hadith treat eclipses as ominous or portentous, such as:

• When God wishes to send people a sign, God has an angel take the sun or moon out of their course. (Attributed to Imām Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, d. 712).53
• “During an eclipse, flee towards God, since they indicate calamity.” (Attributed to Imām al-Riḍā, d. 818)54
• The Prophet commanded people to say the eclipse prayer so that people would be protected from their evil and harm, like Yūnus was protected when he pleaded to God for aid.55 Attributed to Imām Riḍā (d. 818).
• Copulation is discouraged during a solar eclipse.56 (Attributed to Imām al-Ṣādiq)

A series of admittedly obscure Twelver Shiʿi hadith presents a laundry list of predictions about what solar and lunar eclipses portend, depending on which Islamic lunar month they eclipse in; the use of the Islamic lunar calendar distinguishes them from similar lists in antiquity and gives them an Islamicate spin. For instance, the Great American Eclipse of 2024, which occurred at the tail end of the month of Ramaḍān, would have portended the following:

When the sun eclipses during the month of Ramaḍān, all people will obey an Iranian ruler. The Romans will retaliate severely against the Arabs. Then [the tide will turn] against the Romans; they will be taken captive and looted.57

These hadith can be read alongside other Twelver Shiʿi hadith that treat certain astronomical phenomena as ominous, especially the moon in Scorpio.58 Even if these hadith specifically are not about deaths due to eclipses, they nonetheless throw a spanner into how the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story is commonly understood today—namely, that there is nothing ominous about eclipses—at least in a Shiʿi context.

With all that in mind, it seems most likely that the above hadith is not an actual report of what happened on the day. Rather, it is a later synthesis of various stories about that day, which are then reframed to support key Shiʿi beliefs.

Shiʿi Accounts of Ibrāhīm’s Death and Burial

Most Shiʿi hadith about the death of Ibrāhīm also do not mention an eclipse. For instance, in the expansive collection Biḥār al-Anwār, the section on Ibrāhīm contains 10 entries about his death and/or burial, but only one mentions the eclipse. Rather, other details are mentioned, ranging from the Prophet’s grief to a tree branch hanging over the grave. The trope of jealousy towards Māriya is further developed in a narration in a tafsīr by ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qummī (d. 941): one of the Prophet’s wives asks the Prophet why he is grieving Ibrāhīm since Ibrāhīm’s father was really Jurayḥ the Copt.59 Sword in hand, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib chases after Jurayḥ, who flees up a palm tree. Ultimately, Jurayḥ absolves himself by disrobing, revealing that he was a eunuch and could not have fathered a child.60 With such detail, it seems unlikely that the eclipse would have been omitted from the other hadith. Furthermore, this story itself—which also appears in various forms in Sunni histories, even if it was also rejected by Sunni orthodoxy—appears to have developed over the centuries, and so it is most likely that al-Qummī’s text is also a codification of a popular (and much more scintillating) story, rather than an eyewitness report.61

6. Similarities and Differences Between the Ibrāhīm-Eclipse and the Karbala-Eclipse Narratives

There are also reports of an eclipse after the Battle of Karbala (9 or 10 October 680). At the Battle of Karbala, the grandson of the Prophet Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī was killed for his refusal to pay allegiance to a ruler whom he considered unjust. His immediate male kin and small band of supporters were also killed,62 and al-Ḥusayn and the fallen are revered as martyrs, particularly by Twelver Shiʿis, who retell the events of the battle yearly.

There are clear parallels between the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative and the Karbala-eclipse narrative:

• The Ibrāhīm eclipse tells of the death of the son of the Prophet, whereas the Karbala eclipse tells of the death of the grandson of the Prophet.
• Both deaths are said to have occurred on the 10th day of the lunar month.
• The theme of grief is central to both narratives. In the first, the Prophet grieves for his son, and this text is cited to defend grieving, as well as to justify Shiʿi ritual lament. In the second, not only is the killing of al-Ḥusayn imbued with pathos, but Twelver Shiʿis (and sometimes others) commemorate it yearly through ceremonies involving ritual lament.
• The Prophet’s mourning for Ibrāhīm and debates over the legitimacy of ritual lament both tie into a perception that certain types of mourning (such as jazʿ) were proscribed pre-Islamic practices.
• Both eclipses are responsive rather than predictive; that is, rather than portending an upcoming death, the eclipse responds to a death that has already occurred. In contrast, ancient omen literature usually says that eclipses predict an impending death.
• Both are broadly accepted stories (the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story among Sunnis and Shiʿis, and the Karbala-eclipse story among Shiʿis).
• The transmission of the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narration in the Sunni collections via narrators in Kufa may be relevant, insofar as Kufa had a sizable Shiʿi population, and the march against al-Ḥuysan was led from there.
• A Twelver Shiʿi narration also links the two by saying that Jibrāʾīl came to the Prophet and told him that he could not keep both Ibrāhīm (his son) and al-Ḥusayn (his grandson). Therefore, the Prophet offered Ibrāhīm in exchange for al-Ḥusayn (Ibn Shahrāshūb n.d., vol. 3, p. 234).

However, there are also significant differences:

• According to astronomical calculations, a solar eclipse occurred in the final months of the Prophet’s life, but not during the Battle of Karbala.
• The Ibrāhīm-eclipse hadith reflect the natural course of a solar eclipse, whereas the Karbala-eclipse narrations (presented in the next section) do not.
• The Ibrāhīm-eclipse hadith speak only of a solar eclipse, whereas the Karbala-eclipse hadith speak of a solar eclipse, a lunar eclipse, and other supernatural signs.
• The main point of the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story is that the eclipse did not occur because of Ibrāhīm’s death, whereas the main point of the Karbala-eclipse story is that the killing of al-Ḥusayn was so heinous that the sun and moon hid.
• There are far more reports of an eclipse in 632 CE than of an eclipse at Karbala.

Therefore, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative should not be read on its own. Rather, it should be read alongside accounts of a solar and/or lunar eclipse at the Battle of Karbala (9 October 681).63 These reports are found in Shiʿi hadith and occasionally in Sunni histories, alongside other supernatural phenomena.64 Interestingly, Sunni literature is more accepting of supernatural phenomena than the eclipse: for instance, Ibn Kathīr (d. 1373) rejects the accounts of an eclipse at Karbala as a Shiʿi fabrication, but does not object to reports that, after the martyrdom of al-Ḥusayn, the sun shone red, the jinn wailed, and the heavens let loose a preternatural scream.65 Despite the scientific impossibility of an eclipse on the accepted date of the Battle of Karbala, Shiʿa today widely accept that there was both a solar and a lunar eclipse; for instance, the prominent Shiʿi scholar Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī (d. 1941) invokes death on anyone who rejects the Karbala-eclipse story on the mere grounds of astronomical impossibility.66

7. The Karbala-Eclipse Narrations

This leads to the question of how to handle the Karbala eclipse narrations in a manner that is more nuanced than merely dismissing them as fabrications. Both Sunni histories and Shiʿi hadith report supernatural phenomena after the Battle of Karbala; if nothing else, this expresses what a shock the killing must have been to the Muslim psyche. However, comparatively few narrations mention an eclipse. Nevertheless, reports of an eclipse in Sunni histories include:

When al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī was martyred, the sun was eclipsed in a manner such that stars became visible in the middle of the day; we feared that this was that eclipse [that heralded the Day of Judgement].

(al-Bayhaqī 2010, vol. 3, p. 468, no. 6352; al-Ṭabarānī 2007, vol. 3, p. 114, no. 2838)

When al-Ḥusayn (a) was martyred, the skies darkened, and the stars became visible in the day. I even saw the belt of Orion (al-jawzāʾ) in the mid-afternoon, and a red cloud of dust descended.

(Ibn ʿAsākir n.d., vol. 14, p. 226)

When al-Ḥusayn was killed, for seven days, the sunlight on the walls was yellowed and muffled, and the stars clashed with each other. The sun was eclipsed on that day, and the horizon of the sky was red for six months after his killing in such a way that it was still seen afterward, but had never been seen before.

(al-Suyūṭī 1425 AH, p. 157)

Reports in Shiʿi sources include:

Imam al-Ṣādiq said: “O Zurārah! The heavens wept blood for forty days over Hussain, the earth wept by being covered in darkness for forty days, the sun wept by being eclipsed and turning red, the mountains were rent asunder and dispersed, the seas swelled and surged, and the angels wept for forty days over him.”

(Ibn Qūlawayh 1417 AH, p. 168)

A man from Jerusalem said: “… I swear by Allah that the people of Jerusalem and its surrounding areas heard of the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali on the night of the day he was martyred… For three days, the sun was eclipsed and afterwards the sky was filled with uncountable stars (inshabakat al-nujūm).”

(Ibn Qūlawayh 1417 AH, pp. 160–61)

When al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī was killed, the sun was eclipsed, and the stars appeared in the middle of the day, until we67 thought that this was it [Judgment Day].68

These sources are relatively late. The earliest detailed account of the Battle of Karbala, the Maqtal of Abū Mikhnaf (d. 774), does not mention an eclipse. Rather, the first written report on an eclipse at the Battle of Karbala appears to be the following, recorded by al-Qaḍī al-Nuʿmān (d. 974), an Ismaʿili Shiʿi jurist whose writings are often drawn on by Twelver Shiʿis:

I69 heard the jinn lamenting the killing of al-Ḥusayn:

Weep for the son of Fāṭimah

At whose death hair has greyed

At whose killing you have been shaken

At whose killing the moon has been eclipsed.

(al-Qadi n.d., vol. 3, pp. 167–68)

This report is unique for two reasons. First, it is related from the jinn—rare but not unheard of in hadith collections. Second, it speaks of a lunar rather than a solar eclipse. A lengthier version of this narration appears in Kāmil al-Ziyārāt. This longer version situates the lament before the martyrdom of al-Ḥusayn, includes more supernatural signs, and is attributed to the fifth Imam (Muḥammad al-Bāqir):

When al-Ḥusayn thought of leaving Medina [to go towards Karbala], the womenfolk of the clan of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib gathered for lamentation until al-Husayn walked among them. […]

One of his aunts came and said, “I bear witness, O Husayn, that I heard the jinn eulogizing you. They were saying: […] ‘Weep for Ḥusayn, master! Because of his killing […] the moon was eclipsed, and the horizons of the sky turned red at early morning and nightfall. The sun of the countries has become dust-covered, the districts grown dark…’

(Ibn Qūlawayh 1417 AH, p. 195)

In both cases, the jinn serve the narrative function of informing people what has happened elsewhere or what will happen in the future; this ties into the pre-Islamic Arabian belief that the jinn could provide knowledge of the unseen. Additionally, jinn were associated with poetic inspiration, and both of these laments are poetic. Moreover, presenting the jinn as sympathetic to al-Ḥusayn sends the message that all the cosmos supported al-Ḥusayn, and emphasizes the tragedy behind his murder; this is a common theme in Shiʿi narrations. However, the lesser provenance of the eclipse narrations is also consistent with the idea that they do not actually record a real eclipse.

7.1. A Natural Explanation?

Astronomically, a natural eclipse is untenable. Solar eclipses—pace Qummī—only occur at a new moon, and lunar eclipses at the full moon. The Shiʿi hadith corpus implies that this was known during the time of the Imams; therefore, this oversight was not due to ignorance.70 Still, this does not rule out the possibility that the sky did actually darken after the Battle of Karbala due to a natural phenomenon.

One possibility is that the recorded date of the Battle of Karbala is wrong. However, there was no total or annular solar eclipse visible in Iraq in 680 AD or in the years immediately before or after it. There were lunar eclipses closer to that time—suggesting that the jinn had better astronomy—but accepting the date of a lunar eclipse would necessitate revising the accepted date of the Battle of Karbala by at least a couple of months, and there is no reason to do so, particularly given the detailed chronologies that have been constructed about the events leading up to it.71 Furthermore, Islamic texts unilaterally refer to the battle as occurring on Ashura (the “tenth”).

The details of the eclipse given in the narrations do not match the course of an eclipse. For instance, the eclipse is said to have lasted days.72 It is also reported that, during the eclipse, Orion’s belt was visible, and the “stars clashed”. However, in October, Orion would have risen after sunset (see Figure 2). This is in contrast to the hadith about the “Prophet’s eclipse”, which describe the normal course of an eclipse. Of course, it is possible that the narrator mistook other stars or planets for Orion.

It is also possible that these reports recall another starry phenomenon, such as a meteor shower. Possibly, this phenomenon could have occurred around the time of the battle, but not exactly on the same date, and was later remembered as occurring during the battle, as appears to have happened with the eclipse and the death of Ibrāhīm (Olson et al. 1986, p. 201; Cook 2000, pp. 29–52). The Orionid meteor shower is a worthy candidate, since it occurs in October. Additionally, Chinese records report comet sightings in 683 CE as well as in 684 CE, the latter of which would have been Halley’s comet. These possibilities are all the more reasonable in the case of reports from afar, such as Jerusalem. Of course, this is speculation, and the reports could simply be wrong.

Lastly, the sun and moon could have been obscured due to dust or something similar. This is in keeping with narrations that do mention a dust storm; “eclipse” could have been a figurative way of saying that it was dark. A dust storm or similar phenomenon better fits the narrations, which do not present the normal trajectory of an eclipse, and which mention other strange phenomena. For instance, the eclipse is described as lasting overlong (three days, forty days), and being accompanied by other phenomena, such as red light coming from the sun, a dust storm, a yellowish tinge to the light, and darkness. This is reminiscent of the red sun and dark sky during wildfires. An enormous army marching against al-Ḥusayn could also have raised dust. This also agrees with a narration from Ibn ʿAbbās in which he says that it was as if the sun were eclipsed, rather than literally stating that there was an eclipse.73

7.2. Narrative Explanations

The Karbala eclipse narrations can also be considered from a narrative perspective. First, the eclipse could have been added to the Karbala narrative to emphasize the cosmic significance of the event, or as a metaphor—darkness falling upon the death of Imam Husayn. This may simply be archetypal—an innate association between death and darkness—especially since it occurs in other literature, such as during battles in the Iliad and Odyssey:

(1)

… But Zeus drew baneful night above the strong battle, that round his dear son might be the woeful toil of war…

(2)

Thus strove they as it had been fire, no wouldst thou have thought there was still sun or moon, for over all the battle where the chiefs stood around the slain son of Menoitios they were shrouded in darkness, while the other Trojans and well-graved Achaians fought at ease in the clean air, and piercing sunlight was spread over them, and on all the earth and hills there was no cloud seen… But they who were in the midst endured affliction of the darkness and the battle…

(3)

[The seer Theoclymenus is speaking to the suitors of Penelope] Ah, wretched men, what woe is this ye suffer? Shrouded in night are your hands and your faces and your knees, and kindled is the voice of wailing, and all cheeks are wet with tears, and the walls and the fair spaces between the pillars are sprinkled with blood. And the porch is full, and full is the court, of ghosts that hasten hellwards beneath the gloom, and the sun has perished out of heaven, and an evil mist has overspread the world.74

While eclipses play a similar role in many stories, the Iliad and Odyssey were selected here because of a fundamental similarity: the story of the Battle of Karbala is chanted as an epic. Shiʿi retellings of the Battle of Karbala are replete with similar images of blood, wailing, and pathos, intended to convey the trauma of war. Furthermore, the Twelver Shiʿi custom of ritually mourning the Battle of Karbala resembles ancient customs of lament.

Furthermore, at some point in history, Shi’is began commemorating the events after the battle (such as the looting of the women and children) after sunset on Ashura. Re-enacting these events after dark instills the idea that they occurred in the darkness. However, since histories say that the looting began in the afternoon, there is a narrative impetus to explain how these events occurred in darkness; an eclipse provides a logical explanation.

Second, Shiʿi hadith commonly liken Imam al-Ḥusayn to Jesus. Insofar as the “sun darkening” is described at the crucifixion, it would make sense that someone would ascribe an eclipse to the Battle of Karbala.75

Third, “sun” and “full moon” are often used figuratively to describe some of the martyrs of Karbala. Al-Ḥusayn is sometimes likened to the sun or moon, and his brother al-ʿAbbās and others to the moon, the “full moon” being a common epithet for a glorious man. Figurative language in poetry or ritual storytelling—such as “our moons were eclipsed”—could have eventually been taken literally. For instance, the sister of al-Ḥusayn, Zaynab, is said to have uttered this lament when she saw her brother’s head lifted on a spear:

O crescent moon! After reaching fullness, an eclipse snatched it and whisked it beneath the horizons…76

Ibn Shahrāshūb (d. 1192) also records the following lament:

Is anyone like you [pl.], in Iraq, in Al-Ṭufūf [Karbala]?

Full moons, eclipsed, when they shone.77

Some eulogies also liken the Prophet’s family to stars, as in this lament attributed to the Shiʿi poet Diʿbil al-Khuzā’i (d. 835)

O Fāṭimah, had you seen Ḥusayn fallen,

Lifeless, thirsty, by the Euphrates’ shore

You would have struck your cheeks in anguish, O Fāṭimah, beside him,

Tears streaming down your face.

Rise, O Fāṭimah, O daughter of divine grace;

Mourn the stars of the heavens fallen in this desert land.

With some graves in Kufa, and others in Medina

And others in Fakh, hallowed by my prayers.78

This could, possibly, explain the “stars clashing”. To me, figurative language eventually being taken literally seems like a very reasonable possibility.

In short, there are many ways to understand the Karbala-eclipse narrations, which are not all mutually exclusive.

8. Why Did the Ibrāhīm-Eclipse and Karbala-Eclipse Narratives Develop?

The parallels between these two narratives suggest that either one narrative developed from the other, or else they developed together.

First. A possibility is that “the sun eclipses at no one’s life and no one’s death” was intended to refute the belief that the sun eclipse after the martyrdom of al-Ḥusayn Since both the Umayyad and ʿAbbāsid caliphs tended to see the descendants of the Prophet, and the Shiʿa, as political opponents, it would have been in their interests to refute stories that the heavens mourned al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī. This is similar to how it is said that the Umayyads began to celebrate Ashura—the day on which al-Ḥusayn was killed—to deflect attention from the killing of al-Ḥusayn, and that this then became a custom. For instance, the astronomer and historian al-Bīrūnī writes:

Therefore people came to consider this day [Ashura] as an unlucky one. But the Banū Umayyah dressed themselves on this day in new garments, with various types of ornaments, and painted their eyes with kuḥl; they celebrated a feast and gave banquets and parties, eating sweetmeats and various kinds of sweets. Thus was the custom among the “common people” [Sunnis] during the reign of the Banū Umayyah and it has remained thus among them even after their eclipse. As for the Shiʿa, they lament and weep on this day […].79

Additionally, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrations appear in writing around the same time that Shiʿi ritual mourning practices began to flourish, and the ‘Abbasid caliphate tried to tamp down on these practices.80

Second, darkness is an archetypal metaphor of death, and fear of the dark can be instinctual and overpowering; many people will not enter a forest at night, even if they know it is safe. The psychological drive to associate death with darkness may have triumphed as the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative formed—even if, ironically, the narrative rationally says that eclipses have nothing to do with death.

Third, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse hadith imply opposition to the growing integration of Hellenic and Persian philosophy in Islamicate culture; here, this addresses texts treating eclipses as omens. In the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, eclipses portended the death of a king or powerful man within the coming year, and the Prophet did die soon after an eclipse. It is unlikely that this escaped the notice of Islamicate astrologers. Therefore, it is possible that opponents of astrology shifted the focus of the story away from the Prophet and towards Ibrāhīm to deflect attention from that fact. This is, in general, a non-sectarian matter.81

Of course, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story does not actually fit into what the astrologers in that era were saying: while the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story says that eclipses do not occur because of anyone’s death, it does not reject the idea that eclipses portend death. Theologically, the difference is one of agency, implying that the sun or moon eclipsed after a death could ascribe agency to other than God. However, if God causes eclipses and also causes death, God remains the primary agent. Still, this story continues to be deployed today as an argument against astrology.

Additionally, the full context of “the sun and moon do not eclipse at anyone’s death or life” is unclear. While the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story tells of a death, it does not tell of a birth. (“Life” is typically understood to mean “birth”.) Furthermore, important births were more often associated with bright astronomical phenomena, such as the Star of Bethlehem. The Prophet, however, is an exception: he was also born after an eclipse.82 This eclipse is calculated to have occurred on 24 November 569, and would have been visible in the Hijaz.83 Although the eclipse in 569 is not mentioned in major Islamicate historical records, memory of it would have persisted as oral history. Therefore, the expression “the sun and moon do not eclipse at anyone’s death or life” may have emerged precisely because the Prophet’s life was bounded by two major eclipses, and some people found that significant.

Fourth, it is possible that people began to remember two significant events—the eclipse in 632 and the death of Ibrāhīm—as occurring on the same day. This may also have occurred with other eclipses mentioned in hadith and historical records (see Appendix A), and is a reminder that although eclipses are useful in constructing historical chronologies, sometimes eclipse reports themselves are inaccurate, and cannot be used to precisely date events.

Fifth, old strands of thought tend to persist. Despite the common desire to present Islam as a break from antiquity, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse and Karbala-eclipse stories preserve rather than reject many ancient themes surrounding eclipses in the Near East and the Mediterranean. In antiquity, in the Near East and Mediterranean, eclipses were ill omens, portending the fall of a king or kingdom within the year. They started and ended battles.84 Eclipses were also marked by appeals to the gods, including the Babylonian king-substitution ritual. In ancient Greece/Rome, communal appeals to the gods were held during eclipses. Similarly, eclipse prayers can be classified as apotropaic rituals, but with an appeal to God rather than to gods. Shiʿi lamentation ceremonies also have obvious parallels to ancient Greek and Mesopotamian ceremonies of ritual lament, and, in ancient Mesopotamia, ritual lament was also practiced during eclipses to ward off evil. Through the presence of an eclipse in the Karbala narrative, an association between ritual lamentation, apotropaic ceremonies, eclipses, battle, and the fall of notables is preserved, only under a monotheistic aegis.85

Sixth, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse story distinguishes Islam from Christianity since, according to the gospels, the sky went dark at the crucifixion. While the sky darkened upon the death of the son of God, it did not darken upon the death of the son of the Prophet. This similarity is, however, retained in the Karbala-eclipse story.

Seventh—and, to me, most importantly—the story is of human interest. Hadith, taken individually, can be dry. It is not very compelling to be told that there was an eclipse, during which the Prophet said that God hates adultery. It is far more compelling—and reassuring—to hear that the Prophet lost his son and grieved, and then there was a terrifying eclipse, but he calmed the people through eclipse prayers. Anxiety over paternity and anger over infidelity make it even more relatable. The human element, combined with the impetus for a moving and complete narrative, could easily have been responsible for blurring the lines between hadith about Ibrāhīm and hadith about the eclipse.

A Single Fabricator or Communal Narrative?

Often, when deeming a hadith untrue, there is an impetus to look for a narrator who fabricated it. Commonly, when studying hadith, the typical approach is to examine the chains of narration and look for one or more narrators who may have originated the content (for instance, bottlenecks in transmission). Hadith transmission is often envisioned as a well-oiled, internally consistent machine; when something goes wrong—like a spurious text—one roots out the faulty cog. Since only a small set of narrations say that Ibrāhīm died on the day of the eclipse, seeking a fabricator had initially seemed to make sense. However, although examining chains of narration led to some insights, I came to suspect that this story developed spontaneously, especially the basic human interest underlying it. As Hussein Abdulsater writes on the historical reports ascribed to ʿAbdullāh Ibn Masʿūd:86

[…] it might be useful to draw on recent psychological and neurological research on the working of memory. This research stresses the malleability of human memory, and the prime example of this malleability is the great difficulty we experience in distinguishing between two kinds of “memories”. On one hand, we have genuine memories of external events, but on the other, we also have “memories” that we may have inadvertently borrowed from the accounts of other people or that have been simply suggested to us by an external agent. These two types of memories have been called “historical truth” and “narrative truth”. […] It has even been proposed that our truths are frequently purely narrative, leading to the conclusion that human memory is dialogic: it arises from both individual direct experience and the interaction of many minds that shape memories by borrowing and suggesting them to each other […]. It is easy to detect the factors that contribute to creating narrative truth and its replacement of any possible historical truth. […]

This is not to determine with certainty the identity of the originator of the khabar. For this, as argued by Greenblatt, is a fruitless question. The social energy, surely pregnant with the charisma of a great religious leader and a grand historic conquest, was too much to be concentrated by one person.87

Stories—like myths and legends—take on their own life in the communal memory, and are reinforced by the intrinsic human desire for satisfying, meaningful stories to make sense of the world, and to respond to the concerns of their time. This seems particularly pertinent here, given the archetypal symbolism of the darkening of the sun.

In my view, all seven factors listed in Section 8 contributed to the development and acceptance of this story. While the building blocks of the story are dry, the composite narrative is compelling: it includes grief, loss, fear, and even jealousy. Furthermore, the composite narrative serves a tantalizing array of interreligious and intrareligious interests.

In the modern era, the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative has been deployed to refute the idea that Islam is superstitious, to argue against astrology, and to argue that Islam is scientific. The Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative is also used to argue that the Prophet Muḥammad was a genuine prophet, since a false prophet would have used the eclipse to his own advantage.88 Therefore, even today, the vested interests in this story make it difficult to let go of.

9. Conclusions

A dramatic total eclipse, starting around sunrise, and centered near the Hijaz, occurred in the final months of the Prophet’s life, and is remembered in hadith. However, the Prophet’s son Ibrāhīm did not die on the day of this eclipse. Rather, the death of Ibrāhīm and the eclipse in Medina are reported primarily in separate strands of hadith. Around the mid-ninth century, these hadith fused into a single story, which said that Ibrāhīm died on the day of the eclipse. Rather than there being a single reason for this, this likely happened for a conjunction of reasons, including (a) political opposition to the Shiʿa, (b) a movement against the “foreign sciences”, including astrology, (c) historically conflating two significant events that occurred relatively close to each other, (d) an ancient regional association between eclipses and death, (e) to separate Islam from Christianity, (f) empathy, (g), the desire for a complete narrative, and (h) a psychological association between death and darkness. Today, this story continues to serve multiple agendas, including valorizing Islam in light of modern science, defending the Prophet, and presenting Islam as non-superstitious.

The Ibrāhīm-eclipse story parallels accounts of an eclipse at the Battle of Karbala, and the two should be read together, especially since Shiʿa use the story of the Prophet’s grief over Ibrāhīm to justify ritual lament over the martyrdom of al-Ḥusayn. The story of the death of Ibrāhīm is also used to elucidate and defend Sunni and Shiʿi burial and mourning practices. Eclipse prayers are inherently apotropaic rituals, in which Muslims appeal to divine grace. All in all, while Islam is often portrayed as a break from antiquity, the two most prominent narratives about eclipses—the Ibrāhīm-eclipse narrative, and the Karbala-eclipse narrative—retain associations between eclipses and death, battle, lament, and apotropaic ceremonies, only under the aegis of monotheism.